Orient Heights – Point Shirley railway line
| Orient Heights MA-Point Shirley MA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 914 mm ( English 3-foot track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 600 = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | entire route | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway line Orient Heights Point Shirley is a railway line in Massachusetts ( United States ). The original route was about 5.5 kilometers long, but was replaced in 1888 by a seven-kilometer ring line. It connects the cities of Boston and Winthrop . The line has been closed, part of the route is now used as a depot by the standard gauge Boston subway .
history
When the East Boston – Lynn line of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB & L) was opened in 1875 , the town of Winthrop was about two kilometers from Winthrop station. A horse-drawn tram provided the connection, but it was insufficient and to get to Boston had to be changed twice, namely at the station to the BRB & L train and in East Boston to the ferry. In order to improve the connection, a local entrepreneur founded the Boston, Winthrop and Point Shirley Railroad in 1876 , took over the horse-drawn tram and on June 7, 1877 opened steam services on the route from the BRB & L station in Winthrop, which was also renamed Winthrop Junction, to Winthrop Center Station on Buchanan Street. Like the BRB & L, he chose three feet (914 mm) for the track width so that the trains to East Boston could pass through. During its entire existence, the route was only used for passenger traffic. It was only used in the summer half of the year, trains only ran in the winter of 1878/79.
However, the up-and-coming beach settlement Ocean Spray was not yet accessible. In 1881 the company therefore built a new line that branched off the existing line at Pleasant Street and led to Ocean Spray. The old route to Buchanan Street was taken out of service for the time being, but not shut down. In 1882 the stretch of beach was extended to Short Beach. In December 1883 the railway company was renamed Boston, Winthrop and Shore Railroad . The standard gauge railway line Point of Pines – Point Shirley was started as a competing project, but was taken over by the railway company in 1883. At that time it was completed by Ocean Spray and a three- rail track was now built between Ocean Spray and Short Beach and on a short extension to Point Shirley, and both lines were opened on June 30, 1884 to Point Shirley. From there there was a ferry connection to Boston.
On Thanksgiving Day (November 26th) in 1885, a storm caused a spring tide that largely destroyed the stretch of beach. The three-rail track was then dismantled, as was the entire route between Cottage Hill and Point Shirley. In mid-1886 the BRB & L leased the railway line because the Boston, Winthrop & Shore were in financial distress due to the storm surge. The new operator wanted to operate both branches of the route all year round. After the end of the 1887 summer season, however, the route from Pleasant Street to Cottage Hill was initially closed. Instead, the BRB & L built a new route from Pleasant Street via Winthrop Highlands, Ocean Spray and Winthrop Beach to Wintrop Center, creating a ring. This route was opened in 1888. The trains traveled the ring alternately in both directions. In 1911, the railway company took over the Point Shirley Street Railway , a tram that had been opened in 1910 on the disused route from Winthrop Beach to Point Shirley and was driven by gas-powered railcars. At the end of the 1920s, this tram was shut down and replaced by a railway-owned bus line.
Shortly after the main route of the BRB & L, the ring line was electrified on November 15, 1928 with 600 volts direct current. After that, however, the decline in passenger numbers began, triggered by an increasing number of private automobiles and the global economic crisis . On January 27, 1940, the last trains ran and the line was shut down and dismantled. Part of the route near the Orient Heights junction (formerly Winthrop Junction) has served the Boston subway as an access to the depot since 1952 .
Route description
The route began at the Orient Heights junction, where it turns off the main BRB & L route in an east-southeast direction. The underground depot is located here today. The train crossed a small river that flows into the Boston harbor bay and shortly thereafter reaches the first stop, Pleasant Street. A few meters after the stop, the route branched out. The oldest branch, above Winthrop Center, turns south at Fairview Street and runs along what is now Walden Street and Hagman Road. Via Ingalls Station, she reaches Winthrop Center station at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Buchanan Street. The railway line crossed the intersection and shortly afterwards turned east, where there was a stop of the same name at Thornton Street. On a yoke bridge , of which today only the railway embankments leading to the bridgeheads are preserved, she crossed the port approach of Winthrop and turned north in the port area at Winthrop Beach station on the route to Point Shirley.
The original route to Point Shirley led from Pleasant Street Station on what is now Morton Street. She turned southeast at Governors Drive. There was a Winthrop Street stop here. At Ocean Spray station, this route joins the new route that was pivoted in 1888. This new route turned off the original route shortly before the then closed Winthrop Street stop and headed northeast. Instead of the Winthrop Street stop, a Battery stop was created, which was only a few meters away. The route now led in a large arc along Crest Avenue down to the coast and had another stop in the Winthrop Highlands settlement.
The railway line now ran where the Veterans Road is now used for road traffic and reaches the Ocean Spray station, about just before Hadasa Way. From 1884 to 1885, the standard-gauge railway line from Point of Pines joined the route here. From here to Point Shirley there was a three-rail track at this time. Via the Shirley stop, which was renamed Playstead in 1888, it reaches Winthrop Beach station on Washington Avenue. The route to Point Shirley continued on what is now Shirley Street to Point Shirley. A tram operated on this section of the route from 1910 to around 1929.
Sources and further information
- Individual evidence
- ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010.
- literature
- George W. Hilton: American Narrow Gauge Railroads. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA 1990. ISBN 0-8047-2369-9 . Pages 416-8.
- Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2 .