BostonUrbEx wrote:They reached all the way to Central Street yesterday....and now you know why this ROW was history if they didn't put the trail in to firm up the property lines. That's more or less the same town/abutters protection racket that drove the T insane here.
Unfortunately they're moving too fast for their own good. I found some scrappers on Adams Ave stealing tie plates and who-knows-what-else. There was a cop who I informed literally 100 feet away and he didn't do anything... at all... he shrugged his shoulders and said "well if these things are just sitting there near the road, it's kind of like 'hey, take me'." I couldn't believe it. I let the Iron Horse guys know and they couldn't believe he didn't do anything.
Railroad Forums
Saugus Branch Abandonment
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IIRC (it's been 40+ years) the yard at West Lynn in the angle between the Saugus Branch and the Eastern Route was laid out like a public delivery area - tracks in pairs with paved areas between them (like the yard railroad west of the Tobin Bridge approach overpass in Chelsea). I recall some traffic there in the 1960s but activity had ended by 1980. The quad hopper behind the pile of ballast at the east end has been there for 30 years.
I expect that before 1950, a good deal of what GE produced at River Works was loaded as LCL and carload shipments there.
I expect that before 1950, a good deal of what GE produced at River Works was loaded as LCL and carload shipments there.
I was looking to post the news the I noticed driving through Revere earlier today that most of the rails have been pulled up and the ROW has been converted to an unpaved trail. But it appears most of you already know?
When did this happen?
When did this happen?
theseaandalifesaver wrote:I was looking to post the news the I noticed driving through Revere earlier today that most of the rails have been pulled up and the ROW has been converted to an unpaved trail. But it appears most of you already know?Last summer? Sections of it are starting construction and are walkable on the gravel. At least in small block-long chunks in Everett and Malden. But for the most part it's just removed hardware at-present, and in Malden they haven't yet booted the private abutters who park their trucks and dumpsters on the ROW. It'll get strung together bit-by-bit. Lynn has not approved its segment because the mayor blocked it over "safety concerns"...whatever that means. So the eastern terminus is Lincoln Ave., Saugus until Lynn gets its act together.
When did this happen?
It's still an active line in Everett south of Tileston St. The T keeps the runaround track operable past its ballast pile and stores boxcars on it. The trail thus has to stop at the park on the corner of Prescott and Tremont because that's the last at-grade exit to the street grid. Tileston's on an overpass. Slightly inconvenient for accessing the Mystic River trails, Gateway Ctr., or walking to Wellington. That is part of the plan since the Mystic system is getting expanded and the narrow-sidewalk drawbridge on 16 over the Mystic is getting replaced, but they may have to alt-route that connection to the river away from the ballast track.
So chances of any service ever being replaced on the line ever again is pretty much over.
theseaandalifesaver wrote:So chances of any service ever being replaced on the line ever again is pretty much over.The state and PAR tried for nearly 20 years to attract new customers. A lot of that rail ripped out was 1980's installation that never saw a train. Trace the line on Google Maps...there's virtually nothing left abutting it that looks like a potential customer. Lynn and Saugus are nearly all-residential. What little is left near Malden Ctr. for commercial/industrial is almost entirely on small lots. And the only halfway-large industrial properties are on the first half-mile in Everett. Tough to see how this thing would sustain anything more than a weekly lite engine move in the best of circumstances.
Medford Branch and Reading Line are in the same boat. Freight's gone, area's flipped a lot more residential and upscale-trending than it was 25 years ago. There are so few properties left zoned for heavy industrial or set up to support generation of any kind of significant shipping volumes that it's almost impossible to picture where sustainable new customers could even set up shop.
Saugus branch seems ideal for passenger rail service though. Lynn and North Revere are two areas that could definitely use more rail service to/from the city.
But the Saugus Branch doesn't have much hope of properly serving those places. The Saugus Branch is 9.5 miles end-to-end (versus 7.5 miles for that section of the Eastern Route), and has almost no fully straight sections. It has 28 grade crossings (that's 2 more than even the B Branch), versus 6 on the Eastern Route south of Lynn - and those grade crossings include every major road like 60 and 107. Increased service to Lynn is only ever going to be Blue Line + increased Eastern Route frequency.
The branch doesn't hit where it needs to. The densest area it serves is Malden - right next to Malden Center station. From there it runs along the fringes of Everett and through a lot of swamps.
Proper rapid transit for Everett, Chelsea, and west Revere would be a line up Route 1. You could tie it into the system via the Eastern Route, to the Blue Line via the Grand Junction, or to a new line running over a Tobin replacement. You could even switch it over to the Saugus Branch just past the Route 60 rotary if you wanted to get to Saugus proper without grade crossing hell.
The branch doesn't hit where it needs to. The densest area it serves is Malden - right next to Malden Center station. From there it runs along the fringes of Everett and through a lot of swamps.
Proper rapid transit for Everett, Chelsea, and west Revere would be a line up Route 1. You could tie it into the system via the Eastern Route, to the Blue Line via the Grand Junction, or to a new line running over a Tobin replacement. You could even switch it over to the Saugus Branch just past the Route 60 rotary if you wanted to get to Saugus proper without grade crossing hell.
