Abandoned Station Walpole

[MBTA1016]

Ege, I'm almost willing to bet the people who use it live along plimpton st. It's not real obvious trains even stop there.

[Austin023]

I used to use Plimptonville often as I lived nearby on Fisher Street for many years. I had seen old pictures once that depicted a small station building and two sets of tracks. It would have stood pretty close to the overpass over Plimpton Street. I do not know much else about it or when the building was removed, but it had to have been there at least by 1910 or so. There are a number of abandoned rail lines, spurs, etc. around Walpole, many hidden away. There used to be a station in east Walpole as well (by Union and Washington Streets) and that was closed back in the 1940s. That too is now gone and little trace is left now; in fact there is little evidence left that there was ever a rail line there. Does anyone know anything else about Plimptonville, etc. of Walpole?

[MBTA1016]

The old east walpole station site is where a Sharon credit union bank stands today, the rail bridge that was there got torn down a few years ago as well.

[Tom coughlin]

Regarding Plimptonville; I grew up there in the 60's and 70's. I heard from family members that coal used at the Bird Mills plant in East Walpole was unloaded at Plimptonville. That was until the Wrentham Branch was completed in the 1890's, The current bridge dates from the late 1800's, I've been told that Plimpton Street crossed the railroad at grade at one time. If you're every driving west on Plimpton Street where it runs parallel to the Neponset River and the railroad, notice what looks like a roadway grade climbing along the side of the embankment. One story I've heard was that this was the original route of Plimpton St. Another is that this was a temporary road while the bridge was being built.

When I was young, the station sign was still there. It spanned two posts just south (TT west) of the station platform. The posts might still be there. I was told that one of the Plimptons asked permission to take the sign and hung it in his office in NYC. The family may still have the sign. It was one of those long wooden signs painted black with white lettering that were common on the New Haven at one time.

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

[charding]

There's a photo of the Plimptonville Station for sale on Ebay right now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WALPOLE-MA-RR-T ... 4cf9bc1934

[Tom coughlin]

In this picture, you can see the Plimtonville sign I was talking about.

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

[MBTA1016]

Tom, I read somewhere a couple of months ago someone stole a car and tried to go up that embankment off plimpton st up to the tracks. He didn't get away and got arrested but the car got stuck considering it was a Cadillac.

Here's the link to the story of the walpole pd website. http://www.walpolepd.com/past_news.html

[Tom coughlin]

That car made it all the way up the embankment and made a 180 degree turn to head north (timetable east) down the tracks. That's amazing! The Article mentions the "Snoopy Rock" which is located at that sharp bend after Plimpton St crosses the Neponset River and turns 90 degrees to follow the RR and the river. To get this back on topic, Walpole was traversed by 3 railroad lines. At one time, you couldn't enter or leave Walpole Center without crossing over or under a RR. There were at least 8 stations in town at one time, most abandoned. These are the ones I know of:

East Walpole (Wrentham Br)
Walpole Heights (Wrentham Br)
Cedar (formerly Walpole Jct, Wrentham Br and Framingham Secondary)
Pondville (Wrentham Br. - the station building still exists as a restaurant on Rt. 1)
Plimptonville (Active - Franklin Br.)
Walpole (Active - Franklin Br and Framingham Secondary)
West Walpole (Franklin Branch - I'm not sure where this was. The late New Haven Railroad historian Fran Donovan once told me that it was last used as a stop for Walpole school students. You see, Norfolk kids attended Walpole schools up to the 1950's and at one time those kids rode the train to Walpole from City Mills, Norfolk and Highland Lake stations)
South Walpole (now the South Walpole Post Office - Framingham Secondary)

Did I miss any?

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

(I grew up in Plimptonville which has a lot of interesting history beyond just the railroad. One interinteresting fact: the late Joe Welch, attorney that foiled Sen. Joe McCarthy during the famous anti Communist hearings in the 50's, lived in Plimptonville)

[charding]

Think I'll email John Sullivan with the Walpole Historical Society and see if he can pinpoint where the West Walpole station was. On the Wrentham line, except for the granite bridge abutments that have survived in East Walpole, the only other remnant that I have found is where the tracks crossed Production Rd just off of Rt1A going toward Norfolk.

Also, for all you Plimptonville junkies, found this:

http://walpole-ma.gov/HistCommDocs/Lewi ... sParkA.pdf

[MBTA1016]

Tom is walpole heights where the top of the hill where 27 and Kendall st meet? I'm familiar with the others.

[charding]

No, I thought I mentioned it earlier - Walpole Hieghts was on Ellis St between Stone & Common streets - as I also said before, sometimes the picture of the station shows up on Ebay - the line was double-tracked back in those days.

[Tom coughlin]

Walpole Heights had a siding, The line was not double tracked. You could still see the ties from the siding in place into the 70's. I seemed to recall long ties on the mainline at each end indicating switches for a passing siding. I was told that Boston Edison (now NSTAR) unloaded new electric poles there at one time.
I looked at a New Haven employees timetable from 1943 and it didn't show a passing siding there. Maybe by that time, the siding was only used for the delivery of freight.

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

[MBTA1016]

Charding u did mention where walpole heights was. I probably didn't pick it up when I read the post. It's amazing to find old right of ways u wouldn't think existed that people drive over daily. I think we've covered every station in walpole, there's not much left to talk about.

[charding]

There will be one more if I can figure out how to transport a picture of the West Walpole station into this forum. John Sullivan sent me a photo and a little narrative from the Walpole Historical Society. Needless to say, not much of a station - three-sided open shed.

On the passing track at the Walpole Heights station - makes sense - the rest of the line - the bridge across Plimpton St, under East St, over Stone St and under Common St - all single track.

Yep, we have milked this thread for about all its worth - but fun.

[MBTA1016]

Should we turn this into a thread about abandoned station in towns along the franklin line. We can skip walpole since that's been dried up and hung.