Boston Connections anyone ?

Was just trying to recall where the connections were to the NH Main for 1} the network of freight traffic within what's now known as the Seaport District, and 2} where the Union Freight connected around South Station area. Does anyone know ?

A quick summary...

(1) The multi-track NH freight line to the vanished South Boston waterfront yards occupied the cut that became the Big Dig Haul Road, with one track remaining to the present. It joined the Old Colony and the Dorchester Branch at South Bay Junction, near the outer end of the current Southampton Street yard, and freights used the Dorcester line to reach the Shore Line at Readville.

(2) The street-running Union Freight RR split at the intersection of Northern Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. One branch crossed the Northern Avenue swing bridge and entered the NH South Boston yard near the current Moakley Courthouse, then the NH Fan Pier yard. The other UFRR track continued down Atlantic Avenue past South Station and connected with Boston Terminal Company trackage just beyond the station throat. There is absolutely no sign of either of these connections today, of course.

Thanks, Tom. I recall that by the time that I really was able to look at the area for a considerable duration with the ability to go anywhere that I wanted in the 80's, I was surprised at what was obviously a huge railroading locale. At night, after 4AM when it quieted down a bit, I would trace tracks, many which were still there. Remnants of the turntable and yard were evident off A St.(the turntable was where the postal facilty is/was.), a railroad bar was on Melcher - the "Roundhouse", tracks were everywhere, as were cars just left abandoned. There were a set of CNJ passenger cars in the "Grape Yard", affectionately named for the home wine makers from the North End who would come down to the yard and purchase grapes directly off the freight cars from the railroad men (Fan Pier), a freight car used as a restaurant on Sleeper St., an old abandoned tower in the yard off B, and occasionally you would still see some live industrial running, a lone diesel in my experience around the old Army Base. It was an interesting area for a rail buff even then. It must have been euphoria in it's heyday. I was born too late.

3rdrail wrote: It was an interesting area for a rail buff even then. It must have been euphoria in it's heyday. I was born too late.

Have you seen the latest Shoreliner from the NHRHTA? The whole issue is about the Union Freight, with plenty of pics of operations on Atlantic Avenue right up to the 1960's.

I have actually, RF, which is actually what got me thinking about them. As I have just joined, it was the first issue that I got. I'm very impressed !

3rdrail wrote:I have actually, RF, which is actually what got me thinking about them. As I have just joined, it was the first issue that I got. I'm very impressed !

I was amazed by the article. I didn't get to know Boston well until I was in college in the mid-90's, at which point pretty much every trace of the working waterfront was gone from that area. Had no idea there were such extensive operations there & that they lasted as long as they did.

And yes, the folks who put out the Shoreliner do a first-class job!

I remember the Union as a kid. Atlantic Ave. between South Station and Rowes Wharf was our route that we would walk, my mom, cousins, and myself, on our way to the Nantasket boat at Rowes Wharf. We would pass by a lot of the Union Freight operation at that time. They have been dubbed "the railroad that only came out at night", well, that just isn't true, although I have to acquiesce that my memory usually has them idling along small yards off Atlantic Ave. or street running with just a GE 44-tonner and no freight cars. Perhaps it is true after all. Maybe I was seeing the prep or finish up. Anyway, an avid track watcher even then, one thing that struck me was the incredible uneveness of the track that the UFRR ran upon. It was in a commercial area which saw a lot of hard wear and tear with trucks, buses, and autos, so the pavement was potted, crumbling, and sunken in many areas. Over time, the track just followed the countour of the pavement, what with no repair and continuous pressure of 44 tons on it. Even today, it seems incredible to me that their equipment did not derail. I know that the reason that it didn't was the fact that they operated at about 5 MPH. There were rail ends that not only didn't meet up but had as much as an 8 inch gap. The angles of connecting rails would differ radically. Rail would often rise above on the opposite end of a locomotive as a counter to the loco's weight. The company had all the "fly by the seat of your pants" approach as did a backwoods South Carolina logging operation.

The condition of the UFRR's track in the late 1960s truly amazing, and I'm sure it led to as many blown-out tires as low speed derailments. The power in those last days was a leased New Haven Alco S2 that lived in the little yard off of Atlantic Avenue where you could also find the railroad's modest office. I wouldn't recognize the location at all today if it wasn't for the Customs House tower that appears in the background in a couple of my photos from that time. But as Mr. Joyce notes, they ran very, very slowly... it was the only local railroad that you could quite easily chase on foot!

I do recommend Frank Kyper's book The Railroad That Came Out at Night for anyone interested in the UFRR or other long-gone aspects of Boston railroading in the 1960s and early 1970s