Cambridge Subway - Red Line anniversary

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Matthew

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It opened on March 23, 1912. I haven't found a peep online about anything planned for Friday, though. Just some old news item about people celebrating the 80th anniversary in 1992.

Anyone?
 
LETS FUCKING PARTY

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^ Did that actually run?

And was it solar powered??

MIT never ceases to amaze.
 
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Awesome. Did what's now the BL tunnel ever connect in directly with what's now the GL tunnel?
 
There were plans but they were dropped when BERy converted it to heavy rail.
 
Cool map. =)

Ugh, can we bring the OL back down the Greenway? =P
 
That's my map—glad you guys like it!
vanshnookenraggen said:
There were plans but they were dropped when BERy converted it to heavy rail.
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Oh good, so did I guess correctly on that map by showing the Court Street station not connected to the (future) Green Line? The summarized histories I was reading made it sound like the station was practically in the same spot as Scollay Square, but it was unclear whether there was any connection. Thanks for the name corrections on the blog post, too!
 
datadyne007 said:
Cool map. =)

Ugh, can we bring the OL back down the Greenway? =P
Click to expand...

If only! It should have been done as part of the dig, but since we have blown that opportunity, I wouldn't mind seeing a modern, soaring El. right above the RKG. And with the relief this would give the Washington St. subway, we could get serious about branching the two ends of the OL.
 
piggiston said:
That's my map—glad you guys like it!
Oh good, so did I guess correctly on that map by showing the Court Street station not connected to the (future) Green Line? The summarized histories I was reading made it sound like the station was practically in the same spot as Scollay Square, but it was unclear whether there was any connection. Thanks for the name corrections on the blog post, too!
Click to expand...

Court St pretty much ended right at the wall of Scollay Sq. If trolleys continued through the wall, their upper half would have torn through the Scollay tracks, and the bottom half would be plowing through the dirt below it.

vanshnookenraggen said:
http://bostonography.com/2012/happy-birthday-red-line/

transit1912.png
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<3
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Court St pretty much ended right at the wall of Scollay Sq. If trolleys continued through the wall, their upper half would have torn through the Scollay tracks, and the bottom half would be plowing through the dirt below it.



<3
Click to expand...
Although there was a bizarre interconnect between the Blue Line (during its East Boston trolley days) and the Red Line in order to get the Blue Line trains serviced at the old Elliot Yards near Harvard

It seeks that the Blue Line trains were driven or dragged by service trains through the streets of Boston to the Longfellow Bridge -- the trolleys crossed the Longfellow on their own in-pavement tracks and then joined into the Red Line just before Kendall to make the trek to the Elliot Yards

somewhere I once heard or read that a small remnant of the junction still exists before the Red Line disappears into the ground at the end of the Longfellow
 
whighlander said:
somewhere I once heard or read that a small remnant of the junction still exists before the Red Line disappears into the ground at the end of the Longfellow
Click to expand...

There's a gate on the northbound/westbound direction of the bridge, just before the tunnel portal. The tracks are somewhat flat here, rather than descending/ascending. The switch was there to allow Blue Line car access, predating any Orient Heights yard.
 
HenryAlan said:
If only! It should have been done as part of the dig, but since we have blown that opportunity, I wouldn't mind seeing a modern, soaring El. right above the RKG. And with the relief this would give the Washington St. subway, we could get serious about branching the two ends of the OL.
Click to expand...

I agree. I would also place some mid and high-rise buildings intermittently on the Greenway, with the elevated line passing through the buildings, as the old Highline did in Manhatten. There could also be an elevated pedestrian parkway long the harbor side of the elevated rail line, again passing through the new intermittenly spaced buildings. It would look and function like a real city, instead of the empty gaping corridor it is now.
 
whighlander said:
Although there was a bizarre interconnect between the Blue Line (during its East Boston trolley days) and the Red Line in order to get the Blue Line trains serviced at the old Elliot Yards near Harvard

It seeks that the Blue Line trains were driven or dragged by service trains through the streets of Boston to the Longfellow Bridge -- the trolleys crossed the Longfellow on their own in-pavement tracks and then joined into the Red Line just before Kendall to make the trek to the Elliot Yards

somewhere I once heard or read that a small remnant of the junction still exists before the Red Line disappears into the ground at the end of the Longfellow
Click to expand...

Correct. Since the BL was entirely underground after it was converted to heavy rail in '24, and the only storage was narrow space around Maverick loop, they needed a yard and Harvard's was the only one reachable. The trolleys would go down the Cambridge St. portal into Bowdoin loop, which had both trolley wire and third rail, couple with the trains, and push them from behind on the street trackage in the left lanes of the Longfellow. Operator would get out, slide open a chain-link fence on the Kendall side of the bridge, push the cars onto the RL tracks, and then they'd operate on their own 3rd rail power to Harvard. On the return trip the trolley would be waiting, open the fence, back in, and pull on the trip to Bowdoin. Bridge had trolley overhead over the RL tracks as well so they could get in and maneuver for the handoff at the junction. Pretty efficient process.

There's loads of old pictures of the Red Line yard on the current JFK School site with the Blue Line cars parked in the yard. They're easy to spot because they're so much smaller than the RL's.


This chain-link fence is the grade crossing they used for access. And still used whenever they need to get trucks onto the tracks for work or rescue. The crossing's been eliminated on the inbound side, but you can see the fence on this section is of different vintage than the rest. Those very wide fence posts (can see one on opposite side of the pic) were where the trolley poles for the left-lane street trackage were. They simply sawed them off and capped them with concrete when the wires came down in 1952 with the BL extension and Orient Heights yard opening.
 
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