Commuter Rail at Riverside, old North Station photos

A few weeks ago I saw a picture somewhere on the internet of a commuter rail train at Riverside. It was taken from when they ran emergency trains during the Kenmore flood in the 90's. I was wondering if anywhere knows where pictures of this are becuase I can't remember where I saw it.

P.S. I'm also looking for pictures of the North Station commuter rail station from the original Boston Garden days if anyone has any leads on this.

The article you are looking for can be found at the link below:

http://members.aol.com/netransit8/flood/flood.html

There is one picture at the end that shows a commuter rail train waiting at the Riverside inbound platform! What a sight!

A few weeks ago I saw a picture somewhere on the internet of a commuter rail train at Riverside. It was taken from when they ran emergency trains during the Kenmore flood in the 90's. I was wondering if anywhere knows where pictures of this are becuase I can't remember where I saw it.

You might be thinking of this one, from the NERAIL Photo Archive.

Photo by yours truly!

It's too bad the green line doesn't operate trolleys to meet commuter rail trains at Riverside as it would allow MetroWesters to get to Newton & Brookline destinations more directly as well as any reverse commuters from Newton to get to Worcester & MetroWest.

I remember seeing photos and news shots of Commuter Rail trains at Riverside when we had the big nor'easter that closed down the Green Line. It would be nice to see an MBCR train again, but it will only be done so in emergencies.

johnpbarlow wrote:It's too bad the green line doesn't operate trolleys to meet commuter rail trains at Riverside as it would allow MetroWesters to get to Newton & Brookline destinations more directly as well as any reverse commuters from Newton to get to Worcester & MetroWest.

There are intermittant resurfacings of the proposal to build a Green Line-Commuter Rail transfer station at Riverside, but considering the lack of desire on the part of the Commonwealth for a lot more pressing projects, I would recommend anyone holding their breath (their children or grandchildren probably shouldn't either).

Robert Paniagua wrote:It would be nice to see an MBCR train again, but it will only be done so in emergencies.

Unfortunately this will not happen anytime soon Robert. As mentioned in another thread on this topic a few months ago, the connection is not in place anymore.

Thanks alot guys. I've been looking forever for those shots. Any leads on my second request?

P.S. I'm also looking for pictures of the North Station commuter rail station from the original Boston Garden days if anyone has any leads on this.

danib62 wrote:Thanks alot guys. I've been looking forever for those shots. Any leads on my second request?

P.S. I'm also looking for pictures of the North Station commuter rail station from the original Boston Garden days if anyone has any leads on this.

There have been several books on the B&M that have good coverage of the pre-Fleet Center North Station, but the most comprehensive is Robert Willoughby Jones' "Boston & Maine: City and Shore" (Pine Tree Press, 1999). which not only has a lot of photos and stories of North Station but also on the rest of the B&M's operations in the Boston area from the 1940s into the 1980s.

Here's a pretty cool picture of the old North Station in its full glory, back in the 1930's or 40's probably:

Charliemta wrote:Here's a pretty cool picture of the old North Station in its full glory, back in the 1930's or 40's probably

That's a great photo. It shows the Atlantic Avenue El, which shut down in 1938, curving off at the upper left, so that dates it between North Station's opening in 1928 and the demolition of that part of the el. There are so few trains in the station that it must have been taken on a Sunday morning.

Another notable feature of that photo is the old Warren Bridge, which is shown open for the passage of a ship. The bridge was replaced by the current 'New' Charles River Dam. I can't tell whether it carried any streetcar tracks.

The old Warren Ave. Bridge did indeed have trolley tracks on it. I distinctly remeber seeing them when I was a kid riding the Charlestown El (during the late 1950's) over the Washington Bridge. The Warren Ave. bridge roadway deck was very wide and made of wood, and definitely had trolley tracks.

I suspect the trolley tracks on the Warren Bridge may have been for Trolley cars emerging from the tunnel incline at Causeway Street, and headed for Chelsea. Aaah, the good old days when there was light rail directly from downtown Boston to Chelsea.

Unfortunately this will not happen anytime soon Robert. As mentioned in another thread on this topic a few months ago, the connection is not in place anymore.

It got removed? Well, they may put it back hopefully, what if there's flooding on the Green Line again, I mean they have to replace that connecting track.

Sweet picture, wow... so much has changed. The entire west end in this photo is gone, those poor people. Neat old shot of the El on the bridge and atlantic ave...cool cool