Siding Tewksbury State Hospital?

[NRGeep]

Was there a coal siding and/or a passenger stop at the still partially open hospital?

[jaymac]

https://web.archive.org/web/20160102141 ... rc93sw.jpg shows Almshouse Station just compass SE of the Tewksbury Junction wye. The almshouse had been repurposed and renamed as the hospital, but maps weren't/aren't always accurate. A bit further east, flows not the Shawsheen, but the Shawshine.
As far as coaling service, most of Commonwealth's state hospitals did have that. 2 exceptions that come readily to recall would be Worcester and Rutland State Hospitals, but only because their elevations were far higher than nearby rail lines, so drayage would have been the final delivery. The Industrial School in Lancaster also had drayage, but only because it was a distance from the WN&P.
Ronald Dale Karr's The Rail Lines of Southern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History, 1995, shows passenger service between Wamesit and Lawrence ending in 1924 and abandonment for the Tewksbury State Hospital stretch of track in 1926 (p. 21).

[SeaportMike]

I know this post is over year old but.. I can assure you the hospital is still fully open. Here’s a picture of the spur https://hvrd.art/o/5882 in question. The hospital’s rail freight house still exists and houses trade shops. The current site of the former hospital’s station was sold off a few years ago and is luxury condos. The state still owns hundreds of acres around the hospital including a mile or so of the old rail beds.

[artman]

You are correct about the siding. I walked the railbed this morning. It is not the same thing as Almshouse Station.

The siding broke from the L&L just West of the current Tewksbury Rod and Gun Club and continued through the Senior Center, across Chandler and East Street and ended at one of the first buildings parallel to the service road. Coal delivery seems highly likely. I was able to walk from the former wye to the Senior parking lot before I was stopped by a fence. Will check our south side of East to see if there are any remnants at the hospital.

TJ.jpg (566.99 KiB) Viewed 525 times

[JCitron]

This definitely was for coal. I worked at 540 Main Street in Tewksbury with some locals, one of whom lived on North Street next to where the crossing was. He was an older man back 40 years ago, and remembered seeing the coal trains going across North Street. He went on to say that one day a crew came through and ripped up the tracks and that was the end of service. There's a house built right on the ROW there today.

https://goo.gl/maps/FDZDyZoEE71JdxnS8