When did freight service to Danvers end?

Does anyone know when Eastern Propane, located in Danvers, stopped getting its supplies delivered by freight train? I have been told that freight trains stopped running to Eastern Propane right after the trestle over the Waters River burned, which happened around 1985. However, I seem to recall seeing freight cars, mostly tank cars, at Eastern Propane sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s. If Guilford was in fact running trains to Eastern Propane at this time, the trains had to have been coming in from Wakefield, not Salem, as a train coming from Salem would have to cross the Waters River Trestle. Looking forward to hearing from whoever has the answer to my question! Thanks!

There was a lone Guilford GP40 parked light between US 1 and Lowell St. one evening in December 1997, IIRC. This may have been the evening after a grade crossing accident occurred on US 1 and could have been the last movement on the Newburyport Branch beyond Wakefield Industrial Park. I saw it from I-95 while driving north that night. I got off the highway onto US 1 and went into that parking lot behind the Hallmark building to get a closer look. I remember thinking that I wished it wasn't dark and that I wished I had a camera. There's nothing there now.

alexander wrote:There was a lone Guilford GP40 parked light between US 1 and Lowell St. one evening in December 1997, IIRC. This may have been the evening after a grade crossing accident occurred on US 1 and could have been the last movement on the Newburyport Branch beyond Wakefield Industrial Park. I saw it from I-95 while driving north that night. I got off the highway onto US 1 and went into that parking lot behind the Hallmark building to get a closer look. I remember thinking that I wished it wasn't dark and that I wished I had a camera. There's nothing there now.

Great, thanks for that information. It appears that freight trains did in fact run to Danvers until the mid-to-late 1990s. The grade crossing accident you speak of sounds vaguely familiar to me. It probably occurred due to the lack of gates where the Newburyport Branch crossed Route 1. While I have only seen that crossing once, a long time ago, my recollection is that it had flashing lights, but no gates. I wonder if the Newburyport Branch will ever be resurrected? Probably not, since a good chunk of it has been made into a walking/biking trail.

No pics of actual trains on the Newburyport Branch. However...

U.S. 1 RR Crossing:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 1_20030111

This is when the rails were getting ripped up in Peabody:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... r_20030111

Under I-95, Peabody:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 1_20030111

By 2001 nothing was going to Wakefield Industrial Park. The rails are there, but the weeds are growing:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... h_20011027

Under Route 128:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 2_20011201

Interesting note about that last pic: This concrete underpass was first constructed in 1948 when RRs still used steam. The bridge was lengthened in 1958 when 128 was widened. The newer 1958 sections are easy to see because they don't have a steel plate barrier on the ceiling of the underpass.

alexander wrote:No pics of actual trains on the Newburyport Branch. However...

U.S. 1 RR Crossing:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 1_20030111

This is when the rails were getting ripped up in Peabody:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... r_20030111

Under I-95, Peabody:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 1_20030111

By 2001 nothing was going to Wakefield Industrial Park. The rails are there, but the weeds are growing:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... h_20011027

Under Route 128:
http://massroads.com/image.php?subject= ... 2_20011201

Interesting note about that last pic: This concrete underpass was first constructed in 1948 when RRs still used steam. The bridge was lengthened in 1958 when 128 was widened. The newer 1958 sections are easy to see because they don't have a steel plate barrier on the ceiling of the underpass.

Thank you very much for posting these pictures. I must admit that I can't help but feel a bit sad when looking at them...it really is a shame that the Newburyport Branch was abandoned and will probably never be brought back. When the branch was abandoned, which we think was in 1997, I was only nine years-old. Therefore, I never had the opportunity to see a freight train run on the branch, with the possible exception of the tank cars I remember seeing at Eastern Propane. By the way, do you know if Guilford serviced any other customers on the Newburyport Branch? Or was Eastern Propane the only one?

eastern was on the essex rr, not the newburyport branch. they also served a beer distributor in danvers and a chemical company as well. i'm sure there were others.

tom18287 wrote:eastern was on the essex rr, not the newburyport branch. they also served a beer distributor in danvers and a chemical company as well. i'm sure there were others.

Thanks for that correction. As a matter of fact, after I posted the previous comment, I realized that Eastern Propane was actually located on the Danvers Branch, not the Newburyport Branch. The Danvers Branch began in Salem and connected with the Newburyport Branch in Danvers. The Danvers Branch is actually still in use today, to serve a factory in Peabody called Eastman Gelatine. On average, you will only see a freight train going there once a week. The train runs on the Danvers Branch until it is almost at Peabody Square, where it switches on to the old South Reading Branch, which in turn goes to Eastman Gelatine. I believe that after Eastman, the track has been ripped up, although I could be wrong.

railfan1988 wrote:

tom18287 wrote:eastern was on the essex rr, not the newburyport branch. they also served a beer distributor in danvers and a chemical company as well. i'm sure there were others.

