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  • History question: Intercity passenger trains through Boston

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1421225  by MEC407
 
Not counting anything that went through Worcester: Has any intercity passenger train ever run through Boston either via the Grand Junction or via some other long forgotten branch? The operative word here is "through." Not terminating in Boston, but stopping in Boston or passing through Boston on its way to/from someplace else.
 #1421227  by TomNelligan
 
The short answer is no. The Grand Junction branch was built in the mid-19th century (1852-53) as a freight connection linking the Boston & Worcester RR with the ancestral north side railroads (Boston & Maine, Boston & Lowell, Fitchburg, Eastern) and the East Boston docks. It was originally an independent company, acquired by the B&W's successor Boston & Albany in 1869. It was built as a freight belt line and never had any regularly scheduled passenger service, although a few specials have operated on the line over the years. The other connection between the NH/B&A and B&M, the street-running Union Freight RR along Atlantic Avenue, likewise never saw any regular passenger service.
 #1421234  by The EGE
 
The closest was in the 1870s and 1880s, when the B&A ran trains from the East Boston immigration center and over the Grand Junction. They weren't really regular passenger service, but essentially one-way specials.

During the brief period that the New Haven controlled the B&M, the former proposed a cross-harbor rail tunnel from South Station to East Boston which would have likely carried some intercity service. After the New Haven lost control, the plan was abandoned.
 #1421683  by MEC407
 
Thanks guys!
 #1421954  by Aerie
 
Obviously no regularly scheduled passenger trains used the Union Freight Railroad, but I wonder if any special movements of passenger equipment did? Perhaps moving a private passenger car from BOS to BON? When I was a little kid, my dad would occasionally drive down Atlantic Ave and I'd be amazed at the trains in the middle of the street...haha.