October 8, 2020 2020 Annual Meeting Agenda
A PDF of the agenda for the organization's Annual Meeting on Sunday, October 18, at 1:30 P.M. is available by clicking on this link. Members may oberve this online meeting via Zoom as described on the agenda.
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September 18, 2020 Annual Meeting on October 18 at 1:30 P.M.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s Annual Meeting is to be conducted online via the popular web-based Zoom conferencing service. The meeting is scheduled for Sunday, October 18, at 1:30 P.M. Members will be able to listen to or view the meeting through their phone, tablet or computer. The upcoming newsletter issue and a future addition to this web page will provide details (the Zoom meeting I.D. and passcode) that will be needed to join the meeting. Please e-mail FBDP prior to October 18 should you have any business that you wish to have discussed at the meeting. Also coming later to this page will be links to download PDFs of the meeting agenda and Annual Report.
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August 11, 2020 Depot Park Maintenance
The Bedford DPW and Facilities Department recently completed a few Depot Park maintenance tasks. Groundskeeping has occurred in the Freight House plaza, doors to the Freight House public restrooms were repaired and painted, burned out bulbs in the Depot facade and exterior site lighting were replaced, and bulbs in all the outside fixtures were changed to LEDs.
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June 18, 2020 Progress Is Made at FBDP Despite the Shutdown
Although the current health crisis has suspended operation of the welcome center, FBDP has not been idle. We have made good progress over the winter and spring with indexing and filing hundreds of photos in our collection. These are 35 millimeter slides and 4" by 6" prints that were taken in the early 1990s through the early 2000s. Subjects include construction of the Minuteman Bikeway and Depot Park and the restoration of Rail Diesel Car 6211. The images capture moments in time that are increasingly nostalgic as the years pass. Also, vice president Bill Deen has written four chapters of a book about the history of the Lexington and Reformatory Branches. They describe interesting facets of the local railroad that heretofore have not been widely known. Excerpts are appearing in the newsletter.
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June 18, 2020 2020 Annual Meeting Date Not Yet Determined
The organization's directors are awaiting more information about the state's reopening plans and restrictions before setting a date of the 2020 Annual Meeting, which ordinarily would occur in October. Please check this web page again for any new developments.
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May 5, 2020 Freight House Welcome Center Closed
The Freight House, railroad car museum and public restrooms are closed indefinitely due to the pandemic. Some items at the Freight House are available through the online store.
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March 14, 2020 Freight House Reopening 2020
Normally, the Freight House welcome center would reopen for the bikeway season by Patriot's Day weekend. Given the public health procedures that are currently being taken by municipalities to mitigate spread of the conoravirus, the reopening might occur later this year. Please phone the Freight House (781-687-6180) before planning a visit to check whether it is open.
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March 14, 2020 Reformatory Branch Rail-Trail 25% Design
On February 6, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation held a public hearing about the 25% design plans for the proposed Reformatory Branch Rail-Trail project. Read more about the project at this web page.
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February 12, 2020 Depot Park in the Autumn
Former Bedford resident Milton Moffett called our attention to brilliant photos he took at Depot Park last fall.
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January 25, 2020 Depot Park Open Space Proposal
As noted in the past two newsletter issues, a substantial donation has been offered to create open space at Depot Park by removing the old V.F.W. building at 76 Loomis Street, which is adjacent to the Freight House and is now owned by the Town, and landscaping the site. The FBDP Board of Directors supports this concept. A landscape architect prepared renderings to illustrate how the historic Passenger Depot would become more visible and how open space at Depot Park would be enhanced under this proposal.
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December 29, 2019 Interpretive Sign and Bench Installed
Thanks to a generous donation from the Frank W. Thompson Lodge, Depot Park has two new additions. A bench was installed in the plaza in front of the Freight House. The view from it looks toward the building and railroad car. Also, an interpretive sign informs passersby of the water column foundation that survives alongside the bikeway. The water column was used to replenish the tenders of steam locomotives.
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November 30, 2019 Freight House December Schedule
Although the bikeway season has passed, our volunteer shopkeepers plan to continue opening the Freight House on weekends, 11:00 to 5:00, through December 22 for the benefit of holiday shoppers. The Freight House will be closed after December 22 until sometime in April 2020. If traveling a significant distance to visit the Freight House on a weekend, please consider phoning ahead (781-687-6180) to ensure that a shopkeeper is on duty.
