highgreen215 wrote:There was a long ago direct connection between Middleborough and Myricks. What is the state of this original ROW? Any chance it could be reactivated or is it gone forever? This would be the only route that would make any sense, not the zig-zag, time wasting route from Middleborough to Taunton and back to Myricks.Lakeville Branch. Disappeared at some point between the NYNH&H's 1929 system map and 1947 system map, so I'm guessing a Depression-era abandonment that had no online business except for local agriculture. The current Middleboro Secondary survived in part because its straightness, better-configured junction, and many fewer grade crossings than the Lakeville Branch made it a wash on travel time and a lot more flexible for thru routings.
The more interesting case would've been if the Somerset Branch were still intact from the former diamond at Weir Jct. to the Taunton River. That would be a hell of a lot straighter and faster into Fall River and avoid the giant population cavity of Freetown State Forest by sticking to the side of the river that retained true suburban population density. State landbanking ends at Somerset Ave. in Dighton where freight service lasted into the Conrail era, and it's property-abandoned but fully intact another 2 miles to Pleasant St. @ Broad Cove thanks to wetlands. Unfortunately beyond that it's really really super hella obliterated by rich folks' waterfront housing out to Mallard Point...blocking the one make-or-break link that would've given that route any sort of curiosity.
