Lowell Line - Winchester, Woburn, Wilmington Spottings

[cabooser]

Im going to ask this here rather than start a thread. I sometimes see tankers off Dascomb Rd. in Tewksbury parked. Who do they service and where do those tracks go(each direction)?thanks

[l008com]

There is a business off of nearby shawsheen st that takes bunches of tankers at a time. It looks like they transfer whatever they have to trucks to deliver at that point. The tracks by dascomb rd, if you are talking about where I think you are talking about, are the Reading-Haverhill mbta line.

[cabooser]

the tracks actually cross dascomb rd. I'm pretty sure that these go under the bridge next to the Wal-mart parking lot. Still Hav./Reading?

[l008com]

I just looked on google maps and unless i'm missing something, Dascomb rd doesn't cross any tracks?

[Rockingham Racer]

I think he's talking about the freight main betwwen LJ and BY.

[Ed Canney]

Tonight I drove over the spur on Woburn Street in Wilmington that leads to Wilmington Cold Storage:

- It looks like it has not seen a train in some time as the weeds were at least 3-4 feet high and track very rusty.

- The track that crosses Industrial Way where the storage company is located was partially paved over.

- The siding next to the storage company had a lot of weeds and tree growth.

[doublebell]

The most visible tank cars off Dascomb Road would be at PRAXAIR. There are usually 5 or so there that can be seen from Shawsheen Street. Empties may be found on the Demoulas runaround near the East Street crossing of the freight main.

You would have to look for it, but just east of PRAXAIR and west of I93, California Paint sometimes has a tank car.

John (the guy in the white car)

[l008com]

I went by wilmington cold storage last night. It looks like they put a final coat of asphault on the street, and in the process, they completely filled in between the rails of the branch. The top of the trails are right at street level. I doubt they are abandoning the spur, else why would they have modified the switch? But I'd imagine its going to make quite a mess when a train goes by next.

[cabooser]

Doublebell--when did the line in m'head become a walking path? Did it end at Gilbert and Cole, and was this a freight line? Rockingham Racer--what do LJ and BY stand for?

and where do these tracks in Teksbury end up (and go through) southbound? is this the BY you speak of?

thanks again--
..a train lover for years, yet still green.

[Rockingham Racer]

Rockingham Racer--what do LJ and BY stand for?

and where do these tracks in Teksbury end up (and go through) southbound? is this the BY you speak of?

thanks again--
..a train lover for years, yet still green.

Sorry. Didn't mean to be cryptic. LJ and BY are control points under the direction of a dispatcher. LJ stands for Lowell Junction [where there used to be a tower], and BY is the former Bleachery interlocking plant, which was under the control of the train director at BO [Lowell Tower]. I visited both in the "old days".

So, the track being referred to here in Tewksbury makes up a portion of Pan Am's [ugh] freight main line running between Lowell Jct. and the south side of Lowell [CPF-BY]

[l008com]

OK a very strange thing happened tonight. I was down by New Boston road in Woburn and there goes a train. It was a freight, no gravel train so I assumed it must be a LOSA. I also figured it must be switching SOMEPLACE around with that many cars, so I headed south to follow. I caught up as it was switching out Rohstien and the place next door. It was very cool to watch. Then, when it looked like it was done, the locomotive took off! At first I thought maybe it was going up a little ways to grab a car or two someplace else, rather than take the whole train with em. But then I realized there really is no other customers up that way. So I headed south again to check it out. Then when I was at montvale ave in woburn, I saw the locomotive heading back, but on the opposite track.

Was he running around his train to take it back up north instead of down to boston? Is this what they do all the time now? Was this not the LOSA?

Lots of telephone poles on this train, a bucket with some huge chunks of granite, and lots of box cars. Two of them were wobbling so badly, I can't imagine what would happen if that train every tried to go fast. The track was nice and straight and these two cars were just going back and forth so much it was nuts.

[GP40MC1118]

That was LOSA last night switching Rothsteins. After they were done, they ran lite engine to Winchester and followed 343 back north to Anderson,
then back to their train. Went to Lowell as SALO.

They will do this when they are not coming to Boston.

d

[l008com]

Interesting! I kinda figured that must be what was happening, but not after hanging around for a long time waiting for the train oops. So it was a decently long train, where were all the other cars headed? Why didn't it just leave them in lowell?

[l008com]

Also I poked around and found the walnut hill team track. Is that still connected? Is it used ever?

[GP40MC1118]

LOSA typically gets its cars in Lawrence, after running lite engine from
Lowell via Wamesit/Lowell Jct.

Those cars were just forwarded to Lowell via LOSA out of Lawrence.

Walnut Hill should be in service...I think occassional cars of bricks
are set off there. Unless that's dried up too...

D