Was the Boston & Albany Main line double tracked?

I was just wondering if the Boston & Albany mainline in Massachusetts was every completely double track from the MA state line all they way into Beacon Yard, and if so, when portions of the double track were eliminated to single track? Driving back from NYS yesterday, I noted that the CSX bridge that goes over I-90 is only wide enough for a single track, which got me wondering if there used to be a double track bridge of some sort in that location, and it was replaced as part of the single-track.

Thanks,
BWP

Historically, the Massachusetts portion of the B&A was entirely two or more tracks, including a four-track section from Framingham into Boston and a few other short sections of third or fourth track. The New York Central began eliminating the third and fourth tracks in the 1950s and Conrail was responsible for the single-tracking of much of the line west of Worcester in the mid-1980s.

The Thruway bridge did replace double track with a short single track section when it was built and was a bottleneck from the start. At the time the NYC assumed that traffic would continue to decrease and the problem would go away in time.

Thanks Tom, so that bridge was then replaced when the Thruway I-90 was originally built, while still under NYC control? I take it that it was a smaller roadway underneath prior to the constructions of the I-90.

BWP

Yes, the current single track bridge over I-90 was built under NYC ownership in the late 1950s as part of the construction of the Berkshire branch of the NY Thruway. I don't know what sort of highway bridge, if any, existed at that location prior to the Thruway construction, but the B&A was double track through the area until the current bridge was built.

bwparker1 wrote:I was just wondering if the Boston & Albany mainline in Massachusetts was every completely double track from the MA state line all they way into Beacon Yard, and if so, when portions of the double track were eliminated to single track? Driving back from NYS yesterday, I noted that the CSX bridge that goes over I-90 is only wide enough for a single track, which got me wondering if there used to be a double track bridge of some sort in that location, and it was replaced as part of the single-track.

Thanks,
BWP

Nice historical B&A track chart here that shows the entire line end-to-end: http://www.zekedev.com/sites/boston_line/trackchart.cfm.

Quad track from the junction with the NEC in Back Bay to Nevins Yard in Framingham, triple from near the Framingham-Ashland town line to the old station at downtown Ashland, double from Ashland station to Charlton Depot, triple from Charlton Depot to the junction with the (soon-to-be-revived) North Brookfield RR, double to around the Springfield-Wilbraham town line, triple to Springfield Union Station and the junction with the Conn River/Springfield Line, double from the CT River Bridge to Renssalear and end of the line with extra yard leads every couple of towns. Quad still exists through Beacon Park from the Mass Pike Viaduct to Everett St. in Allston...3 of the 4 tracks are used as yard leads, but they are officially part of the mainline ROW so they may stay after the yard gets ripped out. The rest of the quad to Riverside Jct. was cannibalized for the Pike extension in 1965, but except for the more recent vintage 2-track bridge over Route 128 it's all still quad-width past there. All the old bridges excepting that one over 128 are 4 tracks wide and at some of the Worcester Line station stops in Wellesley and Natick the two tracks spread way wide to reach the platforms, indicating there clearly was more in the old days.

Right now it's single running track through Beacon Park, but that'll change back to double after the yard closes and the T can upgrade one of the yard leads into a running track. It's single from near the Worcester-Auburn town line to the Mass Pike underpass in Brookfield where the double picks up again. Then single from the NECR junction in Palmer to Dimmock Pond in Springfield where the double picks up again. All of that will have to be re-doubled for Amtrak to reinstate Inland Regionals after the Springfield Line upgrades are finished. West of the CT River they probably aren't going to do anything to the single gaps because Amtrak really isn't projecting much in the way of Lake Shore Limited schedule increases over the next 15 years. It's between Springfield and Worcester where all the intercity passenger growth is projected and the reinstated double is badly needed.

They certainly had a nice wide ROW. (Photos taken from a recent trip to the Osgood Bradley Building, Worcester.)

Thanks for all of the information.

The Boston & Albany was very well engineered and besides lots of multiple track, there aren't that many grade crossings either.

The first single track project on the B & A was the bridge over the Berkshire Spur of the NYS Thruway which was done in maybe the late 50's or very early 60's. At that time it was the intention of the New York Central to change the B & A from double track, ABS territory to single track TCS territory but this did not happen until well in to the Conrail period. As Tom stated, this was a "bottleneck", sometimes I would hear the dispatcher on the radio telling a train to stay well clear of East Chatham because they wanted a different train through there first. At this time (70's) there were spring switches at both ends of the single track and the signals were home signals but automatic interlocking signals. There was also a hotbox detector on that very short piece of single track and in those days the readout was in the dispatcher's office and not done by radio like it is today. All trains had to get an OK from the dispatcher on the radio for that particular detector by a certain point or they could not continue. "Dispatcher to train so and so, OK by the hotbox detector at East Chatham, OK to go (come) along."
Noel Weaver

Bridge over the Thruway (Berkshire Extension) was refered to as 'sucide bridge' account it being the only single track east of 'SM'. Special Instructions of ETT required single Budd Cars (Beeliners) stopped on that single track to immediately operate knife switch provided at each end of single track. This to provide a positive shunt on the track thereby giving the stopped car positive signal protection.

edbear wrote:The Boston & Albany was very well engineered and besides lots of multiple track, there aren't that many grade crossings either.

Yeah but the crossings in Framingham are a big issue during rush hour nowadays. I know there is a topic about the debacle, but was the crossing really bad when it was first built?

Had the pleasure of a cab ride on a mail train from Springfield Union Station to South Station, Boston circa 1969. Smooth, double-track line all the way on a nonstop run. Nice view from the cab of the E-8, even if I had to stand.

That must have been a long ride. It take over an hour just to get to worcester for the mbta. It had to bee at least 2rs on a freight train.

Mail trains were first class trains and used passenger diesels and rolling stock usable in high speed, passenger operations. A number of Beeliner schedules between Boston and Springfield with 6 intermediate stops were timed at 2 hours flat. The current relatively slow timing on Boston-Worcester MBTA schedules is due to a large amount of padding so that trains will arrive on time.