South Station Expansion Renderings

How does the capacity of South Station today compare to that of the original 1899 incarnation? IIRC it was the largest railroad station in the world when it opened.

28 tracks then vs 13 today. It was also the busiest rail terminal as well. Hard to believe that GCT was, at the time, #3 in terms of passenger boardings. North Station was pretty high up there as well. At the time when tracks were removed from South Station, there was no Old Colony commuter service. Obviously, service levels on not just the NEC but also the B&A out to Worcester have increased since those "lean" years.

To me, the no brainer would be to reconstruct the Atlantic Ave wing to connect it to the bus terminal. That would give an "all weather" route between the bus and rail terminals and allow for expansion of passenger facilities. The greater need though is for track space, which, if the post office ever vacates, is doable.

Ridgefielder wrote:How does the capacity of South Station today compare to that of the original 1899 incarnation? IIRC it was the largest railroad station in the world when it opened.

I can't believe it was bigger than London Waterloo in 1899 or even now.

george matthews wrote:

Ridgefielder wrote:How does the capacity of South Station today compare to that of the original 1899 incarnation? IIRC it was the largest railroad station in the world when it opened.

I can't believe it was bigger than London Waterloo in 1899 or even now.

Believe it.



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Holy cow, that makes Grand Central look like Child's Play.

Ok, this is a little weird. Just out of curiosity I decided to compare it to the aerial view of the current station using bing maps. It appears the actual building image has been replaced by a cartoon version here!

The space seen in the photo above was the main waiting room of the original station building, which as folks can see from the period photos was about four times larger than what's left today. But there was a chance that we might not even have had that, since in the dark days of the late 1960s there was a possibility that redevelopment might have led to complete demolition and replacement by a smaller structure.

I dunno why people keep using bing... getting on my nerves... anyways that's flyover 3D map using aerial imagery data.

Boston and philadelphia used to be incredibly important before the post-ww2 manufacturing decline. Many large companies had their HQ there, and in fact a lot of the now mostly abandoned rail infrastructure both delivered to and shipped from materials, parts, and finished goods all over the region & country. NYC and hudson/bergen counties had its car floats to support industry in all 5 boroughs and the major rail portals in NJ.

I see a reflection in the truncation of south station with the decline in manufacturing. And, not to get too feisty, but that decline is the cause of 90% of our current problems in this country.

I hope whatever does get built for the expansion looks nice but also functions really well to serve the people.

george matthews wrote:

Ridgefielder wrote:How does the capacity of South Station today compare to that of the original 1899 incarnation? IIRC it was the largest railroad station in the world when it opened.

I can't believe it was bigger than London Waterloo in 1899 or even now.

I believe Waterloo had 22 platforms (=tracks in U. S. usage) at the time in question, compared to the 28 mentioned in Shadyjay's post. When it was reconfigured to accommodate W'loo International I believe it had 24.

markhb wrote:I'll just point out that that magnificent ceiling still exists in the current ticketing area and the Acela lounge (taken by me 6/19/2013).

Totally agree, the South Station Acela lounge is beautiful. Was there in September. Sure hope some of these original features will be retained along with the new glass and light, etc.

Amtk30

25Hz wrote:I dunno why people keep using bing... getting on my nerves... anyways that's flyover 3D map using aerial imagery data.

Because unlike google maps, bing has decent 3D views using aerial imagery data. Anyway, look more closely, that's a drawing. If you zoom in more on that view if gives you an actual photo of the building.

Hmm well.........

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Apple maps on my iPhone.

Nothing will ever top that old train shed. Just its shear size compared to surrounding buildings in Boston at that time must have made it quite a sight.

*sigh* Maybe one day Boston will forgo with skyscrapers altogether and go back to all brick and stone structures

Here's a view ca. early 60's. South Station is in the lower left:
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