Remnants of ROW beyond Plymouth, MA commuter rail station

I am under the impression the Plymouth line extended beyond the current T commuter rail stop in Cordage Park at one time. I also seem to remember back in 1997 or so, some people that ran Edaville during 1996 had proposed to use some of that ROW. How far did it originally extend and how much of it is left?

Originally extended right to downtown, depot about where the rotary is now. The depot was shared with the lightly-used cross-cranberry-bog line to Middleborough.

A decent paved multi-use path runs to the edge of the downtown shopping district; there's two blocks of trees which it could be expanded on, and then two blocks of parking lots.

Following is from a 1920 public timetable for lines east. Plymouth could be reached by two different routes from Boston; one via Whitman (the present existing route) and the other via Greenbush. The two above lines joined at Kingston. The third line out of Plymouth ran to Middleboro and Taunton and in 1920 it had one round trip passenger train seven days a week. Looking at maps from this period it is clearly evident that the New Haven (and other railroads too) had more trackage than the traffic would support. A good number of these lines were cut back or fully abandoned not too many years after 1920, I have maps and employee timetables from this period and it was the same sad story everywhere, shrink, shrink and shrink some more. It was the same thing on lines west although probably not quite the problem that on lines east.
Sometimes a good customer (freight that is) would be located on one of these lines so the railroad would keep a portion of such line in operation in order to serve that good freight customer, some of them held on for quite a while for just this reason.
Noel Weaver

I think this is the line you're talking about: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/92861595" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . The two other lines that Noel mentions are also on OSM.

Thanks very much! So is all the track taken up after the bumping posts?

Is any of the ROW of that Middleborough-to-Plymouth branch still traceable in Plymouth these days? The town has become so heavily populated I'm wondering if any of it can still be seen.

Take Route 44 between Middleboro and Plymouth and you can spot a few remnants. And watch for Darby Station Road. Darby was a station on Darby Pond. The Middleboro-Plymouth line was constructed by the New Haven about 1902. I'm guessing the main reason was to shuffle equipment around more than anything else. It never had much passenger service and very little freight.

Am I correct in thinking that a large segment of 44 more or less parallels most of the old roadbed, or lies on it? I know there is an abutment to an old bridge, with a small stretch of visible ROW, just off 44 a few miles east of Middleborough.

trainsinmaine wrote:Am I correct in thinking that a large segment of 44 more or less parallels most of the old roadbed, or lies on it? I know there is an abutment to an old bridge, with a small stretch of visible ROW, just off 44 a few miles east of Middleborough.

This link should work if you have Google Earth installed:
Edit: this link should display the line on Google Maps.

Trainsinmaine, do you know where the abutment is?

My memory is a little hazy, but my somewhat educated guess is that it's at the corner of Carmel Road and 44, or very near there. I can't remember if it's the easterly abutment of an underpass or a bridge over a brook. It's on the north side of the highway and very close to it.

That route map is very helpful! Thanks.

The bridge abutments are located directly across Rt. 44 from the ruins of Peter Olivers' Mills just east of Everett St. There is ample free parking at the mill site. Be careful crossing the street as Rt.44 is very busy. The RoW can be walked for a short distance in both directions but there is little to see. There is also a longer piece of the RoW further east but access is difficult.

Aha, right you are.