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  • New CR Station for New Balance in Brighton

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1022102  by Teamdriver
 
''New Balance officials say the company’s plans to develop a new headquarters, sports complex and other facilities across 14 acres beside its current headquarters in Boston will create between 3,000 and 4,000 new, full-time jobs in addition to between 600 and 900 construction jobs while the project is being built. .........................................................................................................................................................................................
At a final meeting for that process to create a long-term vision for the area – general guidelines that are expected to be formally adopted by the city next month – many members of the study’s advisory group urged that the study’s report include strong language to emphasize the long-held desire to add a public railway station in Allston-Brighton, which the state’s transportation department studied in 2009 to examine the potential for a new commuter rail station.''

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/all ... lopme.html
 #1022117  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
It's been long talked about, so some private investment would really help get it done. Question is where should a station go? Cambridge St. has the most room for a stop with a very wide bridge over the tracks and Pike without cannibalizing the 3rd/4th tracks, plus the nearby pedestrian bridge providing good access to the Lincoln St. side. Has the 64 and 66 stopping right there, and the 57 is 800 ft. away, and Harvard's Beacon Park development to serve. It's not right at New Balance HQ, though. Market St. has got NB and WGBH there for more immediate TOD, the 86 running down Market St., the 64 nearby on North Beacon, and the 70 not too far away. But I don't know if that's ideal spacing. Newton Corner badly needs a stop too because there are so very many buses converging there, potential for the MPO-proposed extension of the 71 TT from Watertown Yard, and that's the key spot where high-frequency CR can replace most of the Pike express buses. A little too close to Market St. Would almost be better to do Cambridge St. as the first infill, then Newton Corner as the second as that would really even up the station spacing inside 128 and offer the maximum, highest-density bus coverage.

I don't know if NB is going to go for that with its 'tweener location if any private money is at stake. But Harvard probably is interested, so maybe there's some potential to join forces there with those 2 parties. The T needs to be trying more of these public-private partnerships. This is as good a place to start since it's been a long-desired stop, so long as the BRA doesn't sink its teeth into it and start driving up the price and driving the schedule into the ground. We don't need another waste of a Yawkey headhouse here. Get something functional here, get the Newton stations double-tracked with level boarding, and get the headways to Framingham boosted with more inner-half short-turns. I think there's decent demand to tap here that'll lead them by the nose to eventually consider some Fairmount-ish short-turn service on the line and plopping in that key transfer stop at Newton Corner (which gets easier to publicly finance later if they've got private TOD investment greasing the skids for Allston first).

Don't forget, before the Pike took 2 of the 4 tracks away this was the second rapid-transit extension to Riverside on the 1945 plan. There's still a way to revisit that at a cut rate by Fairmount-ing it to Riverside after they get the infill stops and infrastructure improvements filled out. That's a high-return investment if presented properly to the public. Incidentally, the '45 plan had 5 stops on this stretch: Cottage Farm (BU Bridge), Allston (Cambridge St.), Brighton (Market?), Faneuil (N. Beacon/Birmingham Pkwy./Soldiers Field Rd. rotary?), and Newton Corner...omitting only Yawkey. It's not gotten the attention since because the ROW disappeared and the freight was there, but this was deemed recommended 60 years ago just like its more famous/infamous Riverside/Highland Branch, Braintree, Alewife/Arlington, Medford/Woburn, Lynn, Reading, and West Roxbury/Dedham brethren.
 #1022145  by jaymac
 
Unfortunately, it looks a bit too far to the west for derepurposing of the Allston Depot, a long-ago memory of which includes supper burgers with D&H Alcos hauling NH coaches and shaking the windows
 #1022169  by Komarovsky
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote: Get something functional here, get the Newton stations double-tracked with level boarding, and get the headways to Framingham boosted with more inner-half short-turns. I think there's decent demand to tap here that'll lead them by the nose to eventually consider some Fairmount-ish short-turn service on the line and plopping in that key transfer stop at Newton Corner (which gets easier to publicly finance later if they've got private TOD investment greasing the skids for Allston first).
Is there anything in the pipeline like this? It would seem a no brainer, given the density of stations between Framingham and Boston to institute Fairmount like service along the line. Plus it would probably help shorten the trip time between stops west of Framingham and Boston if they could cut out the stops after Ashland like the original environmental impact report on the Worcester line restoration recommended.
 #1022173  by frrc
 
jaymac wrote:Unfortunately, it looks a bit too far to the west for derepurposing of the Allston Depot, a long-ago memory of which includes supper burgers with D&H Alcos hauling NH coaches and shaking the windows
No to mention the board inside the station that showed all the nearby tracks and signals, and locations of trains. That was a LONG time ago BTW - JoeF
 #1022194  by Matthew
 
At least one developer working on buildings close to Cambridge Street has mentioned a proposed CR station there as a potential future selling point for condos. I don't know where he got his info.
 #1022209  by BostonUrbEx
 
NB probably wants it at Everett St.

I think ideally for everyone, it would stretch from Everett to Harvard, with access to both, and perhaps stairs up to Cambridge/the ped bridge.


