(rshsdepot) South Weymouth, MA Depot

[Deraildh2_@_aol.com]

Century-old train station to get new  life
By Michael  Verseckes/ mverseck_@_cnc.com
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The small train station  that served as a transportation hub for both 
passengers and cargo for close to a  century is about to begin a new life. 
Built  in 1846, the South Weymouth Depot on 85 Pond Street is the last 
original Old  Colony railroad station on the entire line and was one of four stops 
in  Weymouth. 
The  depot is not used as a working station on the modern day 
Plymouth/Kingston line,  but the station still sits adjacent to the tracks as a vestige of 
Weymouth's  past and of the important role the railroad system played in the 
area. 
The  train station is now being restored and is set to be relocated away from 
the  tracks and closer to Pond Street early next week. 
John  Iredale of Karsten Company has taken on the project. 
"We're  getting real close. We're putting in new sewerage lines and water 
mains," he  said. 
The  station is not on a foundation and sits on the soil, so Iredale said the 
 building's roof has sagged on the sides over the years. 
"What  we're going to do is rotate the building almost 360 degrees and move 
it up to  Pond Street and away from the tracks," he said. 
Once  it is completely renovated, the station will likely be used as a small 
office or  a store. 
The  area around the base of the station is being dug out and Iredale said 
hydraulic  jacks will be placed underneath to lift up the building. From there, 
the  building will be put on rollers and moved away from the tracks and partly 
 rotated. 
After  a foundation is completed, the building will be rotated the rest of 
the way and  set on the new foundation close to the street. 
The  building is a dark red on the outside with chipped paint and rot in some 
of the  wood. 
Inside  the station, a men's and women's waiting room is separated by a small 
ticket  booth. Inside the ticket booth, a pipe in the ceiling is all that 
remains of a  coal stove, which was used to heat the building in the winter. 
Outside, an  overhang runs the entire span of the roof for additional passengers 
and baggage.  
Ed  Walker, from the historical commission, said the station was just one 
"spoke of  a wheel," in the larger network of railroad tracks that served as the 
major mode  of transportation for cargo and passengers on land. 
"This  was the fastest way to move things at this point," Walker said, so it 
became the  center of the neighborhood. 
Walker  said people in the area traveling to Fall River and New Bedford, and 
heading  down to Cape Cod, or north to Boston all went through the South 
Weymouth Depot  which would connect with other lines. 
"It  would have been quite a point in town, with the shoe factories, shipping 
shoes  out or receiving leather," he said. 
Walker  also said ice was loaded on to freight trains at the depot from an 
ice house on  Great Pond which was used to refrigerate cargo on ships before 
modern means of  refrigeration. 
"The  wars also played a major role," he said. "Most of the soldiers went off 
to the  Civil War and World War I and II." 
"But  this was where packages were coming in and people were leaving town on 
their  major travels." 
Walker  said he was excited Karsten Company was refurbishing the building and 
keeping  its original character. 
"It's  on the same lot and it will be the same building, and now it will 
start another  life as a business or a store and it will be something useful to 
the community  again," he said. 
"It  will fit in with the character of the buildings already there and 
hopefully it  will last another 100 to 150 years."
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1145
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org