Atlantic Ave. Train Shed.

I remember as a kid in the 60's seeing what looked like the entrance to a subway tunnel off Atlantic Ave. on the water side between Northern Ave. and Rowes Wharf. Now I realize that it couldn't have been a subway, but I wonder what it was. It was a curved track descending down into what looked like a tunnel entrance. Maybe a warehouse or wharf served by Boston Terminal Co. ? It had an unusually steep downward grade for a siding. Does anybody around then remember that ?

I knew that area in the late 1960s, at least as regards railroad trackage, and I'm drawing a blank on the ramp you're asking about. The Union Freight Railroad's connection to the New Haven's South Boston yards came across the Northern Avenue swing bridge and joined the UFRR "mainline" that ran up the middle of Atlantic Avenue. There were various spurs into warehouses and wharves in that area, but I don't remember any that looked like a subway entrance or that dropped below street level.

Are you maybe confusing things with the highway ramp from Atlantic Avenue into the old South Station tunnel of the Central Artery? There were tracks nearby, but not on the descending ramp itself.

TomNelligan wrote: Are you maybe confusing things with the highway ramp from Atlantic Avenue into the old South Station tunnel of the Central Artery? There were tracks nearby, but not on the descending ramp itself.

Of course not. Had I been a little older, I would have conducted a little flashlight inspection and photo tour, but this was @ 50' sloping, curved entranceway on the east side of Atlantic Ave. into a portal. The tracks connected with the old Atlantic Ave street tracks to the west with a turn out. My educated guess is that it was a long unused enclosed wharf entrance for freight cars. Once again, the only thing that I find intriguing is the entrance's curve and slope, which was really not a typical spur arrangement for RR. It was more typical for street railway, but to my knowledge, no trolley freight serviced the wharves down there at any time.

Love your avatar, 3rdrail...Notary Sojac to you! One of my most precious possessions is a model of the Toonerville Trolley my father made from scratch back in the late 30's or early 40's. Its made of cardboard and sets on wooden rails and ties (wooden matches) about HO scale and is parked in front of an open shed like station.

Oh yeah, that's a keeper. Protect that baby. I have to be careful in my posts now because of that trolley. I posted a thing on a Dedham trolley derailing over a bridge, almost hitting a guy canoeing on Mother Brook below. It then occurred to me that readers might think that my avatar was a sketch at the time of the incident. (I put a disclaimer !) Notary Sojac !