Houses/Buildings in N.E. less than 10' from the tracks

Putting freight sidings aside can anyone name some spots where houses and buildings are really close to the tracks?

The white building next to the tracks in Peabody sq. is really close(looks like its 5' feet from the rail).

Thanks!

I know there are a couple of structures very close to the tracks on the Rocjland line operated by the Maine Eastern. Just can't remember the details of where.

kilroy wrote:I know there are a couple of structures very close to the tracks on the Rocjland line operated by the Maine Eastern. Just can't remember the details of where.

IIRC, there are at least a couple of houses in Thomaston that abut the track so closely that it could give a whole new meaning to the phrase "Reach Out and Touch Someone."

There is also a Congregational church in South Gardiner that is almost on top of the old MEC Lower Road. One wonders what it must have been like years ago as trains went through while church services were going on. It would have shaken the whole building.

Tracer wrote:Putting freight sidings aside can anyone name some spots where houses and buildings are really close to the tracks?

The white building next to the tracks in Peabody sq. is really close(looks like its 5' feet from the rail).

Thanks!

Are you asking about all of New England? And what's your definition of "really close?"

Kindly, can you please elaborate just a little bit about what you are trying to find out?

-otto-

New Google maps and I'm still trying to figure it out. Lets see if this works. Thomaston, Me.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Thoma ... 7b1fdf1043" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Livermore Falls, Me

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.473216, ... I6Yj7w!2e0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes Otto all of New England. Maybe less then 10' or so. I just think its interesting seeing rail lines pass so close to existing homes. I always wonder was the house there first or did someone really like the idea of putting a building so close to the rail.

Great stuff thanks mikej!

I was also thinking of those houses on Green Street in Thomaston. Very, very close to the tracks.

Some other Thomaston locations with tight clearances:


Photo by Justin Franz: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=294899" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Photo by Gary Knapp: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=114177" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are a couple of houses in West Cornwall, CT that are very, very close to the Housy-- one has the tracks basically on the front lawn, between the porch and the road.

With the obvious exception of converted railroad stations and factory buildings, I think in pretty much every case the buildings that are very, very close are structures that predated the railroad. Some towns in New England were settled for 200 years before the iron horse came through, after all.

There are a number of houses and businesses along the Greenbush Line that literally back up to the tracks. The only thing separating the two is a wooden fence.

You know it's close when you have rail for your posts next to your driveway

There is a house in East Dorset, VT on the south-east side of the Mad Tom Rd grade crossing that is pretty close. Not close enough to touch, but almost. There is a chicken coupe in Websterville on the top of the WACR Barre line that will not clear someone leaning out of the locomotive window.

Also on the MassCentral in Gilbertville there's a few homes very very close.

On the North Franklin/Lebanon border in Connecticut, there's a house on Route 207 that is mere feet from the tracks. If I remember correctly, it was at one time a store (probably back in the 1800s) that was converted into a house.

It's the white house on the right in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhvyWgPZXRg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I managed to find this one in Wallingford, CT that I remember from when I worked for the Connecticut Central. I remember being able to clearly make out plates on the wall in the dining room from the locomotive as we rumbled by......really close.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Walli ... f2b0?hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;