Walking the old lines

Ive posted this on another forum but have been asked to post here.

Last weekend some friends and I took a walk along the freight cut off in Somerville and then along the Lowell CR. We then went over and along the Grand Junction. It was a great walk and we took lots of pictures. I am only linking to the main page of my site because there are so many pictures.

Click on Walk 1 under Urban Exploration
http://www.vanshnookenraggen.com

Nice pictures you snaped!
I use to work for the B&M in the yard in somerville on transfer 1 and on saturdays we worked bo-1 extra, the place was called yard 8.
I cant beleave its abandoned now or at least partially.
The freight cutoff was always a experiance to work on, it was full of degenerates back in the 80's.
The train that was passing you on the grand juntion was called the southside switcher and it takes cars and engines betwen south hampton st and bet. Nice Pics

Great pictures! Thanks for taking all the time to post and share them.

My grand parents used to live on Rogers Ave in Somerville and when I was a kid in the 50s I used to go down and watch the long freights slowly move up to the junction. Also, I remember the box factory quite well - my mother used to work there before she got married and told us stories about the place.

Love those T maps, green down Blue Hill ave is cool Green to Medford is awesome and green to Needham is cool. Orange is cool staying at Forest Hills. Improve bus service to West Roxbury Nice job on those maps

Another question, what is the abandoned line from Needham to Newton called? (The place that they could extend the Green Line)

Superb pictures! I was about to make that trip myself, but looks like there is no point anymore I recently did the same (well, not quite as good) thing to the Clematis Brook branch in Waltham:
http://narrow.parovoz.com/us/waltham/. The Bemis branch to follow

Great pics! My firend and I were going to do that as well but when we got to the Waltham CR stop, the train showed up so we decided to skip it.

vanshnookenraggen wrote:Another question, what is the abandoned line from Needham to Newton called? (The place that they could extend the Green Line)

This line is not abandoned, it is freight only. The Bay Colony RailRoad still runs from Needham Jct. to Newton Upper Falls one or two times during the week (I believe they open up at Needham Jct. around 1230 or so after the inbound commuter clears, sorry but I don't have the exact time).

Ah! I was just about to post a picture of the engine that lies abandoned on those tracks because I didn't recognize the logo. But now I know it a Bay Colony Railroad Engine. Thanks CSX Conductor!

Incidentally, that line hasn't been used in at least a year and a half, unless they're moving the engine onto a siding and putting back after they're done. I've crawled around it, and not only is it dead, the people in the apartment complex next door have set up a chair inside the cab. And before that train got there, the line was covered in unpenetrable brush. Still it's a nice line to walk. The bridge over the Charles has no bottom, though, so tread carefully.

I haven't been near those tracks in quite some time.......wasn't even sure if the engine was still there. Last I heard it was being purchased by Charles Ro Hobbies in Malden.

Really? I'll have to go down there and check. I wonder how he'll move it.

Are you seriously telling me those tracks in the pictures about halfway down page 1 (tracks under water and the horridly bent rail) are still in service? If so, WOW.

I am 100% serious. Ive actually seen a train stopped right before the submerged tracks.

____________________________________^^^^
The submerged tracks I could kind of see, but THESE tracks?

Sad but true, they don't put alot of $$ into fixing them because they are not required to since this line is classified as "FRA Excepted Track".