Boston's Wildcat Branch

Today on the MBTA map I noticed the "wildcat branch". After reading the wiki article, it appears the Downeast and a few MBTA purple trains use this line to circumvent a single-track route. I'm not too familiar with B&M/north side Boston rail scene. Any reason why they haven't double-tracked the main line or simple turned the Wildcat branch into a main? Does it add to the Downeaster's running time?

There's no room to double-track the Western Route (Haverhill Line) through Malden; the 3-track ROW was to be three Orange Line tracks to Reading but was cut back to Oak Grove due to community opposition. At the time, the Reading Line terminated in Reading and (limited) Haverhill service used the Wildcat. I can dig up more dates later.

It takes the same amount of absolute time to use the Wildcat, and it allows the Downeaster to use the fully double-track Lowell main to essentially pass a Haverhill train between Wilmington and North Station as well as to serve Anderson RTC.

Additionally, the full-high platforms at Malden Center and Oak Grove restrict speeds on the Haverhill Line as the dynamic profile of trains is higher at speed. The Lowell, with mini-highs except at the station stop at Anderson, may in fact be faster for this reason.

Additionally, the full-high platforms at Malden Center and Oak Grove restrict speeds on the Haverhill Line as the dynamic profile of trains is higher at speed. The Lowell, with mini-highs except at the station stop at Anderson, may in fact be faster for this reason.

Yeah tell me about it. I always hate how trains on the NEC are restricted to only 110mph on tracks 1 and 4 because of all those stupid high level platforms. :p

The Western Route to Wilmington also has a ton of grade crossings. 20 there vs. 2 on the NH Main and 4 on the Wildcat.

It's also a fun trip down the Wildcat Branch. No stations and the junction at Wilmington is a real old-school railroad junction.

This prob belongs in the mbta forum seeing that the T owns the wildcat

The Wildcat was built as the Andover & Wilmington in the mid-1830s and eventually became the Boston & Maine. From its opening about 1835 to 1844, Andover & Wilmington/Boston & Maine trains utilized trackage rights over the Boston & Lowell to reach Boston. In 1844, the Boston & Maine obtained a charter to build from what is now Wilmington Junction to Boston through Reading, Wakefield, Melrose and Malden to its own terminal at Haymarket Square in Boston. The B & M then gave up its Boston & Lowell trackage rights and the Wildcat was abandoned. After the Boston & Maine obtained the Boston & Lowell in 1887, the Wildcat was rebuilt. Up until the 1920s, there was a minor passenger service on the line, Lawrence-Boston via Wilmington. It was upgraded when the Boston Terminal complex, North Station and freight yards, was modernized in the late 1920s. The Wildcat became the route of inbound (Boston bound) through freight to utilize the upgraded Boston freight yards. Outbound through freight continued to operate via Malden. It was freight only until 1959. In 1959 the B & M routed Haverhill-Dover-Portland trains via Winchester and the Wildcat. Service between Boston and Reading was stub-ended at Reading. This reroute allowed the B & M to cut out one trick of crossing tenders at all those crossings between Melrose and Reading. The North Wilmington station was replaced by Salem Street Station on the Wildcat, a large parking area, a few high lights and a platform.

Maybe this should be in the MBTA Forum (I have no preference) but thank you to Ed Bear for that capsule history. I've been very curious about the Wildcat Branch since first riding it about ten years ago.

Great job Ed. Fascinating!

One more question:

How the heck did it get the name Wildcat?

One would guess something to do with the town of Wilmington - whose mascot is the Wildcats.

Thanks for the info. It was a tossup between Amtrak and MBTA forums, as there's 5 DE/day from Amtrak and "limited rush hour" commuter service from MBTA. Sound like equally limited use from either railroad, so I put it here (what can I say, I hear this is a fun forum... Jeff Smith rules!).

I agree this is probally more of a New England railfan topic than an Amtrak topic.

Someone recently looked up the deed records and found that the Wildcat was apparently rebuilt by the B&L before the B&M acquired it, in order to give the B&L - owned Salem & Lowell a shorter route to Wilmington and points inward towards Boston. This was the origin of the 1/2 mile of track N of the Western Route main between the present Wilmington Jct. and the point where the Western Route turns toward Reading.

That is correct JBVB. Among other things it also allowed them to provide an alternative passenger service from their depot in N. Lawrence, through West Andover down to Tewksbury, onto the Salem and Lowell for a short ride to the old Wilmington Jct. From there the train would ride the rebuilt track over what is now the 'cat to Wilmington, get on the Boston and Lowell and into Boston that way.

It was orignally the Andover and Wilmington, then the Boston and Maine, after the B&M built it's own route to Boston because dealing with the Boston and Lowell became an issue, they no longer needed what is now the 'cat so they abandoned it. The B&L rebuilt it and used it, see my previous message, then the B&M got it back when they acquired the B&L.

The EGE wrote:There's no room to double-track the Western Route (Haverhill Line) through Malden; the 3-track ROW was to be three Orange Line tracks to Reading but was cut back to Oak Grove due to community opposition. At the time, the Reading Line terminated in Reading and (limited) Haverhill service used the Wildcat. I can dig up more dates later.

It takes the same amount of absolute time to use the Wildcat, and it allows the Downeaster to use the fully double-track Lowell main to essentially pass a Haverhill train between Wilmington and North Station as well as to serve Anderson RTC.

Additionally, the full-high platforms at Malden Center and Oak Grove restrict speeds on the Haverhill Line as the dynamic profile of trains is higher at speed. The Lowell, with mini-highs except at the station stop at Anderson, may in fact be faster for this reason.

The MBTA could definitely double track the Reading Branch entirely without any land taking. It would just be ridiculously costly to do so. There's definitely 4 tracks worth of space on MBTA property, up to just shy of Wyoming.