Lowell Junction – Lowell railway

Lowell Junction MA-Lowell MA
Route length:	12.29 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Dual track :	today: Wamesit – Bleachery, in the past: entire route
Society:	PAR
Legend from Wilmington 0.00 Lowell Junction MA (train station in Gleisdreieck) after Agamenticus Shawsheen River Interstate 93 ? Demoulas Runaround (Dodge) Lowell – Lawrence route 4.60 Baldwin 5.65 Tewksbury MA (formerly Almont) from Lawrence 8.67 Wamesit MA (formerly Wamesit-on-Mace) Connecting track after Lowell Bay State Street Railway (Main Street) Interstate 495 9.83 Atherton MA 11.12 Wigginville MA ? Rogers Street Concord River ? Lowell MA (Central Street Station) from Lawrence from Boston 12.29 Lowell MA Bleachery to the Framingham – Lowell line to Lowell (Middlesex Street)

The railway line Lowell Junction - Lowell (also Lowell Branch ) is a railway line in Essex County and Middlesex County in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is 12.29 kilometers long and connects the towns of Tewksbury and Lowell with the Wilmington-Agamenticus railway line . The standard gauge route is operated by Pan Am Railways exclusively for freight traffic. The original section of the route from Wigginville to Lowell Central Street (approximately 2 km) has been closed.

history

In the mid-19th century, the Boston and Maine Railroad and the Boston and Lowell Railroad faced each other as strong competitors. Both companies had a main route from Boston to the north, the Boston & Maine via Andover and Lawrence, the Boston & Lowell via Wilmington and Lowell. The Boston & Lowell also had a branch line from Lowell to Lawrence and thus had access to the two main industrial centers in the north of the state. Boston & Maine, which Lowell could only reach via this branch line of Boston & Lowell, now also wanted its own access to the city. On February 5, 1873, the Lowell and Andover Railroad Company received the concession to build a railway line from Lowell to the main line of Boston & Maine, where it should flow south of Andover. The line was opened on December 1, 1874 and leased the same day by Boston & Maine, which also began operations. Lowell & Andover continued to exist until November 26, 1918, when it merged with Boston & Maine.

Originally the line had its own terminus in Lowell. In 1895, a 1.17-kilometer double-track link was built from Wigginville to the Lowell Bleachery freight yard. The passenger trains on the route now entered Lowell Central Station on Middlesex Street. In addition, the trains of the former Boston & Lowell branch line from Lawrence between Wamesit and Lowell Bleachery also ran the Lowell & Andover route. Around the same time, the line from Lowell Junction to Wigginville was double-tracked. Around 1950 the former terminus in Lowell was closed and the section from Rogers Street to it closed. Passenger traffic on the line ended in 1960. Around the same time, the second track was dismantled between Lowell Junction and Wamesit, west of Lowell Junction a short section of the second track remained as a bypass, which was known as Demoulas Runaround . In 1982 the Boston & Maine also closed the rest of the original route in Lowell from Wigginville to Rogers Street. The company and with it the management of the route was taken over in 1983 by Guilford Transportation , which has operated under the name Pan Am Railways since 2006 .

Route description

The line begins in a triangular track on the Wilmington – Agamenticus railway line . The southern wing of the track triangle, the connecting curve towards Wilmington, is no longer used. The route heads west across the county line into Middlesex County. In the urban area of ​​Tewksbury, the route of the Lowell – Lawrence railway line, which used to cross here at the same level, is first crossed before the first earlier passenger stop is reached at Baldwin . The city's passenger train station was at North Street. The route continues west and just before Main Street is the former Wamesit station . The route of the disused railway line Lowell – Lawrence touches the line here briefly. A connecting track enabled the trains from Lawrence to transfer to the line from 1895. The routes of the two lines then separate again and the railway line now runs in the urban area of ​​Lowell through the districts of Atherton and Wigginville, where stops were previously located. In Wigginville, the original route branches off to the northwest. It led first along the east bank of the Concord River and crossed the river shortly before the terminus. The abutments of the bridge piers can still be seen today in the water of the river. The railhead Central Street Station was located between the Williams Street and Green Street. The station building erected in 1876 across the track axis at the head of the railway site is still standing today. Central Street forms the street front of the station.

The line to Lowell Bleachery, built in 1895, began at Wigginville Station. Immediately thereafter, it crosses the Concord River and continues west. Later, a swivel was built here in order to be able to introduce the line further south into the main line coming from Boston. The Lawrence line also joins the main line here. The Bleachery station used to be used as a passenger stop.

passenger traffic

In 1881, four pairs of trains ran on the route on weekdays 16 and on Sundays. The trains connected to and from Boston at Lowell Junction. A few trains continued to Boston. After the takeover of Boston & Lowell in 1887, continuous trains from Lowell to Lawrence via Lowell Junction were introduced, including an express train New York City – Portland, which later became known as the State of Maine Express . In addition to this express train, 14 trains left Lowell station on working days in 1916, five of which switched to the Lawrence route in Wamesit. On Sundays five trains went to Lowell Junction. After the First World War there were severe cuts and in 1932 only two trains ran early from Boston via Lowell Junction to Lowell and in the afternoon two trains in the opposite direction. In the mid-1930s, local passenger traffic on the railway ended. The State of Maine Express drove until 1960, however, without stopping over the route.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see timetables of the route from the years mentioned.

literature

• Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2
• Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. (2nd edition) SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010. ISBN 1-874745-12-9

Web links

• B&M Corporate History, 1914, page 250 (PDF; 6.2 MB) (English)
• List of stations (with miles) and staff from 1923 (English)