COMPASS RAIL: Pittsfield / Springfield / Boston East-West Passenger Rail

[OT] Kenmore St gave it's name to Boston Elevated's Kenmore Station which was in Governor's Square which was renamed Kenmore Square. There is a village of Kenmore outside Buffalo, NY. Kenmore name was first used by Sears for a sewing machine in 1913, but since they didn't open any retail stores until 1925 it has nothing to do with Boston. Although every time I heard "bong" (garbled: kenmore!) I thought of Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Transformco d/b/a Sears says about their 1927 washing machine: http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/kenmore.htm

The origin of the name Kenmore is equally vague. One suggestion is that Kenmore came from Kenmore Avenue, a prominent street in Chicago.

jaymac wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:38 pm For at least a bit after the opening of T service on the Highland Branch, the Brookline Avenue Sears & Roebuck facility continued to get rail service.

And don't forget also S.S. Pierce where cars went through the building. You can see the big opening in the side of their building on the right in the picture:


P.S. Kenmore Square got its name from the Hotel Kenmore which was the hotel where visiting baseball teams would stay for games at Fenway.

bostontrainguy-
Tnx for the memory-slaps up side the head.
To go further OT, my grandmother of lace-curtain persuasion would buy from S.S. Pierce, and the catalog offered tins of rattlesnake meat.

Cars exiting the Boylston St. Subway when it first opened (1914) reached surface level and a surface stop at Kenmore St., in front of the hotel. It has been said that conductors often called out "Kenmore" (without bonging a gong) when approaching that stop. So a lot of people associated "Kenmore" with the whole area. Did the hotel have "Kenmore" in big illuminated letters on top?

It would not be for another 12 years that the Sears building (now the Landmark Ctr.) opened and Sears employees would continue on a Beacon (Reservoir) car to Audubon Circle (Park Dr.) or transfer to a car (were there any?) going up Brookline Ave. to get to the new building.

It is unfortunate that the Boston east-west rail trunk line, which runs near Kenmore Sq., had been narrowed drastically to make space for the Mass. Turnpike Boston extension so new rail service is difficult to implement.

Kenmore Street, which still exists, was around by 1895. The Hotel Kenmore didn't come around until 1916.

"Kenmore station" was the surface stop at Governor Square outside the Boylston Street Subway portal, named for the street. It had a prepayment area to serve Fenway Park crowds. On December 31, 1931, Governor Square was officially renamed Kenmore Square after the stop (see [here).

I remember seeing boxcars spotted at Sears when I was a little kid in the late 70s, maybe also early 80s. I remember it as something normal that I saw often. I also think I remember the freight track continuing under the Park Drive bridge, through the station (behind the inbound platform? IN the inbound platform? Can that memory be right?

Disney Guy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 1:49 pm So a lot of people associated "Kenmore" with the whole area.

Which is why the commuter rail station should have the Kenmore station over Yawkey or Lansdowne,
would match the name of the subway station and local area.

As for Sears' Kenmore product line of appliances, Kenmore Avenue in Chicago seems plausible, given Sears'
home base there.

I don't specifically remember seeing boxcars spotted at Sears but I recall two tracks underneath Park Drive behind the inbound platform at Fenway. They dead ended a short distance west of the bridge. East of there I think it was only a single track in a paved roadbed? I never knew where the tracks led - it was simply a feature along the route my dad took us to baseball games from Newton Highlands. He didn't bother going all the way to Kenmore, we always went to Fenway and walked from there.

Landsdowne is well over a block away from Kenmore, far enough to have a separate name.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:21 pm

Disney Guy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 1:49 pm So a lot of people associated "Kenmore" with the whole area.

Which is why the commuter rail station should have the Kenmore station over Yawkey or Lansdowne,
would match the name of the subway station and local area.

As for Sears' Kenmore product line of appliances, Kenmore Avenue in Chicago seems plausible, given Sears'
home base there.

I can't find it in writing from the T, but T policy is reported to be "one name per station, one station per name" meaning that due to the physical separation the Green Line and Commuter Rail stops won't be given the same name.

https://railroad.net/post385557.html#p385557

If, for example, you put a Commuter Rail station on the Grand Junction at Main St Cambridge, it would be valid to call that Kendall since it is so near the red line station and it is pretty close to Kendall Sq.

Arborwayfan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:52 pm I remember seeing boxcars spotted at Sears when I was a little kid in the late 70s, maybe also early 80s. I remember it as something normal that I saw often. I also think I remember the freight track continuing under the Park Drive bridge, through the station (behind the inbound platform? IN the inbound platform? Can that memory be right?

I can't say with absolute certainty, but I remember tracks and maybe box cars even in the late 80s. The tracks were definitely there, but I can't figure how box cars would have been, so maybe I just remember the loading dock next to the tracks still being there. Maybe the old, single platform Yawkee Station left room for a spur, not sure. It certainly wouldn't work today. The ROW is still pretty clearly visible from Google satelite view, but it looks like it feeds in to the newer, raised platforms of Landsdowne Station.

The old station had a much shorter platform that was only about as long as the track-facing side of the new Bower Apartments building being built there.

The Highland Branch wyed off of the mainline to the south west. Track went through the parking lot although I cannot remember if it was embedded in the asphalt or in grassy weeds. Also couldn't tell if it was still connected. Yawkey version 1 was a wooden partial high type platform iirc. Very annoying to have ~5 minutes added to the trip length for that stop.

The 1200ish people a day who got off at Yawkey/Landsdowne in 2019 each save what, 20 mins? over going to Back Bay, walking across Copley Sq, going down into the subway, and riding back out to Kenmore. Or over walking back out to the area near Yawkey/Landsdowne. That's a lot of time saved and potentially a lot of new riders attracted or riders retained. I expect automatic doors and electrification would reduce how much time the stop takes.