- 1848 - The Stony Brook Railroad opened, and ran approximately 13 miles from the Nashua and Lowell Railroad at North Chelmsford station to the Boston and Fitchburg Railroad at Groton Junction (now in Ayer).
- 1869 - John H Whidden married Sarah Edwards, sister of local architect and contractor William C Edwards, and they made their home at 32-School Street.
- 1870 - Thomas Sugden started the Sugden Press Bagging Company in an existing Eagle Mill storehouse between Stony Brook and the railroad tracks. They produced specialized cloth used to extract dyes, cottonseed oil, and cocoa bean products from seeds.
- 1873 - John H Whidden became the West Chelmsford station agent in July.
- 1882 - John purchased land at 8-School Street from the Hiscox File Manufacturing Company and constructed a two-and-a-half story wood frame building where he operated a store and later a post office.
- 1884 - The original West Chelmsford train station was destroyed by fire on January 21st, only 26 days after the nearby Eagle Mill burned to the ground. Old railroad cars were used as temporary shelter for passengers waiting for the trains.
- A new passenger station and freight house were constructed by William C Edwards whose home was a short distance away in Nabnasset, just beyond the end of Main Street. He built local schools (Quessy), churches (West Chelmsford Methodist), libraries (Adams in Chelmsford and Fletcher in Westford), and many of the train stations in eastern Massachusetts, as well as a large dairy farm next door to the train station property.
- From the "Lowell Daily Courier" October 18 issue: "The main building is 30 by 33 and 1½ stories high. It has a wing 21 by 21. On the lower floor there are two waiting rooms, separated by a partition and ticket office, the latter projecting into the platform, giving a clear view of the road in both directions. In rear of the station are three rooms, kitchen, dining room and parlor, for the use of the station agent, and upstairs there are four large sleeping rooms. An abundance of closet room shows the good sense of the architect."
- The new passenger station is seen below circa 1890 with John Whidden on the right.
- 1884 - More from the "Lowell Daily Courier" October 18 issue: "Nearby Is the freight house, 18 by 30, painted in harmony with the rest. The cost of the new buildings was about $3000, and the road has certainly received good value for its money."
- The new freight house, seen below circa 1888, was built between the main line and a side track with platforms on both sides in front of the Sugden Press Bagging Company. The stone ruins of Eagle Mill, destroyed by fire on December 27, 1883, is seen on the right, and Marshall Hall and West Chelmsford Methodist Church are directly above it.
- 1886 - John H Whidden was appointed West Chelmsford postmaster in addition to his duties as station agent, constable, and cemetery commissioner.
- John is standing next to the tracks in the image below circa 1890. The Eagle Mill ruins and Sugden Press Bagging Company are by the pond to the left of the tall pole. The rear of the freight house can be seen to the right of the tall pole between the tracks, and the passenger station is beyond.
- 1894 - John was tragically killed on the morning of August 8 at age 51. The morning freight train from Ayer Junction had some cars to drop off for the nearby Sugden Press Bagging mill. After John threw the switch to allow the engine and two cars onto the side track he walked along the track unaware the train cars were approaching from behind. Brakeman Stearns shouted a warning, but it was unheard, and the two cars and engine passed over his body before they could be stopped.
- After John's untimely death, his brother Augustus F Whidden took over his duties as station agent, constable, and cemetery commissioner through 1901. He previously worked for the railroad in the Bleachery section of Lowell and owned a house at 16-Washington Street in North Chelmsford. Their brother George W Whidden lived in the 16-Washington Street house and was foreman of the Boston Ice Company on Crystal (now Freeman) Lake.
- 1900 - Donald M Cameron of Westford purchased a controlling interest in the Sugden Press Bagging Company.
The image below circa 1900 shows that the freight house side track platform was removed and a ramp installed in its place. The side track appeared to be unused, and there was an addition on near-side the Sugden Company mill.
