Fate of dilapidated rail building to be decided at public meeting

The fate of a dilapidated railroad signal building in south Concord will be decided at a public meeting that has yet to be scheduled.

The Demolition Review Committee will review whether the building has enough historical value to justify the city preventing owner CSX railroad from tearing it down. The railroad applied for a demolition permit Friday.

A meeting date has not yet been posted to the city’s webpage. Notice will be printed in the Monitor and put on the committee’s website,.

The 800-square foot building tucked between active train lines and the Water Street bridge, not far from the historic gasholder building, handled signals for Concord’s huge Boston & Maine rail yards. Those yards handled hundreds of trains during the first half of the 20th century when Concord was a hub for freight and passenger train service in northern New England.

It is one of the few structures of its kind still standing in the state but has been empty and neglected for a decade. 

CSX, which bought the state operations of Pan Am Railways last year, wants to tear it down as an unnecessary safety hazard. 

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