by l008com
I've lived in stoneham my whole life. And the stoneham branch has been abandoned my whole life (although I read thats not entirely true, the jello factory got freight into the 80s allegedly). Now the branch runs through some pretty small side streets. And the old station at the end of the line was built long before there were any cars, so there is no parking at all. So basically, there is no chance the line will ever be brought back. BUT WAIT. A trucking company closed down at the bottom of Maple St near Montvale Ave and it got me thinking. This would be a perfect spot for a train station. And probably the only spot. Plenty of parking. Super close to 93. Less than 1 mile of track would need to be revived, from the switch at the lowel line, across to montvale, but not crossing montvale. There would only be 4 street crossings, two small side streets in woburn, washington street in woburn, and maple street in stoneham. Washington street being the only significant crossing. The old truck company is not at track level, its below, so the platform would have to be up on the hill with stairs going up to the platform from the parking area. This would probably add less than 10 minutes to the schedule of the train. And I bet that most of the track between the line & 93 is still usable. The switch (which i think i read has been removed already) is set up to face the wrong way, but if you look at the google map of the area, they could take a right turn, make kind of a small S turn and hook up to the main line facing the correct way.
Google Map of the Stoneham Branch
Granted I'm a train freak and so I am very biased, but I think this would be a good idea! If winchester has the ridership to support two train station one minute apart, I'm sure stoneham can fill some train cars. Maybe the jello place might even be interested in rail freight again. Although I think someone bought and built a building on their spur, so they'd have to build a platform of some kind out by their front gate. Unlikely but it would be cool. Why did that place give up rail freight anyway? That facility doesn't seem to have shrunk any over the years. The place still makes this whole end of town smell like certain flavors on certain days. Some days its bubblegum, some days its orange, somedays its strawberry. So what the deal, good idea, and am I nuts?
Google Map of the Stoneham Branch
Granted I'm a train freak and so I am very biased, but I think this would be a good idea! If winchester has the ridership to support two train station one minute apart, I'm sure stoneham can fill some train cars. Maybe the jello place might even be interested in rail freight again. Although I think someone bought and built a building on their spur, so they'd have to build a platform of some kind out by their front gate. Unlikely but it would be cool. Why did that place give up rail freight anyway? That facility doesn't seem to have shrunk any over the years. The place still makes this whole end of town smell like certain flavors on certain days. Some days its bubblegum, some days its orange, somedays its strawberry. So what the deal, good idea, and am I nuts?
My YouTube Channel:
John's Train Videos
John's Train Videos