Renaming of Yawkey Way station?

[MACTRAXX]

Just keep it SIMPLE,rename the station Fenway Park,and get the Red SoX to sponsor the name change, They have the $$$$$$$ to pay for it!

Everyone: I agree with BSH and think that "Red Sox-Fenway Park" should be the name of what
was Yawkey Station knowing that baseball fans are the bulk of the ridership to this station.

I am thinking of the LIRR "Mets-Willets Point" (formerly Shea Stadium) station to come up with
this name. Incorporating Fenway Park into the station name is a good obvious move.

Yes - getting the Red Sox to sponsor the station "naming rights" makes perfect sense here...

What is actually ironic is that Fenway Park being one of the oldest continuously used ballparks
in MLB would spark a backlash from fans had Red Sox management considered selling naming
rights to a corporate sponsor that would have changed Fenway Park's name.

This station name change is an easy one ...MACTRAXX

[jonnhrr]

They could always do what the British do - "station name for landmark" for example "Jersey St. for Fenway Park".

The railway station for the town I grew up in had a signboard-filling "South Benfleet for Canvey Island". So it got the name of the local town and the main attraction in the area for what we called "holiday makers".

Jon

[ST214]

I'm all for David Ortiz Station. After all, the bridge just east of the station is the David Ortiz bridge.

[TomNelligan]

I'm all for David Ortiz Station.

I'm a hardcore Sox fan, but let's not go overboard on canonizing the guy. Naming things after people can be tricky, as the case of Mr. Yawkey shows.

"Red Sox/Fenway Park" is straightforward and says exactly where the station is located. And if any out-of-towners still manage to confuse a commuter rail station on the B&A with Fenway on the Green Line, they're still in more or less the same neighborhood. For what it's worth, the big ballpark in the Bronx is served by an el station called 161 Street/Yankee Stadium and a rail station called Yankees/East 153 Street and life apparently manages to go on without massive confusion.

BTW, I love the historical reference to Brookline Junction above. A bit of the B&A Highland Branch was still in place into the 1970s, crossing the middle of the current parking lot by Whatever Station to get to what was then the Sears warehouse, which lasted as a freight customer quite late in the game.

[BostonUrbEx]

Fenway Center is the name of the air rights development which is planned to encapsulate the station, name it Fenway Center. Rename the Fenway stop on the Green Line to Landmark Center.

[Arborwayfan]

Mr. Nelligan, I remember seeing the boxcars spotted to unload at Sears. I even went into the building once, with my mother and grandfather, to pick up a boat windshield. I was a little kid then.

Didn't the freight track used to run up through whatever station, maybe embedded in the platform, or behind the platform, I guess for head room for switching?

[TomNelligan]

Didn't the freight track used to run up through whatever station, maybe embedded in the platform, or behind the platform, I guess for head room for switching?

Yes, the Sears freight track ran as far as the Fenway Green Line station, ending behind the inbound platform.

[diburning]

The MBTA practices unusual economy with regard to naming stations: Symphony Hall is "Symphony"; Davis Square is "Davis"; and Yawkey Way is "Yawkey." By comparison, the MTA in New York is downright verbose: The Stadium is "161 St-Yankee Stadium" (subway) and "Yankees-E 153 St" (Metro-North), and Citi Field is "Mets-Willets Point." Why not rename "Yawkey" as "Jersey St-Fenway Park" or "Jersey St-Red Sox?"

My question is... Does the MBTA have any sort of rule/guide on how they name things?

Here's what I mean:

Buses have stops named after streets/intersections, because that makes sense.
The Red Line omits words like "square", and "street." Examples: Davis (Square), Porter (Square), Harvard (Square), Central (Square), Charles (street)/MGH.
Exceptions include Park st
The Green Line does not omit words like "street", "avenue", or "road" when above ground, but omits it in the subway. Examples: Kenmore (Square), Copley (Square), Arlington (street), Boylston (street), Haymarket (square). Exceptions include Park street, Heath (with street omitted), Longwood (Avenue, but this stop was inherited from the B&A)
The Blue Line also omits those words, but has fewer of them. Examples: Bowdoin (Square, although the square no longer exists), State (street), Maverick (square)
The Orange Line is the biggest mix and there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason as to whether "suffix" words are omitted.
Examples of omissions: Assembly (Square/Row), Haymarket (Square), State (Street).
Examples of inclusions: Sullivan Square, Massachusetts Avenue, Jackson Square, Green Street.
Even the Mattapan Line was not spared. Butler (omits street), while Central Ave, Valley Rd, and Capen st retain their "suffixes"

I want to assume that things are the way they are because the MBTA inherited its current system from multiple previous companies, but "Assembly" is an outlier in that the MBTA seems to be trending towards having the suffix words, yet omitted it for Assembly.

This is by no means a comprehensive list.

[CRail]

Fenway is ON the Fenway, and should not be renamed. Nor would it need to. There are two Longwoods, two Harvards not even remotely near eachother, two Washingtons (with a third proposed until someone evidently grew wise to that folly), two Chestnut Hills... No reason you couldn't have a "Fenway Center" and Fenway. I despise names that aren't locations, like Tufts (it's an institution, not a place). Red Sox is a baseball team, not a place. Fenway Center would be a place and therefor would work. There's also no reason it has to change, Lechmere's been gone for more than 20 years and it still has a station. If you're upset that Mr. Yawkee has a blemish, an outcry over George Washington owning slaves would require a massive street sign budget.

I agree with BSH and think that "Red Sox-Fenway Park" should be the name of what
was Yawkey Station knowing that baseball fans are the bulk of the ridership to this station.

1.) It still is Yawkee Station
2.) If baseball fans were the bulk of the ridership it wouldn't have 55 trains stopping at it every weekday year round.

[Teamdriver]

Didn't the freight track used to run up through whatever station, maybe embedded in the platform, or behind the platform, I guess for head room for switching?

Yes, the Sears freight track ran as far as the Fenway Green Line station, ending behind the inbound platform.

S S Pierce had a warehouse that would have been fed by the same track at one time perhaps?

https://www.facebook.com/86317919371408 ... 92/?type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jaymac]

by Teamdriver » Sat May 05, 2018 7:26 am
...S S Pierce had a warehouse that would have been fed by the same track at one time perhaps?

Surely there has to be a member of Local 25 IBTCW&H who can answer that question!

[Teamdriver]

https://www.facebook.com/86317919371408 ... 22/?type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


That was a long time ago for anyone to have a working memory of, but alas the proof is in the picture.....

[jaymac]

by Teamdriver » Sat May 05, 2018 12:46 pm
... alas the proof is in the picture.....

Alas, if it's DeKuyper, it's probably only 60 proof.

[BostonUrbEx]

Yes, the Sears freight track ran as far as the Fenway Green Line station, ending behind the inbound platform.

Did it connect to the Green Line's little stub-ended siding which still runs behind the inbound platform?

If you're upset that Mr. Yawkee has a blemish, an outcry over George Washington owning slaves would require a massive street sign budget.

Hmm, always did like the sound of Orange Street, and it'd bring back the Orange Line's namesake.

[TomNelligan]

Did it connect to the Green Line's little stub-ended siding which still runs behind the inbound platform?

I don't remember any physical connection between the rail and trolley tracks at Fenway in the 60s/70s timeframe. There was a rail connection at Riverside, though.