by NRGeep
Was there a spur to the power plant of the (still partially open) institution located on the abandoned Wrentham branch (ex Conrail, NH)?
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elecuyer wrote:Spur to to Wrentham State School (facility for the developmentally challenged)?Thanks. So, it appears they recieved coal deliveries via horse and wagon and later by truck. Any freight coal trolly deliveries there?
No.
The tracks were not close enough.
However, you may be asking about a spur to Walpole State Prison (MCI Cedar Jct.) power plant.
Again, No.
However, a spur was planned - but never constructed. For details see this thread:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 26&t=56468
Also the Wrentham branch (south of E. Walpole) was never operated by Conrail. It was not included in the PennCentral transfer to Conrail and abandoned at that time. Rails remained in place until ~1980.
So, it appears they received coal deliveries via horse and wagon and later by truck. Any freight coal trolley deliveries there?No. The prison was built circa ~1955. Long after the horse and wagon (and trolley) era. I do not think a trolley line ever went down that section of Route 1A (but I could be mistaken.)
the original plan was to use coal for the heating plant - hence the right-of-way off the Wrentham Branch…but later converted to oil heat before the rail was laid - so, I don't think that any coal was ever delivered to the prison's heating plantAs confirmed by multiple sources, including employees at the plant such as my father, the plant burned coal when it was first opened. However, deliveries of coal came by truck, and not by rail. The spur from the Wrentham branch was proposed when the prison was constructed, and the bridge under Route 1A was built to accommodate such a branch (although it is still unclear why they wanted to cross under route 1A and into the prison itself.) However, no rail was ever laid.
NRGeep wrote:The state school in Wrentham was built in 1906, certainly within a period where coal still dominated. Not talking about the prison.Ok. I grew up (1971-1988) within a half-mile of both the Wrentham Branch and the Wrentham State School (facility for the developmentally challenged.)
Tracer wrote:The Wrentham branch has a special place in my heart. One day i decided to explore the old right of way behind Southwood hospital, a few hundred feet down the line a huge dog ran out of someones back yard and chased me halfway to Walpole.Track down a copy of Vol. 35, Issue 3 of the NHRHTA's Shoreliner-- came out in mid 2013. Multi-page article about the branch, focused on Bird Mills in East Walpole, at one time one of the single biggest customers of the NYNH&H.
Teamdriver wrote:Wrentham's original freight house also still survives, but it's not in Wrentham anymore -- it's in Cumberland RI where it is a private residence. I didn't go see it today as it's some distance from here.Not quite.