Woburn Branch

A GEarth flyover a few minutes ago showed a buncha encroachments/repossessions/repurposings plus a large number of grade crossings that would need the Hingham-tunnel treatment for train speed and community contentment. Platform and access/parking issues would be another concern.

RenegadeMonster wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:51 am Does the branch ROW existing any any capacity where the state could take it back and return it to rail?

There was a supermarket built smack in the middle of the ROW c. 1995, near Winchester High School.

Thanks for the info and pic links, Tom. You always have the answer.

For those who don't know, there has been a battle for years to build a transload facility in North Woburn and reactivate the very north part of the loop for rail service.

http://www.newenglandtransraileis.com/index.html

wicked wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:39 pm

RenegadeMonster wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:51 am Does the branch ROW existing any any capacity where the state could take it back and return it to rail?

There was a supermarket built smack in the middle of the ROW c. 1995, near Winchester High School.

Thanks for the info and pic links, Tom. You always have the answer.

This. The ROW was literally cut away to build it too, not a chance of ever coming back.

Red Wing wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:25 am This is one of the branches I feel would have been nice to keep. It would have been a nice place to end electrification and 15 minute service on the inner Lowell Line.

It seems much more logical to have made the full woburn loop the 'mainline' and kept the current mainline through montvale etc as just a small industrial freight line. Having commuter rail go right through the middle of Woburn would be great. It would have required money of course but in the long run, seems like a better way to go.

RenegadeMonster wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:51 am Does the branch ROW existing any any capacity where the state could take it back and return it to rail?

Nope. The ROW through Winchester was not preserved at all. it is completely obliterated with cuts filled in, raised embankments removed, and plenty of buildings built right on the track. See where the line crosses Cross St on the Woburn Winchester line (google street view). Look towards woburn and its an abandoned ROW that looks great for some restored server. Look the other direction and it's a giant condo building.

The Woburn Loop was grade crossing hell. Cross, Conn, Fowle, Green, Main, Church, Pleasant, Winn, Lowell, Main, School, Dexter, Earnes - over a dozen grade crossings in less than 6 miles. In the 1950s, the B&M aggressively eliminated grade crossings (notably at Waverley and Winchester); there's no way they would have used the Woburn Loop, with numerous curves and nearly-impossible-to-eliminate grade crossings. While the loss of direct commuter rail service to downtown Woburn is unfortunate, a Montvale Avenue station (which also serves Stoneham via the Stoneham Branch trail) would not be a poor substitute.

Off topic but I think the most outstanding example of the B&M's anti-grade crossing sentiment was in Union Square. They actually jacked buildings up onto stilts to create the grade separation that exists under Webster Ave and Prospect St. Malden is another example, it's surprising Medford was left low, though perhaps High Street was never that busy before. Anyhow, the point about the current line's preference due to the lack of crossings at grade certainly holds a ton of merit.

There was a time when most commuter service did run via Woburn. Long before MBTA.

Great memories of taking the Woburn Branch in the mid 1960s to visit an aunt, who lived by the south end of Horn Pond in Woburn. It wasn't a bad walk from the station to her house, I still have the ticket.

The Cross St station would have been very close to that area of town. My memory of that station is of a run down cinderblock hut off in the weeds back in the 80s.