Waltham Boxcars Questions

I was wondering what the history is behind the 5 B&M boxcars that are left by the Savage Flour Company in Waltham, MA (on the Fitchburg line, just inbound of the Waltham Station and the junction with the old Bemis Branch). The cars have obviously not been moved in quite some time. Are they own by Pan Am or the MBTA? Why would they simple be left to rust on a siding instead of scrapped? Also, when was the last time the flour company recieved rail service? I tried searching, but could not find anything. Thanks for the help.

I recall being told once that they belong to the building owner, not the railroad. I'm pretty sure the siding they're on has been disconnected.

The boxcars by the north side of the building belong to Savage & Company and are used for storage. They've been there for at least 20 years. Savages stopped getting rail shipments in the early 1980s. The building is the former B&M Waltham freight station, still nicely painted in traditional B&M colors. The parking lot on the south side was once the public delivery/team track area.

What I don't know is who owns the B&M milk car that's in the encroaching woods on the other side of the building... it may also have been purchased by Savage, but there were a number of those cars used for storage by the B&M at various points around the system and basically left to rust, so it may well be abandoned Guilford property. That's been there even longer than the boxcars.

Thanks for the information. Its nice to be able to put those cars in context with the history of the Fitchburg line.

Yeah, the fifth car looks to be in terrible shape; much worse than the other four. But, they did recently move it (albeit a few hundred feet down the spur) in order to pave the parking lot, so it hadn't completely rusted to the rails.