I wonder if NB will go after freight service at all.
 #1022261  by diburning
 
I remember when I first joined this forum, that in my multitude of ramblings, I had a map with where the station COULD go near Everett st behind the stop and shop. Stop and Shop does not own the front driveway between the building and their parking lot, and does not own the driveway area behind the building, both of which are public roads although they do not appear as such.

The area behind Stop and Shop is certainly long enough for a platform, a full high level platform since it's already in yard limits for CSX, so no freights would be on that track anyway. The Mass Electrical Construction Company, which abuts the siding running through the parking lot (which is now severed from the main with the switch removed, but CSX still maintains the crossing in the parking lot) recently folded, so that building could be knocked down for parking space. That building is separated from the next one by a large parking lot. The second building, along with the parking lot is vacant and has been for some time, so I'm sure the owner would love to make some money by selling or leasing that parking lot out for commuter parking.
jaymac wrote:Unfortunately, it looks a bit too far to the west for derepurposing of the Allston Depot, a long-ago memory of which includes supper burgers with D&H Alcos hauling NH coaches and shaking the windows
The former Allston Depot is now a Regina Pizzeria. There is an old caboose with no markings whatsoever and only sitting on one truck (the other side sits on cinder blocks) which they use as part of their kitchen. The old platform is now closed off as an additional seating area.

I'm not sure where the old Brighton Depot was, but I suspect it MIGHT be in the area where WGBH is now. The Stockyard Steakhouse looks somewhat like an old station building, but I'm not quite sure.

Faneuil Depot, which was down the street from my house, no longer exists. It's a now a residential area. I don't know where it used to be since there's nothing left of it. There is a mural on the Brooks st underpass that goes under the B&A and the pike that depicts the old Faneuil Depot with a B&A steamer stopping there, but I don't think it's a historically accurate mural.
 #1022333  by Teamdriver
 
The Stockyard would be a good place for a station if the boys wanted to sell. For the BEST hamburger, jaymac, walk on down market street to the Irish Village, the best, j , the best.
At one time off Everett street, there was a Schlitz beer warehouse, cant remember if it had rail service for sure.Too bad the state of affairs is so distressing economically,there are alot of exciting scenarios out there, unfortunately they require alot of $$$$$$$$$$. And that area at one time was an economic dynamo, new truck dealers, Honeywell, food service wholesaler, ect. ah the memories !
 #1022337  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Tracks were totally realigned out in that area when the Pike was built. The ROW used to cover the westbound lanes and center median beyond the end of the current yard leads to where it switches sides under the highway, and an entire block of houses south of the ROW were demolished to fit in the highway and relocate the tracks. It gets more or less back on its old alignment when it switches to the north side of the Pike, then a little bit of deviation back at Auburndale when it passes back under the Pike (appears slightly straighter today vs. on Historic Aerials), then back permanently on original ROW at Riverside Jct. So basically almost nothing through Allston is totally where it used to be until inside yard limits. Allston Depot is probably the only track-abutting structure out there that's original because of all the city-block demolition that took place.
 #1022370  by Abe Froman
 
"I'm not sure where the old Brighton Depot was, but I suspect it MIGHT be in the area where WGBH is now."

The former Brighton Station was located at track level slightly to the east of the Market St. overpass.

"There is a mural on the Brooks st underpass that goes under the B&A and the pike that depicts the old Faneuil Depot with a B&A steamer stopping there, but I don't think it's a historically accurate mural."

The mural is close to accurate...There were two bridges spanning Brooks St...one for the B&A, a second for a one-way service access road to Faneuil Station. MV access to the station was from Brooks St. up the present Riverview (formerly a ramp), turn left at the end of the ramp, cross the bridge over Brooks St., Faneuil Station was at the end of the bridge on your right. Exit from the station was on a one way down ramp running from the station to Woodmont Avenue at intersection with Brooks St.

The World Headquarters and main manufacturing facility of Smith Bros. Cough Drops was located on Woodmont Avenue. "Black or Red, only .05 per box!"
 #1022420  by Teamdriver
 
[quote="Abe Froman"]"I'm not sure where the old Brighton Depot was, but I suspect it MIGHT be in the area where WGBH is now.
"Brighton Depot in its second location on the eastern side of Market St. This handsome Richardsonian Romanesque building was built in the 1880s.
http://www.bahistory.org/BrightonDepot.htm
 #1022476  by diburning
 
Actually, the photo you linked is the station itself.

Here's the Romanesque depot:

Image

Judging by where the old station would be today, it's gone. If there is any trace of the foundation left, it would be buried under an enormous mound of dirt and a concrete retaining wall.

The depot is where WGBH is today. Before it was WGBH, it was a multilevel parking lot (and actually still is. The parking lot was not changed much except when the main WGBH building was built, they built an overhanging walkway into the parking lot.)

Everything has been regraded so that the area south of the pike/B&A is at grade with the bridge and the rest of Brighton, and the area north of the pike/B&A remains unchanged.
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