Red Sox Train Service Operation Discussion

Hello Everyone!

I'm working on a story for Railfan & Railroad about train service to baseball games, and I would like to include photos of Red Sox fans taking the train to Fenway. Anyone have any shots of MBTA trains at Yawkey station or fans using the light rail? Please contact me through a PM if you have something to share. Thank you!

-otto-

I just happen to have this picture from inside Kenmore before the final game of the 2004 World Series:

BostonUrbEx wrote:I just happen to have this picture from inside Kenmore before the final game of the 2004 World Series:

Excellent

Several of my personal photographs can be found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categ ... A_station); unfortunately, I've got none with trains in them. (Those photographs are free to use for anything provided you provide attribution for the photos).

If you need a shot of a train at the station, let me know. It might take me a few days - class schedule plus weather - but I live only two blocks away.

I was hoping for some in-service shots, in season shots as well. But thanks for the offer!

Can someone explain to me if there is actual "game day" service with baseball specials and the like? From what I have understood is that the T will get you there, but wont always get you home if the games run past midnight. Anyone shed any light on that?

Here is a link ( per web site's request as to posting their pics ) that you might create a case for, that could fit the bill. Here goes, its june 15 1964 , MTA trolley 3322 & unknown second car, with the CITIES SERVICE sign in the background, takes a rest after emptying out at Kenmore.
http://www.godfatherrails.com/photos/pv.asp?pid=1132
( The Red Sox were actually enroute from Baltimore to NYC that day, no game . )

BostonUrbEx, I actually clicked on this thread expecting to post a very similar photo!

Otto Vondrak wrote:I was hoping for some in-service shots, in season shots as well. But thanks for the offer!

Can someone explain to me if there is actual "game day" service with baseball specials and the like? From what I have understood is that the T will get you there, but wont always get you home if the games run past midnight. Anyone shed any light on that?

The T provides late service only for playoffs. I guess the thinking goes that if you can spend $500 for a game ticket, then the taxpayer should subsidize your trip home.

Wait. :/


For regular games, there is extra green line service (trains will be waiting outside kenmore to come in and pick people up)

Can someone explain to me if there is actual "game day" service with baseball specials and the like?

There was when Yawkey Station first opened, with special trains from Framingham and Attleboro. They were dropped after a couple seasons when the B&A got increased service and riders had more choices.

If you're extending your story to the minor leagues, I can immediately think of three minor league ballparks that are adjacent to commuter rail stations: Bridgeport on Metro-North (Bridgeport Bluefish), Newark on NJT [Broad Street Station] (Newark Bears), and Bridgewater on NJT (Somerset Patriots). I've taken trains to games at all three. No special service to any of them, though, just frequent regular trains.

In D.C., they'll keep the Metro running after hours for extra-inning and overtime games if the team will pay for the cost (I believe it's ~$30k/hour) of extending service on all lines. The Nationals do this regularly. It's for the ballpark employees as much as the fans. The Red Sox would get a lot of good publicity out of forking over a few hundred K for the four or five times a year where this would be an issue.

Thanks! I am writing this story from the perspective of 2012. So would it be correct to say that while the majority of the rapid transit lines shut down after midnight, special game day service is available on the Green Line as they stage trains at Fenway to accomodate the extra riders after the game ends?

Same apply to Yawkey? Or no game day trains home from Yawkey if the game runs past midnight?

-otto-

Service ends at the normal time when the Red Sox are playing the regular season. An announcement is made in the park that the T is about to shut down for the night. During the play offs, some games against West Coast teams start late for TV and the T often extends service. This extended service is normally limited but advertised.

jamesinclair wrote:
The T provides late service only for playoffs. I guess the thinking goes that if you can spend $500 for a game ticket, then the taxpayer should subsidize your trip home.

Wait. :/

I would be shocked if the T doesn't turn a profit for the service to the red sox games, the trains have always been PACKED when I went to both sox-yankees games and to see the sox play other teams at Fenway.

I never got why they don't utilize the Yawkey commuter rail stop more for the games, since you can fit a lot more people on a commuter rail set than you can on a 2 car green line train...

Otto Vondrak wrote:Thanks! I am writing this story from the perspective of 2012. So would it be correct to say that while the majority of the rapid transit lines shut down after midnight, special game day service is available on the Green Line as they stage trains at Fenway to accomodate the extra riders after the game ends?

Same apply to Yawkey? Or no game day trains home from Yawkey if the game runs past midnight?

-otto-

I'd say it's pretty rare for a game to go on after service shuts down for the night. The only time they start at 8 pm during the regular season is on sunday night ESPN games and I've been to a couple and getting home has never been an issue. Even on a sunday night the last outbound trips from Kenmore all leave around 1 am and the last inbound trip is around 12:30. 4.5 hours is quite long for even a sunday night game.

In twenty years of riding the 'T to games at Fenway, I can only recall one occasion when the game went past the last train. It's pretty much a non-issue most of the time. They add cars on the Green Line in order to handle the post-game crush, and they have a train waiting at Yawkey station, providing Worcester line service which leaves 10 minutes after the game ends. I have heard that sometimes it is two trains.

An interesting story about trains and baseball:

In the 2007 ALDS game 2, Manny Ramirez hit a walk off homerun over the Green Monster that's considered the longest home run ever hit out of Fenway Park (note: this is distinct from Ted Williams' famous red seat home run, which was the longest home run, but remained in the stands). When Manny was introduced at game 1 of the ALCS, the announcer mentioned the hit, describing it as "last seen passing over the buildings at MIT." This is what most baseball fans know. But what actually happened to the ball, is that it hit a dumpster next to the CSX tracks, bounced off, then hit the window of a passing Worcester train. I like this story because it ties together two things that I love, and shows just how close the Park is to the railroad.

I have heard an urban legend that the "longest home run" happened when a ball whacked out of the park landed in an open-topped freight car in a passing freight and ended up in Selkirk Yard. No idea when this was alleged to have happened, but it must have been back in the B&A days.