The North Sudbury, Mass., AKA "Raymonds" Mystery

Is the building pictured in the color photos below, the former North Sudbury, Mass. Depot? Or not? If not-WHERE is it? (It is reputed to be extant.)

I have thought for some time this building was it. The station was reportedly moved to Pantry Rd. in Sudbury. I used to drive by this building every day on my way to work, and had always believed it was the depot. (It was reported in the First Edition of the Mass Bay Rail Fan publication that "North Sudbury Depot was moved to the corner of Haynes and Pantry Rd. in Sudbury", and they said it was still there.)

Recently I happened to be driving by again, and my friend had one of those disposable paper cameras with him. In the thumbnails below you see the result. (Thanks, Dan!)

I had been promising to get some pics for my pal Gary, (of "Railroad Stations in New Hampshire" fame), of the building. And here they are. But.....

I compared these pictures to this one which Gary sent me of the old depot in it's heyday.

And I have to say, I am no longer sure the building in question is the one in the old picture.

Here is the building now standing at the corner of Haynes Road and Pantry Road in Sudbury, Ma.

Now granted, Gary and I have talked about how depots have been known to be very changed over the years, so much so that you would not recognize them. This may be a case in point. It looks like at some time this was a store. You can see the old metal sign post on the corner in this image. It would seem that a false front was put on it when it was a store. These days it is vacant.

The building sits in the middle of a road junction, not far from the old tracks. The railroad was the old New Haven (formerly Framingham and Lowell), line which was abandoned years ago.

But it does not look right to be the same building in the black and white image above. What do YOU think? (Check all the images below before you make up your mind.)

Here are some more images. Click on a thumbnail to see the full size pic.

A lot of people have e-mailed me with info on this structure. I even had an old photo faxed to me showing it in use as a schoolroom.

After recieving THIS e-mail, I don' t think this ever was a depot.

"I happened upon your pictures and I can tell you exactly what the building is. It was a small store run by my great-grandfather, Everett Bowker, who lived in the house next to the store. The building is not the station, although interestingly enough, great-Grandad did work for the railroad as stationmaster.The station was nearby, I don't know exactly where. The store in it's heyday was also a Gulf gas staion and had a gas pump out front. Inside, there were the usual variety store itemes as well as penny candy. The store was still in operation in the mid-60's, operated by my great-grandmother.
I hope this helps in your research. I also enjoy the history and the mystery of old railroad staions and trains. (I guess it's hereditary) I think Gary Lapointe and others have a tremendous site (sites, both the NH and Mass are excellent)
Good luck in your research and I would suggest a visit to the town library, historical society or town hall to look for maps made at the turn of the century, which would help pinpoint the location of the former station.

John Fiery "

To which I replied....

I have updated the page, adding your comments. So the question is- where is the depot then? :-)

Thanks!

-Steve

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"The station itself was taken down when the railroasd stopped carrying pasengers, sometime in the 30's. Since great- grandad had built the store with his own funds, it belonged to him. It was at this point that the store was moved to pantry road. The foundation piers or footings for the station may still be visible - my dad remembers them, but they may have been dug up when the land was parceled off. The station no longer exists, as far as anyone in my family knows (according to my great aunt, who remembers when the station was torn down and remembers the store being moved - rolled on logs- to it's current location. Of course, she's in her 90's and her memory is far from perfect.)
Thanks for the update, and I hope this helped!"

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Ah. Are you saying the store was NEXT to the depot, and it was the store that was moved- NOT the depot? If so, that would explain why all these people think the depot was moved to Pantry Rd
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"Yes the station was located next to the house (which is still there) , where the rail line crossed Pantry and Haynes Rd. It was in between Pantry and Haynes. The house faces Haynes Rd. The station was literally in his back yard."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow. So you are saying the depot was originally NOT where I suppsed it to be in this map?

http://www.stevefisk.net/depots/raymonds/nsudbury.gif

That it was actually on Pantry Rd. in the first place? That the depot was never moved?

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"yes that's exactly right. I checked with my Dad before I replied, and he says it was on the south side of Pantry Rd., next to the house."

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OK/ So what happened to the depot? Was it destroyed right where it
was and never moved?
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"yes that is my understanding. The consensus is that it was "taken down".
However, I suppose it is possible that the station could have been
dismantled and reused, in some fashion. I'm sorry I can't seem to come up
with a better answer than that. My information comes from relatives who are
elderly and whose memories may be flawed or confused. Please don't take my
comments as the definitive answer to anything! The answer is probably out
there in old newspaper clippings or town hall records. The one fact that
everyone agrees on is that the store is NOT the station, and that the
station was located on the Bowker farm, and that Everett was the staion
agent and sometime postmaster."
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Thank you so much. :-)

Of course, the mystery has deepened. The question has become this---

Does the North Sudbury, aka "Raymonds" Depot still exist? It would seem that historians have made a mistake- that the depot was NOT moved to this spot. Rather, a building which was NEXT TO the depot was moved to this spot. The concensus is that the depot was simply torn down.

So was it? Or was it moved nearby? Hmmmmmm.

Please e-mail either me or Gary with any info you might have.

Click here to go back to the Mystery Depots Page.

-Steve Fisk