Richard Frenkel 4/2003
A recent MA Supreme Court decision makes it important for us to determine if the Boston and Maine Rail Road owned the right of way outright, or if it was obtained via an easement that could possibly have reverted.
Below is my on-going research into the titles which involves obtaining book and page numbers for transactions at Swampscott town hall and then looking up deeds at the Essex County Registry of Deeds in Salem.
This turns out to be a fascinating business, since one has to trace the history back as much as possible and the earlier deeds are hand written.
Executive summary: so far all the transactions I've looked up are FEE SIMPLE transactions, which means the rail road bought the land outright. The rail road also sold land from a couple of parcels which strongly indicates they owned the land in those parcels outright. While I haven't traced down all parcels by any means, the results so far suggest that the Boston and Maine purchased the entire right of way piece meal over time in fee simple and that none of it was obtained as an easement.
To start with, the transaction transferring the right of way from the B&M to Massachusetts Electric is recorded in Book 5245 Page 522. Stupidly I forgot to note the year, but it's around 1964. The entire right of way consists of 8 parcels of land, the price is recorded as "$1 and other consideration" which appears to be a legal construction that is often used in these deeds and means the actual price does not appear on the deed. Mass Electric sold the right of way to "Lynn Electric Power (N.E. Power)" later the same year for $17,500 which gives us a base line for valuation. Below is research on each parcel.
Bought from George B.. Coal Company, Oct 1, 1929 (Book 2825 p 421) not researched further yet.
James Manning, 1896 (Book 1472 Page 335). Looking up this deed, we find that the purchase was in FEE SIMPLE for $1 and other consideration.
Emma Metcalf, 1903 (Book 1694 Page 274)
George Smart, 1908 (Book 1939 Page 328)
George Lampard, 1910 (Book 2023 Page 572)
Hennessey, 1911 (Book 2065 Page 418). Looking this up, find that it was bought IN FEE SIMPLE.
No source of deed history was provided for this parcel (I'll have to try to research abutting properties), BUT some land from this parcel was sold to Phillips Trust May 27, 1960 which strongly suggest outright ownership.
No source of deed history was provided for this parcel
No source of deed history was provided for this parcel
No source of deed history was provided for this parcel, BUT some land from the parcel was sold to Nelson Darling, August 25, 1960 (Book 4698 Page 211). This is kind of amusing: 19,000 square feet were sold including the Beach Bluff Station which the Darling's were required to maintain for as long as the rail road was operational, or 100 years (whichever came first).
No source of deed history was provided for this parcel