Point of Pines – Point Shirley railway line
| Point of Pines MA – Point Shirley MA (expansion status from 1884) |
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| Route length: | 10½ km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Point of Pines Point Shirley is a railway line in Massachusetts ( United States ). The route is about 10.5 kilometers long and connected the cities of Revere and Winthrop . The line is closed and dismantled.
history
In 1880 Alpheus P. Blake, who had already founded and built the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB & L), but left the company in 1878, founded a new railway company to connect Winthrop and Revere Beach to the standard gauge network and thus to compete to open his former railway company. The company initially appeared under the name Eastern Junction, Broad Sound Pier and Point Shirley Railroad . It was supposed to connect to a branch line of the Eastern Railroad in Point of Pines and lead along the coast to Point Shirley in Winthrop. Construction began in 1881 and in 1882 the tracks were up to Ocean Spray. However, the opening was delayed. In December 1883, the railway company merged with the Boston, Winthrop and Point Shirley Railroad, which also operated on a narrow gauge, to form the Boston, Winthrop and Shore Railroad . The line of this railway company was only operated in the summer half of the year, which meant that construction work could be carried out immediately. It built a three-rail track between Ocean Spray and its then terminus Short Beach , extended the line in both gauges to Point Shirley and on June 30, 1884 the standard gauge line from Point of Pines went into operation. It was also only used in the summer months.
On Thanksgiving Day (November 26th) 1885, a storm surge devastated the line, which was then closed because the railway company could not finance the reconstruction and the BRB & L, which the railway company leased shortly thereafter, naturally had no interest in rebuilding its rival line. The third rail south of Ocean Spray and the entire standard gauge line were therefore dismantled.
Route description
The line branched off from the Revere – Saugus River Junction railway line at Point of Pines station and initially ran parallel to this line. Just before Crescent Beach station, she crossed the BRB & L route. From this station it led further south along the coast as part of today's Winthrop Parkway. In Winthrop Highlands a small headland juts out into the sea. To avoid steep gradients, the railway line had to follow the coastline and made a tight curve along the headland where Sewall Avenue now runs. Shortly afterwards, it reached Winthrop Highlands station directly along the bank and continued a little further inland along the Veterans Road. Here was the Ocean Spray station, from where the three- rail track carried both this and the Orient Heights – Point Shirley railway . Veterans Road and Shirley Street are on the former railway line to Point Shirley.
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 .