Eastern Mass Stoneham Line

Well, it took me long enough. I just forgot to link here.

http://public.wit.edu/~cutiettaj/fellsway.html

Pics from my walk on that line. Yes, that is a tie plate with two spikes in it. No, I didn't take it. Yet. I need better tools(I bent my tire iron ) to get it out. The last few are from the B&M stoneham branch. They don't belong, but I'm lazy. go up one page(by deleting the fellsway.html and hitting enter again) to go and see the rest of the site. A Fewmore pics

I mountain bike in the fells all the time. If you have a good eye you can follow the right of way for a little bit on the other side of 93 too (heading south towards boston, past the 93 entrance, then you go under 93, and up on your right...

Anyway, you must have had FUN walking along that route.....
alone.....
being a guy....

HAHAHA

Let me guess, you went in alone, and came out with 15 guys following you?

I also feel bad for Justin, Wentworth... they have a horrible admissions person Vanessa...yucko.

Talk about waking the dead - Yes, I did have fun. I don't think this link works anymore however, since I no longer go to WIT. That said, if anyone still wants to view it, I can put a copy up.

Does anyone know the last date that the Stoneham trolley line ran through the Fells area? I'm 56, and remember seeing newspaper headlines and a photo when I was very young, showing the last trolley car train on the line loaded with people catching that last ride.

Too bad they wiped out much of the trolley line ROW with I-93 through the Fells area.

The Eastern mass stopped in 1946.

The BERY stopped in 1956.

Thanks for the information.

So, did all service through the Middlesex Fells end in 1946, leaving only BERY service terminating at Elm Street from 1946 to 1956? If so, then that would mean the last trolley to go through Middlesex Fells was in 1946.

By the way, as a kid back in the 1960's I used to ride my bike from North Cambridge up to the abandoned trolley right-of-way in the Middlesex Fells Reservation. A beautiful area, and I wish light rail ran today along that route.

Yes, the BERY ran to the junction of the Eastern Mass till 1956. This became the spot where many Boston streetcars were loaded for Seashore...6131, 6270, and more.

I found this postcard on e-bay. Is this the route by the Sheepfold area?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brooks-Rd-Viaduct-M ... dZViewItem

It is further south. See the map on my MTB site here:
http://www.fellsbiker.com/maps/images/map.pdf

That bridge is no longer around, assumingly destroyed during 93 construction.

Also I agree that it would be cool to have a token trolley going through there still. But there are major issues preventing that from happening. The area it goes through from the sheepfold north is a major pick up spot for gay guys. Its really gross in there, people who bike or hike in those woods always avoid that whole area. Also, the 'friends of the fells' are a bunch of fanatics. They don't even want mountain bikes in the fells. I think its a safe bet that they would be against trolleys. Plus your not going to get very far. You basically have about two miles of right of way. Beyond that, you'd need to dig a tunnel to go under rt 93 at once end, and a fairly large bridge to go over 93 at the other end. The 3 remaining bridges would probably need some sort of DOT inspections, and I'm sure they would all fail. And I'm sure it would cost millions of dollars to replace the large trestle in there. I think it would be very cool to have, but it doesn't have a chance. I think we're much more likely to see mbta rail return to the stoneham branch (see my other thread ) than to see trolleys through the fells again. Neither of which are really going to happen.