Somerville Junction – Lake Street railroad

Somerville Junction MA-Lake Street

Route length:

4.22 km

Society:

		from Boston
	0.00	Somerville Junction MA (formerly Somerville)
		after Lowell
	1.01	Somerville Highlands MA
	approx. 1.3	Willow Avenue
		Boston Elevated Railway (Holland Street)
	1.85	West Somerville MA
	2.53	North Cambridge MA
		to Northampton
		Alewife Brook
		from West Cambridge
	4.22	Lake Street
		to Middlesex Junction

The railway junction Somerville Lake Street is a railway line in Middlesex County in Massachusetts ( United States ). The route is 4.22 kilometers long and connects the cities of Somerville , Cambridge and Arlington . The standard gauge line is closed. The Red Line of the Boston subway runs under part of the route .

history

When the Boston and Lowell Railroad bought the Lexington and Arlington Railroad on January 6, 1870 , their West Cambridge – Lexington line had no connection to the Boston & Lowell network, but branched off the main line of the Fitchburg Railroad . Therefore, in the same year, a connecting line was built between the two railways, which branched off from the Boston & Lowell main line at Somerville and led via Davis Square and through North Cambridge to the Lexington & Arlington line. With the commissioning of this line, the connection between Lexington & Arlington and West Cambridge was closed. All trains to Lexington were now on the new route via Somerville. From 1881, the route from Somerville Junction to North Cambridge also ran the trains of the Massachusetts Central Railroad to the west. Boston & Lowell also took over management of this route in 1885.

From 1887 on, the Boston and Maine Railroad , which Boston & Lowell had leased, was in charge of operations. In 1927, Boston & Maine re-established the connection to West Cambridge in order to be able to run the few passenger trains still in service through the center of Cambridge. All passenger trains, including those on the former Massachusetts Central route, now ran via West Cambridge and between Somerville Junction and Lake Street, passenger traffic was suspended. In 1979, Boston & Maine managed the through freight trains in and out of Fitchburg no longer over the route, but over Lowell. In March 1980, the section from Davis Square to Lake Street was closed, as the subway was built on Davis Square and in the further course. The rest of the route went in 1983 to Guilford Transportation , which had taken over Boston & Maine. In 1992 the tracks west of Cedar Street were also closed, and at the beginning of the 21st century also the last 300 meters from Somerville Junction to Cedar Street.

Route description

The route branches off at the former Somerville Junction stop from the main line to Lowell and heads west. From the former Cedar Street level crossing to Grove Street, the Grove-Cedar Bikepath is now on the railway line. From Grove Street to Davis Square, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority buses run on a bus route. The entrance building of the subway station there was erected on Davis Square on the former track. To the west of this, the route of the railway line now forms the Alewife Linear Park , through which the Somerville Community Path runs. The route is not used from the former North Cambridge station to the junction with the West Cambridge – Middlesex Junction railway line . The bridge over Alewife Brook has been torn down.

passenger traffic

In early 1881 the route ran eleven trains in the direction of Lexington. The Massachusetts Central Railroad (later Central Massachusetts Railroad) route was not yet open. From 1887, express trains ran from Boston through North Cambridge on the route over the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Washington. This continuous operation was stopped as early as 1893. In 1901, 29 trains went to Arlington and Lexington on weekdays, and seven trains ran here on Sundays. There were also eleven trains heading for Northampton, which turned off at North Cambridge on the Central Massachusetts route. Only one train ran on this route on Sundays. In 1926, the year before passenger traffic was discontinued, five trains ran the entire route on weekdays and on to Lexington. There were also eight trains going to Northampton on weekdays and three on Sundays.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

↑ see timetables of the route from the years mentioned.

literature

Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2
Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. (2nd edition) SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010. ISBN 1-874745-12-9

Web links

List of stations (with miles) and staff from 1923 (English)

[1] see timetables of the route from the years mentioned.