Chelsea Branch Railroad Remains/Route

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CheapLeak

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Hi al. I’m trying to find really any evidence of this railroad and its route. Here’s what I have so far:

  • Route was similar to the BRB&L main line
  • Bought by the Eastern Railroad in the 1880s
  • Abandoned around 1892?
The only physical evidence I know of is where it branched off of the eastern route main line. Any information anyone has would be appreciated, thank you.
 
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According to Robert Dale Kerr's excellent book "The Rail Lines of Southern New England" The Chelsea Beach Branch opened in 1881. Was operated only in summer months for beach crowds. It formed a loop paralleling the main line with the northern junction at the Revere/Saugus line (Saugus River Jct) and the southern at Oak Island Grove. The southern end was extended about a mile or so to a junction north of Revere, Discontinued in 1891. Most of the line remaining in place for another 35 years except for a portion that was used for the relocated BRB&LRR. His book listed stations at Revere, Crescent Beach, Oak Island, Point of Pines and Saugus River Jct,....4.5 miles in length. Rail lifted in 1926.
 
GP40MC said:
According to Robert Dale Kerr's excellent book "The Rail Lines of Southern New England" The Chelsea Beach Branch opened in 1881. Was operated only in summer months for beach crowds. It formed a loop paralleling the main line with the northern junction at the Revere/Saugus line (Saugus River Jct) and the southern at Oak Island Grove. The southern end was extended about a mile or so to a junction north of Revere, Discontinued in 1891. Most of the line remaining in place for another 35 years except for a portion that was used for the relocated BRB&LRR. His book listed stations at Revere, Crescent Beach, Oak Island, Point of Pines and Saugus River Jct,....4.5 miles in length. Rail lifted in 1926.
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Thank you!
 
Maroon is the Eastern Railroad and the Chelsea Beach Branch. Purple is the Boston, Winthrop and Shore Railroad. Blue is the BRB&L, including the 1890s realignment.

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The EGE said:
Yes, slowly working through all of New England. I plan to release it as kml/shapefile for others once it's in a reasonable state of completion.
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That's great, I'm looking forward to seeing it. I was sort of half-assedly working on something like this a while ago, basically cleaning up the MassGIS railroads data set, but didn't get very far.
 
I googled "eastern route chelsea beach branch" (because I was intrigued by a comment in the BRB&L's Wikipedia article) and yep, this thread was the very first thing that popped up, and yup, it had exactly what I was looking for.
Between 1896 and 1900, the section from Revere Beach to Point of Pines, formerly running along the beach, was relocated inland to lie next to the Eastern Railroad's abandoned Chelsea Beach Branch.[2] The stations were moved and a new one (Bath House) was built. Revere Beach Boulevard was built later along the former route.
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(Tangentially, from what I can tell from reading Wikipedia:
  • "Chelsea Beach" was so-named, likely in the 17th century, because what is now Revere was originally part of Chelsea.
  • In 1841, "North Chelsea" became its own town.
  • In 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Paul Revere's Ride.
  • Subsequently in 1871, North Chelsea renamed itself after Paul Revere [who, as far as I can tell, never lived in North Chelsea].
  • In 1875, the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad opened.
  • In 1881, the Chelsea Beach Branch opened... in the same year that residents voted to change the name to "Crescent Beach".
    • [And yet somehow the railroad was named "Revere Beach"?]
  • Ten years later, the Chelsea Beach Branch discontinued B&M Eastern Route operations, with part of the ROW being repurposed by the BRB&L
And now some 135 years later, we still refer to this ROW with a name that arguably went out of date in 1841, then increasingly out of date in 1871, in 1881, and stopped running in 1891. I think that's fascinating.)
 
Riverside said:
And now some 135 years later, we still refer to this ROW with a name that arguably went out of date in 1841, then increasingly out of date in 1871, in 1881, and stopped running in 1891. I think that's fascinating.)
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1800s railroads and questionably naming things, name a better combo
 
Riverside said:
I googled "eastern route chelsea beach branch" (because I was intrigued by a comment in the BRB&L's Wikipedia article) and yep, this thread was the very first thing that popped up, and yup, it had exactly what I was looking for.

(Tangentially, from what I can tell from reading Wikipedia:
  • "Chelsea Beach" was so-named, likely in the 17th century, because what is now Revere was originally part of Chelsea.
  • In 1841, "North Chelsea" became its own town.
  • In 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Paul Revere's Ride.
  • Subsequently in 1871, North Chelsea renamed itself after Paul Revere [who, as far as I can tell, never lived in North Chelsea].
  • In 1875, the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad opened.
  • In 1881, the Chelsea Beach Branch opened... in the same year that residents voted to change the name to "Crescent Beach".
    • [And yet somehow the railroad was named "Revere Beach"?]
  • Ten years later, the Chelsea Beach Branch discontinued B&M Eastern Route operations, with part of the ROW being repurposed by the BRB&L
And now some 135 years later, we still refer to this ROW with a name that arguably went out of date in 1841, then increasingly out of date in 1871, in 1881, and stopped running in 1891. I think that's fascinating.)
Click to expand...
Wow, thank you for this wealth of information. I appreciate it!
 
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