- 1905 - Nathaniel W Wood was the station agent at West Chelmsford Station and resided in Westford.
- 1910 - William J Tobin was the station agent at West Chelmsford Station and boarded with his father Thomas Tobin, a section hand for the railroad, on Middlesex Street near the Lowell line.
- 1915 - Wilbur R Cole was the station agent at West Chelmsford Station, lived in the passenger station, moved to Jordan Street around 1937, and served as station agent until his death in 1944.
- 1917 - The Boston & Maine Railroad installed double tracks between North and West Chelmsford, and a section at the other end of the line, to reduce bottlenecks on the single track. The side track around the back of the passenger station and the freight house were in the way of track expansion, so the side track was removed and the freight house relocated.
- 1927 - Double tracking of the entire Stony Brook Railroad was completed, allowing fast passenger trains to better compete with increasingly popular automobiles.
- 1934 - The image below shows the freight house, rotated 180 degrees, in its new location on the other side of School Street. The side of the freight house is just beyond the left side of the passenger station. The School Street bridge over Stony Brook and double tracks are on the left and the the bare slope of Strawberry Hill is on the right.
- 1940 - Verne E Woodward moved from New Hampshire to West Chelmsford to work for the Boston & Maine Railroad at School Street Station. He rented a room at 209-Main Street and married in January 1941. When WWII broke out, he was sent by B&M to India to assist that country in operating their railroad system.
- 1944 - Station agent Wilbur Cole died on July 1st at age 66 and Verne Woodward, who had returned from war service and purchased the nearby house at 8-School Street, became the station agent.
- Circa 1945 - Passenger service fell off after the war, the passenger station was demolished, and the front room of the freight house became a passenger waiting room. Boxcars were shunted onto a short spur track next to the freight house for transfer of goods using the back room for temporary storage. A loading door on the far side provided access for trucks.
- 1953 - The last passenger train passed through West Chelmsford on April 15, ending 105 years of service between Worcester and Lowell according to railroad historian Arnold Wilder. Freight traffic continued, with boxcar loads of goods passing through the freight house to trucks from companies such as the Abbot Worsted Mills and Nabnasset Food Locker Company, both in Westford.
- 1957 - The Stony Brook line between North Chelmsford and Westford was relegated back to a single line. This was possible due to diminishing rail traffic and a Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) system that greatly improved safety.
- The freight house is seen here with a single track in use and prior to installation of an automatic crossing gate.
- 1972 - Verne Woodward was transferred to the switch tower at Ayer Junction. He was the last B&M employee to use Morse code on the company telegraph system.
- 1972 to 1979 - The JapEnameLac Company across the road at 11-School Street rented the freight house for storage of batteries until they moved operations to Katrina Road in Chelmsford in 1979.
- 1983 - The Boston & Maine Railroad emerged from bankruptcy and was purchased by Guilford Transportation Industries.
- 1985 - Verne's son Stanley "Stan" Woodward rented the freight house from Guilford Transportation and opened a part-time model railraod hobby shop as a way to enjoy his inherited passion for the railroad. The shop became a favorite hangout for railroad old timers who gathered wearing their engineer hats to reminisce, smoke, and watch railroading movies.
- 1986 - The Alco-Brooks locomotive works in Dunkirk, NY, was one of the world's leading producers of steam locomotives. The Dunkirk plant shut down in 1962, and the Dunkirk Historical Society set out to find one of the few remaining Alco-Brooks steam locomotives for a historical exhibit at the nearby Chautauqua Fairgrounds. They found what they were looking for in Westford, and the Fletcher Granite Quarry donated its long-abandoned switching locomotive 444 along with its coal tender.
- 1987 - While arrangements were being made to ship locomotive 444 and its tender to New York, they were stored on flatcars next to Stan's Hobby House, giving Stan lots of good publicity.
