Spur to Piantadosi Bread, MALDEN, MA

[tom18287]

i saw a train go across this last year some time i believe. some guy walked out on the street and stopped traffic, and a train with a couple cars went there. however now oeople park over the tracks and it looks as though they've been abandoned, however i've just recently really started noticing it. cars park on it now, but maybe the did before, i'm not sure.


also, while we're in the area, whats the deal with the tracks next to BJs in medford? is it a spur for a factory or something? ive never seen a train on it before. they're obviously abandoned too. seems like MA is trying to push out freight.

[eriemike]

My office was right next to this spur that went into Piantedosi Bread. Guilford would bring in a covered hopper car full of flour once a week. This was back in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Piantedosi stopped receiving their flour by rail and switched to trucks for awhile and then several months later Guilford was back making the delivery.

I would be very suprised if Piantedosi is using rail anymore. In fact I remember that GRS would bring another car just to help push the flour car into the siding as the rails were very unstable once you got on Piantedosi's property. I can just picture the locomotive tipping over. Even back in 1998, people would park on the rails and boy did the GRS guys make a scene when they would arrive. You got to love the sound of a horn from a GP40

That spur next to BJ's is the rements of the Medford Branch, which originally ran all the way into Medford Square. Back at the turn of the last century, it was considered one of the busiest branch lines on the B&M and was primarily a commuter rail line, though they also hauled frieght. You can still see traces of the ROW before it runs into I93. On the otherside of I93, there is no trace of it. In fact the end of the line ended at a Station that fronted on Main Street next to the Mystic River. There is a depot that is still in existence and it is at Park Street. A non-profit is in there now and the outside of the deopt is still in its original configuration.

I last saw rail service on that line back in 1998 or 1999. There was or still is a steel company in there that would recieve shipments by rail. I would not be very suprised if that service has been discontinued.

Hope this answers your question

[tom18287]

yes it does. thank you very much i appreciate it

[ceo]

The steel company is gone and so is its spur. It's been replaced by houses. I think the cold-storage place is the only remaining customer on the branch.

[eriemike]

Have those houses been built over the actual Medford Branch ROW or was it just the spur into the steel plant. I have not been over to that area in several years.

[ceo]

Here's the aerial. They've been built completely over the ROW.

[rb]

Last I heard, the cold storage place was still active and Piantedosi was not.

[eriemike]

Here's the aerial. They've been built completely over the ROW.

If you look at the aerial view, you can follow the Medford Branch ROW all the way to I93. It runs straight as an arrow from where it currently ends. A portion of it runs parallel with Washington Street. At the intersection of Magoun and Thatcher Street, you can see the Park St. Station (it sits between Magoun and Washington). You can not see a trace of it on the otherside of I93. Very cool indeed

[eriemike]

I'll say that Piantedosi isn't receiving rail shipments. I took the Orange Line home the other day and made sure to check out the spur as we went by. The rails are rusty and as it curves towards Commercial Street, there is dirt covering the rails. Oh well!

[tom18287]

theres always been alot of dirt, but thers more now.

[eotd]

the creepy part about the Medford Branch is that past the new development (where all the backyards are over the old ROW) you can actually see tracks in places in people's backyards, covered up with decades of grass.. the lines are intact in some spots, insane as that sounds. you can clearly id the ROW as there's a whole line of backyards that people clearly took possession of, and it runs right into the Buddy Coholan Center, which is the old station before Part Street. in fact, Park street is the only place west of Spring Street where you can cross the old ROW, and the road is elevated very slightly, like a bridge over the old tracks.. a bridge that's 3 feet off the ground!!

[eriemike]

I have seen several old pictures of the Park Street Depot and it appears that the ROW was much lower than it currently is. My guess that at some point in time they filled in the ROW where Spring Street is. That is one reason why it looks like a bridge, but isn't. Or is it? Over on the Watertown Branch they did a similar thing, where it kind of looks like a bridge, but the "road" is only about 3 or 4 feet above the ground.

[tom18287]

why does it say 3 tracks when theres only one?


i read somewhere that the saugus branch was re routed to go in to the everett yard. did it used to come out on commercial street? that would make sense.

[Capt Quahog]

The Medford Glenwood Branch

The Medford Glenwood branch was one of New England's early railroad lines being opened for service in 1845. Recall both steam and diesel commuter passenger trains running on the Glenwood / Medford branch in the 1950s. By the late 1950s, one B&M switcher a day traveled up the branch to some small business in Medford Square. About 1962, the line was again double tracked from the Spring Street to Medford Square for use of the ballast trains for the building of Interstate route 93.

The tracks of the Glenwood Branch from the Friend Lumber Company around Spring Street and beyond was ripped up sometime in the late 1960s with the right of way falling into abandoned looking state. Word was that some of the property abutters actually “purchased” sections of the railroad right of way from the City of Medford on "Quit Claim" deed and extended their backyard territories. Do know that others made some sort of lease deal with the city. There are garages and swimming pools on that railroad right-of-way now. Thing is, if those people actually did pay money under purchase for that property then they were swindled. The land is not anyone's property to sell.

Fact is, that right-of-way still belongs to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which granted the railroad charter in the first place and assumes any railroad right-of-ways not is use. The current Massachusetts Bay Transportation holds trust on the Medford Glenwood Branch for tentative future expansion. If a state agency wants to put that railroad line back in use, there is nothing to legally stop them. Same thing happened in Hingham, Massachusetts with the MBTA commuter rail extension there. The local yokel townies had usurped land with their backyards spilling onto the old railroad right-of-way. The Hinghamites loudly protested that they didn't want noisy railroad trains running through their backyards. Owning to the fact that the railroad line had been there since the 19th Century, the Hingham yuppie crowd had no real legal argument. MBTA Commuter trains have been running down the Hingham line now for many years.

When I took my last “physical characteristic” qualification as a conductor on the MBTA commuter rail back in 1994, the Glenwood Branch, though not currently in use, appeared in the books as if it were an active line. It was also on the verbal description part of the exam and I needed to make mention of the Medford Glenwood Branch. It was explained that having the Glenwood Branch within the official documents is to show that the right-of-way is not abandoned property. Aside for that, there is no such thing as “squatter’s rights” or “adverse possession” against state owned property.

For many years now, there has been an off and on again discussion about using the Glenwood Branch for some form of commuter rail service into Medford Square. A branch of the current New Hampshire Division MBTA service was proposed. Now, the plan is for Light Rail / streetcar service to be extended from Cambridge up through the Medford Hillside and eventually to Medford Square. The Glenwood Branch was mentioned as a natural route for Light Rail service from Medford Square, through the Glenwood section of north Medford to the MBTA Orange Line rapid transit and Class One Commuter Rail line.

Would like to be a fly on the wall when the construction crews arrive and start plowing though those phony back yards, laying track again on Medford’s Glenwood Branch. As they say, what goes round, sometimes come around. That would be cool!

[ceo]

The Green Line extension isn't going anywhere near Medford Square. It will parallel the Lowell Line, which passes through West Medford, but thanks to the Medford NIMBYs won't even get there.

And it'd be a lot harder than you might think to reestablish service to Medford Square on the Medford Branch, especially as the former ROW now has houses built smack across it.