Boston Convention Center line

so i arrived in town last night around 12ish and somehow conned my girlfriend to take a ride around the new convention center, since it's in the area. i was blown away by the amount of track that's been built and it seems like the connection to Black Falcoln might be finished.

in addition, there was a line of Canadian boxcars near the crossing and a CSX team working the line-- they seemed to have stopped when i saw them and the crew was walking, seemingly checking out the new track near the crossing that goes over the entrance to the Convention Center.

does anyone know what kind of traffic is going out to the terminal? how much activity is going on there these days? a while back someone mentioned that CSX was looking for business there but i never imagined it'd happen so quick.

Boy you lucked-out, I think you owe your girl-friend, lol. The rail you saw is part of the line which used to connect to the Black Falcon Pier but was severed years ago due to the Big Dig. The area next to the convention center is only 2 tracks now, the main and a siding used as a run-around. This site is currently used by the Boston Railway Terminal, which gets cars of steel for many various contractors and projects, including the MBTA. The entire area used to be an enormous railyard, as evident if you drive down the South Boston Haul Road as the Haul Road was built where I believe there were two more tracks leading down from Southampton Street.

From time to time the crew will go to the end of the track to check on the status of the re-connection of the rail towards Black Falcon, and I cab tell you that alot of work has been done in the last year or two. I was just shocked to see the "roller-coaster" type drop under the D Street over-pass.....that should be an interesting grade, lol.

As for the Boston Railway Terminal, they haven't gotten any cars in months due to some issues between them & CSXT, which owns the site where the BRT is located. Some real estate developers have big plans to get alot of rail business into some old warehouses by Black Falcon in the years to come, which is part of the reason why the rail is being re-stored. It is also being restored because it was supposedly only severed temporarily to accomodate construction during the Big Dig.

There is more on the Boston Railway Terminal in the New England Railfan Forum. Btw, did you see the BRT's switcher?

thanks man....
yeah, that rollercoaster drop is pretty amazing looking. i can remember seeing gondolas years back in the area that you mentioned, in what i think was the A Street yard.

i am interested to see what warehouses you mean. it seemed to me that that entire area got pretty corporate and non-industrial. but hey, the more activity the better.

In the big warehouse on Drydock Ave ("behind" Black Falcon terminal) is E.P. Levine, is a pro-grade camera outfit. Before the Big Dig severed the line, I noticed signs along the line of parking spaces closest to the building requiring said spaces to be vacated by 1630 for rail operations.

About this time, I wandered about the area on my mountain bike one Sunday. I found a couple of boxcars tied down beyond Drydock Ave. IIRC, there was some isolated track that indicated double track once extended between Black Falcon terminal and the Drydock warehouse.

I also rode the long-abandoned street-running alignment that once connected Conley Terminal to the outside world. Looking on google maps, this right of way has been completely erased.

Interesting to read that the line to Drydock Ave may become active once again. Be nice to see the rebirth of some terminal railroading in Boston.

Hmm ... if (when) this line returns ... could a rail line to Conley Terminal be far behind?

* JB *