Chelmsford bids good-bye to old engine No. 444
By Jim O'Reilly
The people of Dunkirk, NY, a small city near Buffalo which turned out locomotives like Lowell turned out textiles during the golden era of railroad transportation, are planning a grand celebration when their Brooks Locomotive No 444 returns home after 70 years.
But at least one West Chelmsford rail road buff will be a bit disappointed at seeing the badly rusted steam engine and its accompanying coal tender return to their birthplace.
"It's been quite an attraction," related Stan Woodward, as he glanced out the window at the monstrous steam engine which has been his neighbor for a month.
Woodward, 43, owns and operates Stan's Railroad and Hobby Shop in the former BAM Railroad freight office which sits near his School Street home. Since early December, passersby have stopped, glanced, and then come inside to question him about the behemoth occupying the railroad siding next to the shop.
No 444, one of only 43 known remaining Brooks locomotives left in the world, was discovered in September at the Fletcher Granite Co quarry in Westford. Word of the engine's discovery elated members of the Dunkirk Historical Society, who hoped to "cosmetically restore" the engine and keep it on permanent display in the railroad proud city, according to Woodward.
"That's about all (cosmetic restoration) they could do with it,” explained Woodward. "Most of it is just too badly gone." Indeed, the locomotove was literally buried when it was discovered at the Fletcher site.
The engine had been sold to HE Fletcher in April of 1952, according to Woodward, and "steamed to about mid 1952, when it was replaced by the big 80 ton diesel. "They're still in use at Fletcher's,” he noted. "It still cuts across Route 40 with the stone.
But it wasn't until this fall that Dunkirk Historical Society officials, who had been searching the nation for remaining Brooks engines, found their treasure. "They were looking for ones built in the Dunkirk shops." Woodward said. "There were only 43 known remaining Brooks locomotives in tiie world... All the ones B & M had with the exception of this one had been scrapped."
The trip back to Dunkirk has proved to be an arduous one. however The historical society enlisted the aid of an expert in train renovation projects. Illinois native David Conrad, to oversee to movement of the train, Woodward said.
No 444 and its coal tender were first loaded onto a flatbed truck trailer and moved from the quarry via back roads in Westford and Chelmsford to the tracks next to Stan's Hobby Shop on December 2 because “it was the only available siding they could use to mount it on flat cars," Woodward explained.
"The thing probably didn't travel more than two miles an hour,” added his father Verne, 68, from the hobby shop which used to be the B & M freight office he ran for some 30 years. (See related story)
There, however, 444's trip hit some legal snafus. Because the train is to travel across state lines, it needed the proper insurance and inspection permits from slate and federal railroad officials. So the engine, coal tender and entourage made the trip back to the quarry until "they brought it back down on the 11th (of December) and finally put it on the flat cars," Woodward said.
It has sat between his home and his shop since then, where it awaited further inspection and permits. “The people from Dunkirk (historical society) called me just this afternoon," he said on Tuesday, “and said it had been cleared to go on Friday, so I guess it could be any day now.”
In the meantime, Conrad and some other railroad buffs, including Woodward’s 10-year-old son Billy, have performed some initial touch-ups and moving preparations to the engine which may be tarnished, but which sits majestically facing School Street.
"He was all over it one Saturday when they were working on it," Woodward said of his son. And he also admitted that his son won't be the only one to miss old No 444. “It's been quite an attraction," he laughed. "And I can’t say It’s hurt business."
Father, son share a love of railroads
Verne and Stan Woodward’s interest In the 1916 Brooks Locomotive No 444 went well beyond that of business publicity. True, the placement of the engine and coal tender next to Stan’s Railroad and Hobby Shop on School Street "didn’t hurt business." Stan admitted. But, more than that, it was a contact with the past for a father and son who share a love of railroading.
