Melrose Ma Customers?

In other topics I have been told that there is no freight service on the Reading line. However I was trekking around the area in google maps and I noticed a spot in Melrose that had 3 freight cars on what looked like a siding directly parallel to the main line. Anyone know anything about this?

That is the Deering Lumber Company siding. They usually get bricks and masonary supplies by rail. Even though I live in Melrose, I haven"t seen many boxcars in there lately

I haven't seen cars at that spot in about a year, since the adjacent brickyard was paved.
They don't like to run freight through that dip north of Wellington Station, it's a headache for the train operator, especially for a long train. The reason the dip exists is to allow for a freight branch that goes off into Medford. They have an occasional reefer customer (Crystal Cold or something) at the end of that line and no other customers that I'm aware of.

Where exactly in Melrose is this siding you speak of?

The siding is located between W'Foster & W'Emerson streets.

When I was a kid, back in the 50's there were 4 or 5 sidings at this location. I can still remember a little 060 switcher, coming up from the Oak Grove yard at 10:30 Monday - Friday to service everything up to Reading.

On the NE Rail Photo website, there is a picture of a freight train in Melrose at the Benson-Goss coal yard taken in 1946. Any idea where this the coal yard was located.

Thanks

Ed:

That was at the location that I posted on the 23rd. As you look at the picture of the train, you can see that it is going north and the mention of "High Car" signifies that it will be switching of the main at Wakefield Junction and heading to Salem. As to the location of of the siding, if you look at the picture, the track the individual is sitting on is where that hopper will be placed. I can still see that old coal storage building and remember going over and looking down into the pit that the hopper emptied its load into. They are building condo's on the site now.
Thanks for rekindling some long lost memories.

Dave

consist wrote:I haven't seen cars at that spot in about a year, since the adjacent brickyard was paved.
They don't like to run freight through that dip north of Wellington Station, it's a headache for the train operator, especially for a long train. The reason the dip exists is to allow for a freight branch that goes off into Medford. They have an occasional reefer customer (Crystal Cold or something) at the end of that line and no other customers that I'm aware of.

Actually, they don't have to run freights through the dip....back when they were fixing that tunnel so that F-40s could pass through( tight clearances were why that line got exclusively assigned F-10s during the 80s), they extened the track that branches to the right so that it bypassed the tunnel....as far as I know, that connection has NOT been torn up, so they could still use that to get around it.

Xplorer is correct, the track that by-passes the Wellington tunnel is still in one piece. As for not running freights through there, it is not that bad of a grade so I would have to disagree with consust. It would be more work to put the train on the by-pass track because it is equipped with electric-lock switches and the one at the other end would have a 5 to 8 minute timer to wait for to get the unlock since nothing would be in that block.

Just for FYI purposes, the bypass was indeed constructed for the Wellington Tunnel clearence project. I have seen plans from the last
decade which shows the easterly connection becoming an interlocking
called "Parkway" and the bypass to Medford Jct on the west side of
the tunnel becoming a signalled passing siding. More pipe dreams, I
guess.

d

Why did the make it a tunnel to begin with, why not just make the medford branch come off of the west most track of the mainline, maybe put a crossover down the track a bit. Problem solved, no?

What industries existed on the opposite side of the main line from the Medford branch down to Piantedosi. Before they repaved the street, some trackage was still visible in the ground.