Old Tracks in Tewksbury, MA circa 1980

Theres alot more rail still in place than you might think. 40-50 ft from the main in Wamsit it is still in place as well as behind golds gym....

Was this branch controlled by the Boston and Lowell? I remember reading that B&M built the Lowell Branch to invade B&L territory in Lowell, while the B&L built a t line to Lawrence. Now B&L could invade B&M territory in Lawrence. When B&L and B&M merged, they had 2 routes between the two cities. The B&M Lowell branch survived.

This is similar to some of the branches between the B&M ( Western Route), and the Eastern RR. Both of these companies built branches into the competitor's territory.

The B&L ROW went nearly thru the dead center of the 93 and 495 interchange. You can still see part of the raised grade in the SW corner as it comes nearly to grade level with the 495N to 93S on/off ramps.

Is the Industrial Track (Hill Branch?) the original B&L ROW? Or was there another alignment?

I find the USGS topo maps invaluable when looking for these old lines.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/ ... 2/-71.2389

Here are the maps from 1886 and 1888:

https://imgur.com/a/1e2KxXd

I lived in the Archstone apartments in early 2000s and stumbled across one segment of this line on the property. It always fascinated me. I have a photo somewhere and I’ve been looking for it all night now. If I find it I’ll post.

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ is also good for finding old lines.

This is great. Thanks for sharing.

https://historicaerials.com/ is another great resource for both topo maps, and as the name suggests, historical aerial images (some dating back to the 1930's!)