One need only walk into Stan’s shop to realize that his Interest in all types of train memorabilia and equipment — from books detailing the golden age of railroading to modern videos highlighting spectacular train trips through the Canadian Rockies — Is more a religion than a business. Stan Woodward literally grew up on the railroad. It wasn’t difficult, with a father who was the lone freight agent of the West Chelmsford stop along the Stony Brook Railroad Une — a branch line of the Boston and Maine Railroad — which ran from Ayer to the North Chelmsford / Lowell line.
Verne Woodward began his duties as freight agent just as passenger line service along the Stony Brook line was being phased out in the early 1940’s ... [The freight house] sits there today as Stan’s shop, just a stone’s throw from his home, north on School Street.
For Stan, memories of huge steam freighters running through Chelmsford are vivid. “When my father worked here I was down here quite a bit," he said while a video of an SD 40-2 running through the spectacular Canadian Rockies played in the background. "I saw all the local freight trains... I remember when they were steam. I can remember some of the double-headed steam trains coming through here," he added, “smoking up the whole neighborhood
And while Verne noted that he logged more hours in the freight office than actually on the rails, he was reminded of an amusing railroad tale as he watched a new medium — video — expand the hobby of railroading in his son’s store.
"I really scared the wits out of a couple of nuns on that train," as he motioned to the locomotive winding its way through Canadian Rockies on a television monitor. “We were crossing Rogers Pass, and we were really high up (on a trestle), and they were looking out the window and I said, ‘Sisters, you’d oetter not lean to hard that way or else we're going to go over.' Boy, you should've seen them sit back in a hurry," he laughed.
- 2004 - The Freight House siding remains a convenient location to park railroad maintenance equipment.
- 2006 - Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways.
- 2007 - Stan Woodward passed away at age 64 on June 6.
- 2013 - Without anyone to look after it, the freight house became vandalized, tagged, and dumped on as seen in the three views below.
- 2022 - Pan Am Railways was purchased by CSX Transportation on June 1st. Efforts by the Town of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Historical Commission to work with Pan Am Railways to save the freight house continued with CSX.
- 2023 - A plan was initiated where the town would fund a partial dismantling and transport of the freight house to the Garrison House in South Chelmsford.
- Warrant Article 30 submitted by the Community Preservation Committee for Spring Town Meeting on April 24 (continuing on April 27, May 1 or May 4) will fund the move: "To see if the Town will vote to appropriate and transfer a certain sum of money from the Community Preservation Fund General Reserve for the dismantling, transporting, and preservation of the School Street Freight House to the Garrison House property located at 105-Garrison Road; or act in relation thereto."
- Once received at 105-Garrison Road, the Old Chelmsford Garrison House Association has accepted responsibility for restoration and utilization, with hopes that it could serve as a museum to Chelmsford's railroad past.
- All photos labeled (colorized) are black and white images edited by Fred Merriam
- "History of Chelmsford 1910-1970" Courier Corporation, Eleanor Parkhurst and Fred Merriam, 2011
- "Images of America, North and West Chelmsford" Arcadia Publishing, Fred Merriam, 2016
- "The Stony Brook Railroad" H. Arnold Wilder, 1979"
- Conversations with Stan Woodward's family, Bill (son), Faith (daughter), Dwight (brother), 2023
- Directories, Lowell Suburban-Chelmsford Section, Chelmsford Historical Society website Library page
- History, Boston & Maine Railroad, Wikipedia
- Newspaper, Lowell Daily Courier, October 18, 1884 edition
- Newspaper, Chelmsford Independent, January 15, 1987 edition
- Photo collection, Thomas Collins, West Chelmsford
- Photo collection, Fred Merriam, West Chelmsford
- Photo collection, Westford Historical Society
- Presentation slide, Alco-Brooks, Rich McLaughlin, Westford Historical Society, 2023
- State Inventory, Historical Commission website Railroads page, West Chelmsford Freight House
- State Inventory, Historical Commission website Homes page, 8- & 32-School Street, 16-Washington Street
- Warrant Article for April/May 2023 Town Meeting, Town of Chelmsford website