Back Bay Station B&A Tunnel

[edbear]

It was built as part of the Massachusetts Turnpike Boston Extension, about 1965.

[ExCon90]

Was that when they closed Trinity Place and Huntington Ave. in favor of Back Bay, or did that not happen until after the NH was included in PC? And what passenger accommodation existed at Huntington Ave.? I would assume that since there were no boarding passengers not much would have been needed.

[edbear]

The track layout was shifted in the 1965 Mass. Pike Extension project. Trinity Place and Huntington Ave. were demolished at same time. I started riding the Boston & Albany 1959 or so and Huntington Ave. was boarded up.....but there actually was no restriction on boarding trains bound for South Station, although public transit was available right nearby and ran far more frequently. Huntington Ave. had no restriction on checked baggage, so I'm guessing that someone came over from Trinity Place to meet inbound trains, take baggage and express, etc. I used Trinity Place a few times going home from Boston. It was a Richardson style building at the end of Trinity Place which was like an alley although vehicles could navigate it. I seem to think it was much smaller than Framingham or Palmer.

[BandA]

One interesting thing was during the mid-1980s rebuild they built the B&A platform as a high level, then went back to a low-level platform. They said the high level platform was "temporary" even though it was built of cement. Nobody ever talks about the platform being high level for a while.

[RenegadeMonster]

Really? What was the reason they would ever switch back to a low level platform from a high level platform? I can't see the logic behind that decision.

[MBTA3247]

I think it posed a clearance issue for the occasional freight that still ran through there at the time.

[edbear]

During the SWC project construction, 1920s Back Bay was torn down and was used only by Framingham, LSL & So Sta-Back Bay shuttles. There was an interim temporary facility.

[BandA]

Really? What was the reason they would ever switch back to a low level platform from a high level platform? I can't see the logic behind that decision.

MBTA3247 is correkt, CSX had clearance rights even if they never used them; The Boston Herald was still getting newsprint I think, and there is the curved bridge over Ft. Point Channel that connects to the Dorchester/Fairmont/Midland branch. I've always assumed that platform was supposed to be permanent & they were surprised that CSX forced the issue. It's a dwell problem now because they don't have time to flip traps twice and collect fares between South Station and Landsdowne

[troffey]

If I recall correctly, CSX has since given up high and wide rights east of Yawkey, so in theory that should not be an impediment to a high level at this point

[BandA]

That's right, the only thing holding them back is money, ADA money. It's a high volume station at rush hour. It's super wide; what was that space used for, baggage? Or is it just coincidence? But they would rather spend the money elsewhere.

[CRail]

I've always assumed that platform was supposed to be permanent & they were surprised that CSX forced the issue.

It was Conrail in those days which had a much different attitude towards the types of freight it hauled. Plus the mindset all around was different then, Track 61 wasn't refurbished for nothing (well I suppose it was but there was a reason even if it wasn't realized).