The Ghost Stoneham Branch

I had the below post on the Kennebago Ghost Line thred, but thought that the Stoneham Branch deserved its own topic.

In regards to the never completed portion of the Stoneham Branch, it may have been me who posted that here some time ago. A bunch of us found out about it from the Medford Historical Society and at first didn't believe it. We went out there and low and behold, there is an embankment that is about as wide and straight as any railroad ROW. There isn't much of it, but if you know what you are looking for, you can't miss it. If you aren't into railroading, you'd think that it was just some dirt embankment. It runs along the back of Victory Park right after you enter the woods. One end of it runs into a parking lot at the High School. The other end is obliterated by the Lawrence Estates development from the 1930's.

I did further research on this mystery branch and there is mention of it, I believe, in Ronald Dale Karr's book on Southern New England Railroads. There were apparently three attempts to build the Stoneham Branch, with the one mentioned above running out of money before it was completed. The other one was planned, but again, the venture ran out of money before construction started. The final one is the one that we all know and love and miss today.

On another note, that fire road that starts at the end of Playstead Road is just that. I originally thought it was some kind of abandoned trolley line, but as far as I have been able to find out, it didn't serve any railroad or trolley line.

Interesting. But, what route was it supposed to take? That playstead rd fireroad seems to make perfect sense since playstead road spurs right off from the main line, and shoots up that fire road which in turn heads straight for stoneham. But that ROW behind victory park (I'll have to check that out soon, I mountain bike in those woods all the time) doesn't seem to come from any rail road or head towards stoneham at all??

Medford High School is built on an old quarry that used to be part of the Medford Woods/Middlesex Fells Reservation. As a kid back in the 50s and 60s my little friends and I explored that area extensively. The path that ran behind Victory Park that looks like a ROW was the service road to the quarry(I believe). I don't think it was ever intended for railroad service and I don't know how it ever would have connected to the tracks in West Medford - the tracks would have to run about 2 miles up Winthrop Street and then up Playstead Road for about 1.5 miles past the tennis courts.

I just looked at a 1943 topo map of the area and there were many unimproved roads running through the Medford Woods back then and none of them looiked like ROWs and none of them appeared to lead directly to Stoneham.

The briddle path on the other side of Playstead Road always looked to me like a ROW. However, a few years ago I called my old history teacher up there who was active in the Historical Society, Joe Valeriani, and he did not know anything about plans to cut a railroad in there to Stoneham. On the topo map that path winds around in the woods but really doesn't go anywhere near Stoneham.

I checked out the area behind that park a few weeks ago while I was out biking. I gotta tell you, I saw nothing that looked even remotely like a ROW. I'll have to check again in the fall. I also used that fire road at the end of playstead road to get there. That HAS to have been a ROW, or at least planned to be one. You can see where it it was dug in to make it level. I'm still guessing that either IT was one of the possible routes to stoneham, OR maybe it was a branch for freight to supply the old military base that is right at the end of it off of south border road.

went looking for teh playstead road fire road
couldnt find it
well ould I ask where is it but Ill be there tomorrow

go to www.fellsbiker.com and check out the Fells map, you can see where the fire road is there.

is it that path taht leads up where play stad ends
at the jct with winthrop+playstead?

Well there is a fireroad where you are describing which is the one that i think HAS to have been dug as a ROW. Then there is the other alleged ROW at the back of the field nearby that I couldn't see at all.

hmm I dunno abpout that path
It goes up steeply and has very sharp curves

Have you ridden it in person? The curves are very mellow, and its up a hill but not that steep, probably not much steaper than the current stoneham branch that winds through town. And it clearly looks, to me anyway, like the rode was 'cut in'.

yes I saw the cut but it has a fair grade and the curve is somewhat sharp

Pics!

Looking towards plasystead


Looking towards the cut


Close up of the Cut

Maybe I didn't go far enough behind the field, I didn't see anything like that. Where exactly is that on the fells map?

lol have to check out behind victory park
The fire road is a tad steep

I grew up in West Medford and used to explore there when I was a kid in the 50s and early 60s. At that time the trail was used as a bridal path by the stables on Playstead Road.

I once heard that the Eastern Mass trolley system had planned to run up Playstead Road and had supposedly cut a ROW into the Medford Woods on the north side of Winthrop Street, however, I could never get any confirmation on that. That's why I contacted Joe Valerani from the Medford Historical Society, who didn't know anything about it. However, that trail looks a lot like a railroad or trolly ROW and I doubt that anyone would go to that much trouble to build a fire road into the woods. That being said, the WPA (Work Program Administration) in the 1930's might have done the work on this as sort of a maike busy project for people out of work.

One more thing with regard to fire roads in the Medford Woods; they are all over the place. When you look at an old topo map of the woods you have to wonder whay anyone would have cut all those roads unless they had planned to deveop the woods. That also makes me think the WPA might have had something to do with the roads and trails.

I plan to be in that area in the next couple of weeks and bring my mountain bike and digital camera to see if I can identify the origins of that path/trail/row. This seems humorous to me; I'm almost 60 years old and I'll be moutain biking on a trail that I used to play on as a kid. Someday soon I plan and growing up (as soon as my bike wears out).