Proposed railroads Massachusetts

arthur d. wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 4:27 am I seen to recall a monorail like system in Jacksonville Fla. years ago, the " stations" of which gave the homeless people of the city places to solicit funds. Wondering what became of it.

It's still there and operating.

https://www.jtafla.com/schedules/skyway/

There is talk of a new one between Miami and Miami Beach

Thanks for the link BTG.

Has anyone encountered any form of an "as built" plan (or even just a complete plan) of the stillborn "Lancaster Railroad" (Hudson to Lancaster)?

Wow, I had no idea there was (barely) ever a railroad there. If you're looking for the route, its possible to trace out most of it using a combination of old aerial and topo maps. The earliest aerial imagery available on historic aerials is from 1938, and it looks like the most useful topomap is the one from 1943. The only bits that don't seem clear are the parts through the downtowns of Bolton and Hudson.

Not a complete map this link provides some locations you can view the ROW from today but only in Bolton.
https://boltontrails.org/wp-content/upl ... ilroad.pdf

I have tried to figure this ROW before, Two locations I'm pretty certain about are approximately 60 Bolton Station Rd. Lancaster and where it tied into the WN&P roughly between Mill St. and Kilbourn Rd. in Lancaster .

edited at 22:30 Oct 4.

The best place to see the ROW is the Danforth Creek Property in Hudson. Walk about 100 yards from the trailhead, and the embankment will be obvious. There's a trail that runs on the embankment for a distance.


A portion of the ROW is visible north of Century Mill Road, about 900 feet west of Route 85. It's on private property, so stay on the road.


As noted in the link posted by neman2, there is a notch visible from I-495S.

Wilder Pond Conservation Area off Route 117 is reportedly a good spot to see it, but I haven't been there myself.

Thanks. I've walked part of it in Camp Resolute decades ago when my son was in Scouts. Unfortunately now, walking it is out of the question for me. I can pick out bits and pieces on Google Earth. Sadly, it doesn't appear to have been picked up on any topo maps that have been preserved.

Thanks. I've walked part of it in Camp Resolute decades ago when my son was in Scouts. Unfortunately now, walking it is out of the question for me. I can pick out bits and pieces on Google Earth and topos. These photos and the brochure with map in the link posted by neman2 are a big help. I'll have to make a "leisure trip" drive up that way and check out these vantage points.

caduceus wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:29 pm The what now?!?

So, piquing my curiosity, I did some searches. The only references to Lynn and a monorail I could find of substance was a Mass Senate bill introduced in 1964 (S.535) to study a monorail between Lynn and Revere, which did result in a Senate resolution to allow the MBTA to study it, but that's about it.

I can find a number of bills introduced (and reintroduced, and reintroduced...) to study implementation of a monorail system in general, primarily for the South Shore or to Worcester/Springfield. A few in the mid-80s mention specifically "MARK IV" technology, which was the system built specifically for Walt Disney World when it opened until they were replaced between 89-91. I couldn't find dispositions on them easily. But most of them seemed like wishful thinking more than actual plans, when everyone was in love with the idea of the "futuristic" technology. Even Disney today is reluctant to spend the money it takes to replace the current aging system because it never really took off as a practical system.

Clearly I should have provided more detail to help you find it (the monorail proposal). It dates to 1835 (about 50 years before Meigs), and is definitely a straddle-type monorail. I don't know if there was ever an actual charter, but there is a map, route profile, and some construction method detail.

Cool find! They termed it a "suspension railway", which is why I couldn't find it. But that term makes me think of something like the Wuppertal monorail - but I can't see how that works with the diagrams shown.