What's with Watertown?

The section I saw was just west of the Watertown mall. Rails are still in place, and there's even still a switch and passing siding. I was unable to find anything on Google about a trail that seemed recent.

Nothing's gone past Newlyweds (north/east of Grove St.) in a long time, and that part may actually be abandoned. Others would know for sure, but the last movement down in the vicinity of the mall was probably pre-2000. Converting the line to trail south/west of Grove and Arlington Streets wouldn't impact service to Newlyweds if it ever did return.

Everything past Newlyweds at Grove Street to the School Street is abandoned and owned by the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT). This has been the case for over a decade. From School Street to Watertown Square the right of way is abandoned but has reverted to the adjacent property owners. From Newlyweds to the main line is not abandoned but hasn't seen a train in years.

Construction of a bike path has begun (Phase I) from Nichole's Ave to School Street. What you saw FatNoah was the beginning of the construction for the path which should be done by next spring.

http://watertownbikeped.org/pathdesign.html
http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown/ne ... -s-dangers

Service past Newlyweds ended sometime mid-90's. The midsection of the branch past the Mall and through Watertown Square was abandoned in 1960, and then the rest of it to the reconnection with the Fitchburg at Waltham (known as the Bemis Branch after the contiguous routing was cut in the middle) was abandoned something like 6 or 7 years ago. Except for the damn car dealership plopped directly on top of the ROW after the Mall it's pretty well contiguously preserved end-to-end. The midsection's been encroached by abutters but other than the dealership not lost. The dealership does throw a monkey wrench in the path plan becayse there's no non-awkward way to snake around it.


The fact that there was no ownership to Watertown Square probably was a reason for this being the one of the only B&M lines left out of the huge 1976 trackage sale to the MBTA. Would've actually been a nice strategic hold for the T if you figure Green Line Union Sq. Branch, extended to Porter, extended up the branch to a ready-and-waiting carhouse and yard and tried-and-true terminal (or even kept feeding to Waltham on a transfer). But even with relatively unencroached ROW in the middle the need to piece back together reverted property ownership with eminent domain made it a much less attractive grab. Will be a really nice real-deal commuter route as a trail, though, if it ever does link to Alewife. Really direct point-to-point, almost effortless on bike or rollerblade. I live right near Fresh Pond and would use it all the time to get to the Malls instead of driving. And I even groan about the Minuteman, nice as it is, abdicating a whole quarter-slice gap of badly rail transit inside of 128. Much as I wistfully imagine a Watertown-signed Type 8 rolling past me on the "Reverse A-line" when I jog around Fresh Pond in the morning, it was B&M not MBTA that took away that foresight.

If a train ever wanted to go down this line again, major brush removal would have to occur. Full bushes have grown between the rails. Trees have grown branches low over the ROW. Grass grows high. Plus parts of the track have seperated from the ties or sunken.

If a new customer were to come online along the Watertown Branch, in between Newlyweds and the junction, would Pan Am service them?

atsf sp wrote:If a train ever wanted to go down this line again, major brush removal would have to occur. Full bushes have grown between the rails. Trees have grown branches low over the ROW. Grass grows high. Plus parts of the track have seperated from the ties or sunken.

The line was heavily over grown even when Pan Am was still servicing Newlyweds. With a good working brush cutter they could have the brush cut back from the rails in a day or two.

Mcoov wrote:If a new customer were to come online along the Watertown Branch, in between Newlyweds and the junction, would Pan Am service them?

I don't see why they wouldn't but I also don’t see them trying to get a new customer on the line either. Pan Am did try to abandon the line in (2004/2005?) but that’s when I learned that they couldn’t (it may even be mentioned in this thread). I’m sure Pan Am is quite content with never servicing this branch again but if Newlyweds comes calling… you will see a train again! FYI - the last train was in February 2008!

b&m 1566 wrote:The line was heavily over grown even when Pan Am was still servicing Newlyweds. With a good working brush cutter they could have the brush cut back from the rails in a day or two.

City of Cambridge keeps the tracks clear around the waterworks and occasionally picks up trash along Danehy Park, and the little red fireplace store at Fresh Pond crossing runs the weedwacker along them once every few weeks. So not a lot of actual brush to clear. There is a lot of trash piling up further back of the fireplace store, cinderblocks and scrap metal and stuff. And the drainage is a much bigger issue. There's always the trouble spot underneath the waterworks overpass, but right after the mall crossing looks worse. The tracks are pretty much submerged in mud, and getting worse because they're moving earth for construction of some small building on the last open parcel of New St. That stretch of track looks like an even more challenging traversal than the waterworks, and is where I think conditions have most deteriorated since the last train ran (rest of the line is as bad, but really no worse, than what trains have contended with for a decade). They probably aren't get a train around the mall without sending the MOW equipment out to the mall first.

I noticed that the tracks at the level crossing on Arlington St. in Watertown have recently been taken out (sometime in the last month); presumably as part of the rail-to-trail construction.

Actually it's a different project to redesign the intersection. The boundaries of the path vs. the intersection construction project is the sidewalk. Both are being undertaken by MassDOT.

Why can't they abandon the line?

I had an opportunity to check the area out again on Friday and there were indeed MASS DOT lettered trucks parked nearby. It also looked like the former siding to the Aresenal was being cleared as well.

While I would love trains to return to the Watertown branch, I think that the branch could also make a successful bike path (rails with trails from Alewife to Newlyweds of course) with a connection to the Minuteman path.

Mcoov wrote:If a new customer were to come online along the Watertown Branch, in between Newlyweds and the junction, would Pan Am service them?

The other key question to ask yourself is, "Where would a new customer go?" There's no undeveloped or abandoned property (of large enough size) adjacent to the line that could support an industry that would generate enough traffic to warrant the investment in the branch. Probably the one "industrial" customer in the vicinity would be the concrete plant/aggregates/etc. facility on Grove Street, but that's several blocks from the railroad, and a postage stamp facility compared to the types of facilities that are good railroad customers. Everything else is all non-railroad-using commercial properties, or offices or residential.

If someone were to look to locate a sizable industrial plant for rail service in the Boston area, I don't think east Watertown is where they're going to look. Even in a recession the property is just going to cost too much for industrial use, relative to out around the 495 belt.

Some pictures from today:

By Autozone at the entrance to the NESN area
Photo 1


Behind the Watertown Mall
Photo 2

^Thanks!

Can you take pics of the branch near Newlyweds?

A poster here said that a train went there recently.

Another poster said the branch has trees/bushes growing between the rails. A train wouldn't be able to get through.

Who is correct?

Chris