Thanks for that correction. As a matter of fact, after I posted the previous comment, I realized that Eastern Propane was actually located on the Danvers Branch, not the Newburyport Branch. The Danvers Branch began in Salem and connected with the Newburyport Branch in Danvers. The Danvers Branch is actually still in use today, to serve a factory in Peabody called Eastman Gelatine. On average, you will only see a freight train going there once a week. The train runs on the Danvers Branch until it is almost at Peabody Square, where it switches on to the old South Reading Branch, which in turn goes to Eastman Gelatine. I believe that after Eastman, the track has been ripped up, although I could be wrong.

Tracks and grade crossings are still intact past Eastman to Wakefield Distribution Systems on 1st Ave., about a mile past Eastman. Their siding marks the end of the line, little less than 1/2 mile shy of 128. Looks like that was the most recent customer served in that industrial park. There's also an extremely overgrown siding at U.S. Foodservice, and looks like maybe another paved-over one that used to serve one of the warehouses on the 2nd St. cul de sac. B&M rebuilt the whole line out to there when that industrial park opened in 1965. Tracks are overgrown and definitely look like they haven't seen a train in 10 years, but they're designated OOS not abandoned. Abandonment-happy PAR never maintains lines as OOS when it can dump, so there must be either some sliver of potential for reactivated business at the park or pressure from Peabody officials to hold off on full abandonment in the unlikely event the town itself can woo a new customer to the park.

I believe the North Shore Transit Study has identified that for commuter rail service to Peabody?

commuter rail service to Peabody? there already is - it's literally a mile away in Salem...

newpylong wrote:commuter rail service to Peabody? there already is - it's literally a mile away in Salem...

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/t_pr ... sp?id=1012

Danvers/Peabody with service to North Shore Mall

*edit - got this info earlier today from MBTA forum*

The last train to operate up to the beer distributor in Danvers was in March 1998. After that the only remaining customer on the branch was Jefferson Smurfit, located along route 128 in Wakefield. Service was provided twice a week in a back up move from Wakefield Junction with a caboose. Unfortunately, heavy rainfall in mid April 2001 flooded the tracks in Wakefield and washed out a portion of the roadbed. Rather than fix the problem, Guilford terminated the service at the end of the month.

Ed Canney wrote:The last train to operate up to the beer distributor in Danvers was in March 1998. After that the only remaining customer on the branch was Jefferson Smurfit, located along route 128 in Wakefield. Service was provided twice a week in a back up move from Wakefield Junction with a caboose. Unfortunately, heavy rainfall in mid April 2001 flooded the tracks in Wakefield and washed out a portion of the roadbed. Rather than fix the problem, Guilford terminated the service at the end of the month.

Is Seaboard Products the beer distributor you are talking about? Seaboard Products is a beer distributor located in Danvers, on Collins Street. The Newburyport Brach crossed Collins Street at grade, very close to where Seaboard Products is located.

There are actually 2 beer distributors the. One is Seaboard and the other is Merrimac. They are directly
across the tracks (trail) from each other. One handles Budweiser products, the other Coors, Miller, etc.
I think Merrimac was the last one to receive rail service, although there was a siding to Seaboard also.
Check it out, they're both still there. Andy

Just a couple notes/corrections...

The line beyond Eastman is not intact. There was a washout about 5 years ago during the Mother's Day floods that washed out a culvert at Summit Street. The culvert was repaired, but the tracks were not re-connected. There is another thread somewhere that talks about the South Peabody line. Also the line was not rebuilt at the time of the industrial park in the 1960's. The line ended just beyond Corwin Street, beyond the brick building that is still there and at that time was called "Bayco." The line was "extended" the short distance to the industrial park with connection for Bicknell Fuller box company, Stern Can and I believe SS Pierce. There is also a run around track just before the crossing in the industrial track. This line was pretty busy when I was a kid and saw daily service from the Salem switcher. There were several leather companies, JJ Newbury warehouse, Eastman, the industrial park, a chemical comany, even a grain company near downtown. It was not unusual to see a 10-15 car train on the line each day.

here are a couple photos of the Danvers area. There is also a shot of Peabody a couple pages up from that. I have also included a couple black and white images of a derailment in Danvers in the 70's:
http://photos.nerail.org/show/?order=by ... highrail55