Inverted Worcester Line?

l008com wrote: ↑Tue Sep 06, 2022 6:26 pm So there appears to be a crossover between wellsley farms and auburndale. So why would anything going through wellsley farms need to be inverted? Why not just run trains on the normal track and have everything outbound cross over after auburndale? Theres also a crossover east of the three newton stations. So I really don't get why anything is running wrong-iron anywhere except through those three specific stations?

Also why not fix those stations? It looks like there would be room to simply restore the far side platform at at least 2 of the 3 stations, if not all 3. Also is there zero freight through here now? If so, that would seem to help simplify things even more.

It's been on the agenda for decades, but progress is immensely slow. We're dealing with the T and the city of Newton, which has some NIMBY tendencies.

https://www.mbta.com/projects/newton-co ... provements

The solution that would make the most sense operationally would be three island platforms, but last I read the T did not think it was feasible — can't remember if it was because of the curves or for another reason.

It's interesting that they allow access to the Track 1 platforms in Wellesley but not in Newton. Track 1 in the Newton stations would be easier to restore in a pre-ADA build than they are in Wellesley. And the B&A era (probably prior to NYC lease!) Track 1 platform in Newtonville is still sitting there unused and looking like it is aligned with the track.

That Hundreds Rd access in Wellesley Farms is somewhat recent. That doesn't meet MA ADA access because there is no ramp from the bridge to Track 2.

Building island platforms for the three remaining Newton stations would be extraordinarily difficult. For Newtonville you would have to replace the Walnut St and Harvard St bridges which were just rebuilt and raise the grade of Washington St in Newtonville Square in front of that new fancy development that just bulldozed the historic buildings, and at Harvard St. Then you would have sidewalks below street grade, so you would have to eliminate precious on-street parking. In West Newton, you would have to replace all or parts of the two Washington St bridges. In Auburndale, the slope of the Auburn St bridge is already extreme, and I don't know how they plan to deal with the platform which is presently curved - they might have to build something similar to Landsdowne, or move the station to the historic Riverside and build a 128 superstation and parking garage on the parkland there since they sold all the developable land to Liberty Mutual.

Yes, it is a $170 million dollar project. https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/ ... l-stations

They can continue to allow riders to use the track 1 platforms in Wellesley because they were never removed from service. Since the Newton stops had the platforms closed and access removed, even if remains are still there, they would be considered to be opening new facilities, which would require them to be made ADA compliant.

Further slowing the process was the T's insistence a few years back that the solution to non-ADA stations only on track 2 was to build ADA-compliant stations only on track 1. It took some effort by advocates and the City of Newton to introduce some sanity into the T's plans:

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2021/09/24 ... re-trains/

Yeah, I went to the meeting for the Auburndale platform. What a farce of a plan. It would have been an ADA accessible station, with IIRC 1 or 2 handicapped parking spaces!! Next to Mass Turnpike bridges that have sidewalks that are dangerous for wheelchairs (narrow sidewalks, high slope, no windbreak). I can't believe they almost built it.

It has always been inverted during the evening rushour to make it easier for commuters to exit the trains into the parking lot which is on the track 2 side from Wellesley through west natick. However, the newton stops only has a track 2 platform which makes complete sense, except auburndale which also has a platform on each track I think. Otherwise they would have to cross track 2 to get there and the meets make it very dangerous to do it the regular way.

I wrote a long and detailed explanation of why trains switch tracks on the Worcester line a few years back:
https://framwormbta.weebly.com/blog/why ... tch-tracks

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 6:01 am The "outbound" platform on track 1 at Wellesley Farms is accessed via a short path from Hundreds Rd on the west side of the tracks (circled in green) which are aligned north/south at this locale. To get to/from the parking lot (circled in red) at the Farms station one has to use stairs from the inbound platform to walk over the tracks on the Glen Rd bridge sidewalk.ion.

It wasn't always like that. It used to be that there was a crosswalk, as at Wellesley Hills, where you could go across the tracks. Having to go across the bridge and down Hundreds Road is ridiculous; most people finding themselves on the wrong platform as a train approaches won't be able to make it in time.

Back in the 1960s, track 1 was much closer to track 2 than it is today, and there was no patch from Hundreds Road. My grandfather used to walk down to the station with me to buy a newspaper; in those days the station had not been gutted, and had windows and doors.

Neither Auburndale nor West Newton have Track 1 platforms. Newtonville still has the platform but it appears to have been disused since circa 1962

My understanding is that a good deal of the former B&A right of way was taken for the Turnpike in the early sixties.

True -- there were four tracks at least as far as Riverside, where the two local (south) tracks curved around to become the Highland Branch.

Riverside to Framingham was also quad track but was reduced to two.

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:55 pm My understanding is that a good deal of the former B&A right of way was taken for the Turnpike in the early sixties.

The Pike stopped at 128/Weston in 1957. Lotsa to-do about the Extension routing, but -- per Wiki's shot of the cover of an NYC employee mag, things -- RR-wise -- were completed by early 1965. Fuller details might be buried in various archives.

My first question was, why didn't they build center platforms in Newton when they were ripping everything up for the Pike extension?
Then I remembered that passenger rail service was in decline. The T wasn't founded until 1964, so it had no say on the project. The MTA's remit was to deal with transit in the closer-in suburbs.
In a perfect world there'd be an alternate routing from Framingham to Boston so they could tear up that stretch of track and perhaps start from scratch.

Considering that at it's low point, the Framingham service was down to what, three round trips a day? We're lucky any station facilities survived in Newton.

Until recently, freight clearance requirements to/from Beacon Park, combined with the expectation that all remaining passenger service would wither and die, makes it understandable why high-levels, island platforms, or any other rider-friendly improvements were never considered. The one blessing is that now they can finally be rebuilt without the need to work within as many constraints.