I've noticed that commonwealth ave. past the "BC" stop at the end of the "B" line is quite wide and has a large grassy mall area all the way to Centre Street in Newton. Was the "B" line intended to go all the way to Centre Street where the Mall/ROW ends? Was there ever an extension that went there or did it always end at BC? I notice that there is a Bus Line that goes down Centre Street (the "52" or something) -- was this originally a Trolley Line? Could the "B" and "D" line been connected by a hop, skip and a jump at one point?
Another thing I notice about the "B" line which is really hideous is that when trains travel up the non-revenue Chestnut Hill Ave. tracks, the operator has to get out of the car and manually switch the track with some kind of stick to get over onto the main "B" line. This has got to be the trashiest aspect of probably any passenger rail line in the country. The tracks and road at that intersection is just in terrible shape as well. I always drive fast around that turn when a train is there because I'm always worried it's going to topple over onto my car. They need to work on that.
Another thing I notice about the "B" line which is really hideous is that when trains travel up the non-revenue Chestnut Hill Ave. tracks, the operator has to get out of the car and manually switch the track with some kind of stick to get over onto the main "B" line. This has got to be the trashiest aspect of probably any passenger rail line in the country. The tracks and road at that intersection is just in terrible shape as well. I always drive fast around that turn when a train is there because I'm always worried it's going to topple over onto my car. They need to work on that.
