Fletcher Granite Quarry and Railroad

[elecuyer]

Actually, there was no diamond - the NAB crossed OVER the Stony Brook on a bridge.

To see for yourself...
Park in the back left corner of the large St. Catherine's parking lot. There you will find a trail into the woods. This trail is the NAB ROW. Walk 100 yards or so and you will come to the abutments, etc.

There was also a trolley line that ran through there, and the bridge spanned both ROWs. You will see this when you get back there. Power lines (that post-date the trolley's abandonment) mark the ROW.

If you cross the Stony Brook and hike another few hundred yards south on the NAB ROW, you will come across a rather large stone arch bridge. Built without mortise, concrete, etc., I understand that it is the largest of its type in the area.

The trail and stone bridge is part of a plot of public conservation land in Westford. Obviously, you have to trespass when crossing the Stony Brook. I'm not sure of the ownership of the small portion between St. Catherine's and the Stony Brook (although it is a well-used trail.)

-Ed Lecuyer

[TPR37777]

I was sorry to hear that the Fletcher Granite quarry in Westford went under at the end of June. They were established in the 1880's and had only recently rebuilt their spur from the Pan Am main anticipating rail shipments that never materialized. The industrial heritage of the Merrimack Valley is ever retreating into history, I am sorry to say.

[frrc]

There was an article on TV a few weeks ago, the company had $7(?) million in debt, and is working out some form of arrangement to pay off all the creditors. Website is still there though...

http://www.fletchergranite.com/

And an article on the closing:

http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_15456077

[trainsinmaine]

Too bad . . . a real shame. This was not only one of the older continuously-operating businesses in the state, but surely one of the oldest under the ownership of one family. (I presume that's still the case; I haven't heard or read otherwise.)

I was driving through the area one day in the '80s and came to the quarry RR crossing. There stood one of those triangular crossing signs that were so ubiquitous early in the 20th century, but have all but disappeared today. The next time I was through there, several years later, it was gone. Does anyone know what happened to it?

[KEN PATRICK]

DOES ANYONE KNOW RAIL EQUIPMENT USED, # OF CARS/MONTH. IF RAIL RATES CONTRIBUTED TO A NON-COMPETITIVE POSITION?
I'M A VOLUNTEER MEMBER OF RTAC AND LOOKING AT INCREASING RAIL USAGE. THE IMPORTANT 'LOOK' IS THE RAILROAD RATE STRUCTURE. PERHAPS SOMEONE FROM FLETCHER WOULD SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE.

KEN PATRICK

[consist]

It's my understanding that they had not shipped by rail in many years, but used a trackmobile to run stone across the road from quarry to storage/truck yard. As another poster said, the spur connecting them to the mainline had been out of service for a long time, was rebuilt a few years ago but never used.

[RussNelson]

Two interesting things: 1) here's a GE switching in the quarry in 1992: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_4NlgW ... &index=125 and 2) here's the same locomotive in the current Google Maps satellite view: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=534+Grot ... s&t=h&z=20
Trackmobile? I'm not so sure about that. It sure looks like the tracks within the quarry are active, and that they use the GE switcher to move stone between their quarry and their mill. The tracks back to the main line seem contiguous but unused. There's a couple of flats fouling their spur past where they operate.

Also, looking at the USGS historic map, the location of the quarry used to be a mountain. Also, their spur connects just a bit east of Brookside Station.

[130MM]

I scrolled up to the big pit, and saw a caboose just southeast of the pit next to the upper level track. Does anyone know its history?

I never realized the scale of the operation in there. I particularly liked the loop that gets the track to a lower level. Looks like a modeler's dream.

DAW

[newpylong]

The quarry was bought out a while ago and is active again. The old owners spent a lot of money to rebuild down to the Main line about 10 years ago. Then Fink 1.0 screwed them over on rates and they never got one car that I remember. Fast forward to now, every once in a while they get INBOUND granite by rail to be cut further. Sometimes they get big slugs of NS gons at once.

[Sir Ray]

Their (Fletcher Granite) Website seems to have been updated (well, 1880-2013!)
The locomotive in question is somewhat prominently displayed on the tour page.

[elecuyer]

I would love to see Mass Bay RRE (or B&MHS) organize a "raifan-friendly" tour of Fletcher Granite. Maybe include a side-trip to Lowell to see the 410.

[toolmaker]

The quarry was bought out a while ago and is active again. The old owners spent a lot of money to rebuild down to the Main line about 10 years ago. Then Fink 1.0 screwed them over on rates and they never got one car that I remember. Fast forward to now, every once in a while they get INBOUND granite by rail to be cut further. Sometimes they get big slugs of NS gons at once.

If they are now operating again shouldn't the title of this topic change to reflect this?

[MEC407]

I'll change the topic accordingly.

Generally speaking, if you want a subject changed, PM-ing a moderator is the fastest way to get that done, as we're not always able to monitor every single thread in a given forum.

[MEC407]

I found a few other threads about Fletcher and merged them into one consolidated thread.

[toolmaker]

I'll change the topic accordingly.

Generally speaking, if you want a subject changed, PM-ing a moderator is the fastest way to get that done, as we're not always able to monitor every single thread in a given forum.

Oops, sorry. I wanted to keep the topic title open for dicsussion. I'll keep the "PM" suggestion in my toolkit for future use.