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October 28, 2019 2019 Annual Meeting and Annual Report
A good turnout of members attended the Annual Meeting on October 19. (A good indication of attendence is that all 45 sandwiches were eaten!) The membership reelected clerk Michere Herron, treasurer Walter Weinfort, vice president William Deen, and president Jim Shea to two-year terms. Thirty rare Lexington Branch photos from FBDP's archives were projected on a wide screen inside RDC 6211. A PDF of the 2019 Annual Report is available at this link.
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June 27, 2019 2019 Annual Meeting and Officer Elections on October 19
Please mark your calendar for the organization’s Annual Meeting and Officer Elections on Saturday, October 19, at noon, inside the railroad car at Depot Park. After the business portion of the meeting, we will be treated to rare photos of trains and stations on the Lexington and Reformatory Branches and an opportunity to visit FBDP’s document and photograph archives. A complimentary luch will be provided. Guests and prospective new members are welcome.
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June 27, 2019 Volume 25, Issue 2
The next newsletter issue is back from the printer and is to be mailed on June 28. Vice president Bill Deen has an interesting article in this issue about North Station and Lexington Branch passenger trains in 1920.
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April 14, 2019 Freight House Has Reopened for the 2019 Season
The Freight House welcome center has reopened for visitors on weekends between 11:00 and 5:00. If you are traveling a significant distance to visit, please consider phoning ahead (781-687-6180) to verify that a volunteer shopkeeper is on duty.
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March 10, 2019 Walk on Rare Segments of the Billerica & Bedford Railroad
On Saturday morning, April 13, 2019, Donald Ball, an expert on the history of the Billerica & Bedford Railroad and the author of George Manfield and the Billerica & Bedford Railroad, and Bennett Rockney, a member of the WW&F Railway in Maine, will host an informal walk along some of the remaining portions of the Billerica & Bedford Railroad right-of-way in Billerica. There is no cost to participate. Just to let him know that you plan to attend and to be informed of the meeting location and time.
Also participating in this educational walk will be Ronald Karr, author of The Lost Railroads of New England, Philip Marshall and Robin Hillyard, both very accomplished in narrow-gauge history and mapping, and Maria Seminatore, the president of the Billerica Historical Society.
Most of the B&B right-of-way was built upon by the standard gauge Boston & Lowell Railroad in 1885 as an extension of the Lexington Branch from Bedford to North Billerica, so there’s not much remaining of the original narrow-gauge roadbed. But three miles of it that passed through Billerica Center was bypassed in the construction of the Boston & Lowell line. While most of that bypassed section was buried under housing developments in the 1960s and 1970s, there are still a handful of interesting sections, largely lost to history, where a hundred yards or more of the original B&B can be walked through quiet woods.
The below photo shows the location where the original narrow-gauge roadbed and the later Boston & Lowell standard gauge line diverged in Billerica. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
B&B walk on April 13, 2019
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January 25, 2019 Lexington Branch Photographs
Enjoy seeing several photos of Lexington Branch stations and structures from the Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society's archive.
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January 14, 2019 10th Anniversary of Bedford Depot Park
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the official opening of Bedford Depot Park, which was characterized by the completion of the site work and renovations to Rail Diesel Car 6211 and the Freight House building. (The Passenger Station building was renovated in 2014 through 2015.) Upcoming newsletter issues will highlight these accompishments. Below are links to slide shows that cover key aspects of the project, beginning with acquisition of ex-Boston & Maine Railroad RDC 6211 in 1998. Each presentation will open in a new browser window.
RDC 6211 renovations
Depot Park site work
Freight House renovations
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January 14, 2019 FBDP at Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society Meeting
FBDP was pleased to be invited by the Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society to make a presentation on January 12 about the cosmetic restoration of ex-B&M Railroad Diesel Car 6211 that is now a focal point at Depot Park. RDC expert Dan O'Brien narrated a slide show that chronicles the extensive work we performed. A few additional slides were displayed that show the dilapated condition of the Depot Park site in the mid-1990s before work began in 2003 on the Bedford Depot Park Transportation Enhancement Project.
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December 20, 2018 Freight House to Close for the Winter
The Freight House will be open on December 22 and 23 between 1:00 and 5:00, then close until April. Some items sold at the Freight House are available through our online store. The organization appreciates the help of volunteer shopkeepers John Cooper, Greg Carpenter, Henry Carpenter and Cynthia Mork for keeping the Freight House open on weekends this year!
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December 8, 2018 Freight House Newspaper Article
The Bedford Minuteman newspaper published a nice article about the Freight House welcome center in its December 6 issue. Read it online here. With the help of volunteer shopkeepers John Cooper, Greg Carpenter, Henry Carpente and Cynthia Mork, the Freight House will remain open on weekends, 11:00 to 5:00, through December 23 for holiday shoppers.
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