Abandoned B&M Lines in Massachusetts

does anyone have any pictures or info of these lines when they were in operation. looking for pics on Stoneham branch, Woburn loop, Framingham and Lowell in chelmsford area, Lowell and Salem, lawrence and manchester, Downtown lowell frieght lines, Saugus Branch through Malden, any info or pics would be great.

There is a book "LOst Railroads of New England written by Ronald Dale Karr. It lists most of the abandonments dates a some history of the lines. Book is sold by Branch Line Press

The Walker Collection at The Beverly(Mass.)Historical Society has the best New England Railroad photo collection in the region. With literally thousands of photos in their files, they Have at least one photo of every station the B&M ever built, not to mention the thousands of photos of trains operating on these branchlines you mention, their vast collection covers the years from the 1850's to the present. Its well worth a visit, but sadly its only open to the public on Wednesday nights and some Saturdays. The curator is David Fletcher, he can be reached on Wednesday evenings at the Society at 978-922-1186.

lcrprez wrote:does anyone have any pictures or info of these lines when they were in operation. looking for pics on Stoneham branch, Woburn loop, Framingham and Lowell in chelmsford area, Lowell and Salem, lawrence and manchester, Downtown lowell frieght lines, Saugus Branch through Malden, any info or pics would be great.

The Framingham and Lowell line was actually a former New Haven/Penn Central/Conrail
line.

thanx guys for the info, i will be sure to check this place in beverly.

You should also check out the considerable resources of the Boston & Maine RR Historical Society... see the third topic in this forum.

From the comfort of your desk chair:

http://www.oldrr.com/

PBM

dcm74 wrote:
The Framingham and Lowell line was actually a former New Haven/Penn Central/Conrail
line.

What year was this line last serviced?

It became surplus shortly after Conrail was created. The B&M took over the wye behind Lowell Tower and about three miles of track to service one of the only customers left on the line, you can still see the remaining trackage from the Lowell Connector. I don't know what its status is under Guilford management, but you can be sure there are no customers left on the line and they certainly don't use it for anything except for MBCR MofW equipment at the Tower. I've added a photo I took on April 7,1972 of Penn Central freight BL-1 waiting for interchange cars at the Bleachery Yard in Lowell.

lowell and framingham line used to service customers in lowell at interstate container, and coca cola on idustrial ave. i think in the early 90"s. i remember when i was little i have seen boxcars on the line.

lcrprez-
Check out The Rail Lines of Southern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History by Ronald Dale Karr, Branch Line Press, Pepperell: 1995. When PC became Conrail in 1976, the Lowell to South Chelmsford section was not in Conrail. The northern section in Lowell was operated by B&M, later Guilford. This is a digest of a larger entry that appears on pp. 218 -219.
An excellent companion to Karr's book, also from Branch Line Press in 2000, is Robert M. Lindsell's The Rail Lines of Northern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History.

there is a line in lowell that nobody ever talks about. this line i think is very interesting. it is a b&m line that comes off the main line near lawrence street, it use to run around the curved trustle over the concord river then over lawrence street along the concord river, then over the river into the old b&m train station in downtown lowell. does anyone have any info, or the last service on the line, or maybe some pictures would be nice. the trustle is still intact and looks cool, i wish i could have seen in use.

b&m 1566 wrote:

dcm74 wrote:
The Framingham and Lowell line was actually a former New Haven/Penn Central/Conrail
line.

What year was this line last serviced?

In the early '90s I would see cars going to Wickes Lumber (or possibly Acorn?)from the south/west.

I might be late to the party on this one, but I just came across an outstanding collection of photos of former Boston & Maine RR station buildings available for public view on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoman82 ... 754787486/

b&m 1566 wrote:

dcm74 wrote:

What year was this line last serviced?

There's a thread on this line on the New Haven fallen flags page.

Dave