Science Park Renaming / Boston Neighborhoods

Mbta fan wrote:I call RTE station in westwood, Westwood. It's easy if there Is only one station in town.

Amtrak uses the secondary Westwood name on its reservations/scheduling system "Route 128/Westwood, MA".

Arborwayfan wrote:and would have headed north throug the SWC is the state and Gov. Sargent hadn't come to their senses.

You gotta be freakin' kidding me. I'm glad you weren't governor.

Thanks r36 besides out of staters probably don't know what route128 is nevermind Westwood.

The station is a park-and-ride, pure and simple. It was built as one in 1960ish; there was not a stop there previously. Its only decent road entrance is from 128, and 99% of its passengers get there from 128. Even if you don't know Massachusetts geography, if you've heard the station announcements then you know that it's the stop between Providence and Back Bay.

I mean, what else are you going to call it? It's hardly in Westwood at all, and nowhere near downtown. The Neponset River Reservation and Norwood Memorial Airport are not exactly huge destinations. "University Park" requires you to actually have a university nearby, while "Industrial Park" is pretty unsexy.

"Route 128" is simple, unambiguous. Every other line that crosses 128 either has a station there with a convenient name, or there's a convenient name. Only the current "Route 128" station doesn't.

Dedham Corporate Center isn't great but it works, and you could always go back to Rustcraft to kick it old-school. A Needham Line stop would either be a relocated Hersey, or else you can take your pick of the street name (Greendale) and the neighboring land (Cutler Park), the latter of which comes with a nice double-meaning of 'park'. Worcester Line has Riverside as an old name to reuse, Fitchburg's superstation should just be Weston, Lowell has Anderson RTC and Haverhill doesn't need a 128 stop with Anderson so close. The only other possible 128 park-and-rides are Peabody/Danvers and they will get town names.

The EGE wrote:I mean, what else are you going to call it? It's hardly in Westwood at all, and nowhere near downtown. The Neponset River Reservation and Norwood Memorial Airport are not exactly huge destinations. "University Park" requires you to actually have a university nearby, while "Industrial Park" is pretty unsexy.

"Route 128" is simple, unambiguous. Every other line that crosses 128 either has a station there with a convenient name, or there's a convenient name. Only the current "Route 128" station doesn't.

Dedham Corporate Center isn't great but it works, and you could always go back to Rustcraft to kick it old-school.

Well, you could name it "Green Lodge", but that'd be weird and confusing, as Green Lodge St is a tiny road which is the "back way" to the station. And not only is the station not anywhere near built-up Westwood, but it's not even all in Westwood--the northern end of the platform is Dedham, and the Canton Line is adjacent to the station (according to Google Earth). Dedham Corporate Center could also be Legacy Place--it's the name of the large adjacent shopping center, and it sounds decent.

It's a great point that Rte. 128 station was built for Rte. 128. What name could be better?

Urbey, did you maybe get my meaning backwards because I wrote "is" where I meant "if"? I meant that Gov. Sargent and the state came to their senses -- with a lot of help from Fred Salvucci -- and decided not to wreck Hyde Park, Roslindale, JP etc by putting I-95 through them. If they had let I95 go through, it would cross 128, instead of joining it, and this whole thread would never have happened, and Boston would be a worse place now. If I'd been governor I would have done just what Sargent did, only maybe with more trains.

Alright time to be bad the guy. Lets bring this back on topic! Please...

Arborwayfan wrote:It's a great point that Rte. 128 station was built for Rte. 128. What name could be better?

Urbey, did you maybe get my meaning backwards because I wrote "is" where I meant "if"? I meant that Gov. Sargent and the state came to their senses -- with a lot of help from Fred Salvucci -- and decided not to wreck Hyde Park, Roslindale, JP etc by putting I-95 through them. If they had let I95 go through, it would cross 128, instead of joining it, and this whole thread would never have happened, and Boston would be a worse place now. If I'd been governor I would have done just what Sargent did, only maybe with more trains.

Woops, my bad. Sorry about that, misread your post. lol

Yes sir, back on topic.
Why change the names as often as the T does? Is it to help people navigate, or to make political friends, or to look up to date, or what? I understand that some of the changes are inherited from ages ago. If Mechanics had been called Mass Ave (was it, originally?) they it would not have had to change it to Auditorium and then Hynes/ICA. But why not try for as many names as possible that are named after streets? Does calling it JFK/UMass get more riders than calling it Columbia?

Is the West End coming back as a name that people actually use, and are people going to Science Park as a way of getting to a place they call the West End, or is calling a station West End just a weak apologetic gesture to the folks thrown out when the real West End was demolished? (Call it "If you lived here, you'd be home now," but that's too long for the in-car maps. )



(No problem, Urbey!)

Arborwayfan wrote:Yes sir, back on topic.
Why change the names as often as the T does? Is it to help people navigate, or to make political friends, or to look up to date, or what? I understand that some of the changes are inherited from ages ago. If Mechanics had been called Mass Ave (was it, originally?) they it would not have had to change it to Auditorium and then Hynes/ICA. But why not try for as many names as possible that are named after streets? Does calling it JFK/UMass get more riders than calling it Columbia?

Is the West End coming back as a name that people actually use, and are people going to Science Park as a way of getting to a place they call the West End, or is calling a station West End just a weak apologetic gesture to the folks thrown out when the real West End was demolished? (Call it "If you lived here, you'd be home now," but that's too long for the in-car maps. )



(No problem, Urbey!)

Navigate? Yes
Make friends? Yes
Make money? They did try to sell naming rights to stations a few years back (friends from Yale wanted to buy naming rights to Harvard Square, but I don't think that idea made it out of the bar that night).

I think the West End naming is a weak apologetic gesture as you guessed.

Rbts Stn wrote:I think the West End naming is a weak apologetic gesture as you guessed.

It does feel that way, doesn't it?

But West End would be in the great tradition of naming things after what used to be there: Back Bay, Beacon Hill, School Street, Granary Burying Ground, Powderhouse Square -- of course, in all those examples, the name is still used for something.

Can we just change the topic name to include stations on all lines and not just limited to Boston. Sery I'll take blame on getting it off topic.

The EGE wrote:

Mbta fan wrote:I call RTE station in westwood, Westwood. It's easy if there Is only one station in town.

Not only is Islington located in Westwood, but there are a total of six stations - Endicott, Dedham Corporate Center, Islington, Norwood Depot, Norwood Central, and Windsor Gardens - that are closer to downtown Westwood than is Route 128 station.

EDIT: If we're measuring from the town green at the intersection of High and Pond, then even Needham Junction is a few yards closer.

Well now the area has a new name :Long-stalled Westwood Station gets new owners, new name
http://bostonherald.com/business/real_e ... ition=also

It has come a long way from having the GM parts warehouse , and Wacky Jacky's hot dog truck across from it .

rhodiecub2 wrote:I think the most logical rename for Science Park would be Leverett Circle

I read somewhere it's named science park due to the science museum across the street.