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  • Creepy Places on the Railroad: New England

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #1356726  by trainsinmaine
 
There is an interesting thread that has just been started in the New York Railfan Forum in which respondents have been writing about the creepiest places they have visited along railroads in the state. I thought I would get it going in the New England forum. My initial nominee: the old Clinton Tunnel on the B&M's Central Mass. Branch --- built in 1903, abandoned in 1959, and still there in all its bone-chilling glory. I've walked through it twice. It's fascinating, but it is indeed creepy. I never saw a rat, but I'm sure they run around in there. It looks especially dark and sinister from the east end, from the overpass on Clamshell Road --- like a place where Shelob, the giant spider, would hang out.

Some of the deep cuts along the Central Mass. near Rutland, the Cheshire north of Troy, NH and the CNE west of Norfolk, CT (Stony Lonesome) give one a foreboding feeling too. At least the roadbed through the Charnock Cut in Rutland has been paved for a bike trail. I'm sure there are other such areas that are equally dark.
 #1356729  by The EGE
 
The abandoned Jeffries Point tunnel of the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn is not difficult to get to, and rather creepy as well. One bore (my second photo) is mostly closed off; the other is totally open, but with a lot of junk and so much dust that it's impossible to photograph inside.

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 #1356748  by NRGeep
 
ROW's bordering abandoned mental asylums (Medfield State Hospital), ( partially openTaunton State Hospital), (Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown Conn) etc seem to have potential residual historic creepiness.
 #1357320  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Terryville Tunnel? I've walked the whole distance before...back in the lateish-90's when Guilford traffic was barely making it out there to break up the rust once every 7-10 days. Long way to daylight and eerily quiet once you get some distance in. The bouncing sound of the water drippage plays tricks on your hearing.


Nowadays, you do have to check the PL-1 schedule 'cause business is booming. Especially with the new propane customer right by the west portal going online in several months.
 #1357331  by Plate C
 
Walked Terryville Tunnel many years ago now. Don't necessarily remember it being creepy, but it seemed like you could see the end but took forever to get close to it. Also seem to remember some dripping formations from the ceiling.
 #1357554  by scratchy
 
trainsinmaine wrote:I have an aunt, pushing 90, who is from east of Greenfield and she has told me that she always been creeped out by that area of northwestern Massachusetts. The tunnel is incidental to it.
This is one of the areas used by HP Lovecraft, after all. I think the story with the MIGO was based near there.
 #1357781  by Tracer
 
East side tunnel Providence. Rumor has it a dozen or so homeless people were hiding inside when it was sealed many years ago. There are occasional reports (although unconfirmed) of banging and strange noises from the ground in that area.
 #1359037  by Lincoln78
 
I never liked the track area on the Fitchburg line near Baker Bridge (Rt 126) in Lincoln. I didn't like the feeling of being in a cut near a curve, compared to the wide open space further east that offered lots of visual warning of arriving trains. Trains move at speed through there.

Also cannot recall ever hearing of this incident until a few years ago:

http://www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com/2015 ... -1905.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe a cause for uneasiness? I probably haven't been on that stretch of track since around 1978. There was no evidence of a station by the seventies; just a small shed that wouldn't even make a good waiting room. I am still trying to figure out why they would have a station in a part of town where there was almost nothing, and not really convenient to Walden Pond which IIRC had its own station.
 #1359210  by arthur d.
 
Lincoln78 wrote: There was no evidence of a station by the seventies; just a small shed that wouldn't even make a good waiting room. I am still trying to figure out why they would have a station in a part of town where there was almost nothing, and not really convenient to Walden Pond which IIRC had its own station.
The world was much less formal 110 years ago. It could have been nothing more than a flag stop in farm country, and the "okay to go" took too long getting to the head end.

Too many years ago, a friend of mine and his girl had an apartment in Lancaster, near the tracks, rte. 70 I think. The apartment had been empty for several months, since shortly after a young girl had been struck and killed by a train very close by. All went well for a few weeks after they settled in, then things started to be moved around in the apartment or misplaced. They both thought each other was doing it, tidying up, putting things away etc. Then one day my friend stayed home sick, flu I think. His girl came home early to check on him. As she came through the door, she let out a scream. Hovering 2 feet above the kitchen table was a lit candle.
If you go to Leominster and find her, she will swear to it to this day. My thought; well, its a great scary story, but it WAS the tail end of the '60's, if you know what I mean.