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  • Woburn Branch

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1539256  by wicked
 
I’m planning to dig a bit more into this, because I’m fascinated by the line. One question: Was service suspended because of poor track conditions, financial issues or both? Did one factor outweigh the other?
 #1539260  by MBTA3247
 
According to "The Rail Lines of Southern New England" (by Ronald Dale Karr), service between Woburn Center and North Woburn Junction was discontinued in 1959, with the track being removed in 1961. I would hazard a guess that declining passenger volumes at the time meant it no longer made any sense to route some Lowell trains via the branch.

The book goes on to say that Woburn to Boston commuter service ended in 1981 due to poor track conditions, with the track being abandoned the following year.
 #1539262  by The EGE
 
The MBTA had no money to fix the track - 1981 was a year of numerous service cuts, with several Green Line stations closed. In any sensible fiscal state the line would have been repaired - at that point, Woburn had more trains than Lowell.
 #1539317  by MACTRAXX
 
TN: Good pictures from the early 1980s...

Two show the B&M RDC fleet being hauled by locomotives as they once ran.
For anyone unaware the MBTA had quite a "collection" of RDC cars from various railroads hauled by diesels with their engines used as generators only back primarily during the 1980s.

The third picture shows three of the leased Hawker-Siddeley single level GO Transit (Toronto) cars from that period.
They were displaced by the then-new GO bilevel cars in service.
I did not know that the GO cars were used in North Side Service
with the F10s...MACTRAXX
 #1539324  by MickD
 
Anyone know what was about the top speed
on the branch at the end..??
 #1539338  by Rockingham Racer
 
MACTRAXX wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 4:01 pm TN: Good pictures from the early 1980s...

Two show the B&M RDC fleet being hauled by locomotives as they once ran.
For anyone unaware the MBTA had quite a "collection" of RDC cars from various railroads hauled by diesels with their engines used as generators only back primarily during the 1980s.

The third picture shows three of the leased Hawker-Siddeley single level GO Transit (Toronto) cars from that period.
They were displaced by the then-new GO bilevel cars in service.
I did not know that the GO cars were used in North Side Service
with the F10s...MACTRAXX
I am surprised to read that the B&M had Budds from other railroads. Purportedly, it had the largest number of them of any railroad in the world.
 #1539351  by TomNelligan
 
MickD wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:39 pm Anyone know what was about the top speed on the branch at the end..??
Just 25 mph.
Rockingham Racer wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2020 6:19 am I am surprised to read that the B&M had Budds from other railroads. Purportedly, it had the largest number of them of any railroad in the world.
In the 1950s the B&M did have the largest fleet of RDCs anywhere (109), but by the early 1980s many of them were out of service and the MBTA needed working equipment. So the T acquired secondhand cars that were surplus elsewhere, from Canadian Pacific, SEPTA,and New Jersey Transit.
 #1539352  by Rockingham Racer
 
Thanks, Tom. I moved out of the area in 1963. For the B&M, it was already starting to be down and out, as I'm sure you know.
 #1539386  by BandA
 
In 1988 I was told by the Waltham crossing tender that the "derelict" equipment was banned by Amtrak, so the north side got the old equipment, because it was unreliable or didn't meet "standards". The MBTA inherited the commuter equipment from the B&M, not sure what they inherited from Conrail, I think there were still some Budd stainless but non-RDC cars on the south side in the mid-1980s. The RDCs were definitely only found on the north side by the mid 1980s.
 #1539390  by jwhite07
 
I have photos of loco hauled RDCs on a Readville shuttle at South Station in the late 1980s, complete with one car still sporting a NEW HAVEN letterboard.
 #1539396  by edbear
 
The mid-section of the Woburn Loop between Woburn and the industrial area at North Woburn had little if any freight business. The Loop at Central Square crossed under Route 128 (also 95 today) and then crossed Route 38 and went to North Woburn. The Route 38 bridge under 128 was close by the B & M underpass. The Massachusetts Dept. of Public Works reconfigured the layout of the 128/38 interchange and set up rotary traffic. Southbound 38 passes under 128 utilizing the Woburn Loop underpass. This is how the Loop got split into two parts.
 #1539406  by Red Wing
 
This is one of the branches I feel would have been nice to keep. It would have been a nice place to end electrification and 15 minute service on the inner Lowell Line.