Boston, MA Area
(including South Station - South Bay - South Boston - Readville)

Shoreliner® Article Index

Commuter Service:

Volume 9 Issue 3 (summer) 1978

• Rear cover technical data page for the New Haven Stillwell suburban cars (nee-New York, Westchester & Boston MU cars) #141 - 180. Used in Boston area commuter service. Includes photo and diagrams.

Volume 11 Issue 1 1980

• Front cover photo of a northbound Old Colony passenger train with GP-9 #1218 passing Dover Street.

Volume 11 Issue 2 1980

• Front cover photo of a southbound Old Colony passenger train passing through South Bay in 1956.

Volume 15 Issue 1 1994

• Centerspread photo of DL-109 #0736 backing an Old Colony local out of the coach yard toward Fort Point Channel and South Station in the summer of 1956.

Volume 15 Issue 4 1994

• Front cover photo of RS-3 #557 backing an Old Colony local into South Station from the coach yard in the summer of 1956.

• "On the New Haven...Today: An Old Colony Revival?" -- Discusses the 1980s revival of Boston area commuter rail service out of South Station. 2/3 page.

Volume 18 Issue 1 1997

• "The Dedham Loop" -- The history of rail service in and about Dedham, MA. 12 pages with photos, maps and timetables.

Volume 18 Issue 4 1987

• "On the New Haven ... Today" -- News on Massachusetts' plans to restore commuter rail service to Greenbush, Plymouth, Middleborough, Taunton and Medfield. 3/4 page.

Volume 23 Issue 2 1992

• Cover photo of New Haven #553 with train speeding through Roxbury on December 8, 1945.

Volume 27 Issue 1 1996

•  Old Colony Commuter Service -- The New Haven's Problem Child -- Part 1" -- The history of The New Haven's Old Colony commuter service between Boston and Greenbush, Plymouth, Middleboro, Cape Cod, Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River. This 3-part series includes over 100 historic photos from the South Shore and southeastern Massachusetts. 30 pages plus cover photos.

Volume 27 Issue 2 1996

• "Old Colony Commuter Service -- The New Haven's Problem Child -- Part 2" -- The history of The New Haven's Old Colony commuter service between Boston and Greenbush, Plymouth, Middleboro, Cape Cod, Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River. This 3-part series includes over 100 historic photos from the South Shore and southeastern Massachusetts. 24 pages plus cover photos.

Volume 27 Issue 3 1996

• "Old Colony Commuter Service -- The New Haven's Problem Child -- Conclusion" -- The history of The New Haven's Old Colony commuter service between Boston and Greenbush, Plymouth, Middleboro, Cape Cod, Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River. This 3-part series includes over 100 historic photos from the South Shore and southeastern Massachusetts. 34 pages plus cover photos.

Volume 27 Issue 4 1996

• "The New Old Colony" -- Photos of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's grand reopening of Old Colony commuter service to Kingston and Middleborough/Lakeville on 26 September 1997 and the opening of the new Plymouth station on 29 November 1997. 1 page.

• "Old Colony Recollections -- of Herb Clark and Don Constantineau" -- Two former New Haven railroaders share their memories of working in Old Colony commuter and freight service in the 1940s and '50s. 18 pages.

• Notes on Some Old Colony Railroad Stations" -- Fran Donovan shares some historical notes on many of the Old Colony's stations. 4 pages.

Volume 37 Issue 1

• "The Former 8600s Soldier On -- East End Service in the Post-New Haven Era" -- Discusses how the former New Haven stainless steel coach fleet were used in Boston-area commuter service in he 1970s and '80s. 6 pages with many color photos.

Readville Shops:

Volume 14 Issue 4 1993

• Inside cover photo of FA-1 #0426 with train FB-2 about to cross over the Shore Line at Readville in August 1968.

Volume 23 Issue 2 1992

• "The Making of a Railroad Man by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad" -- The recollections of Arthur M. Bixby, Sr., who apprenticed 3 years in the mid-1920s and worked 14 years on the New Haven, including extensive training at the Readville, MA, shops and the Van Nest electric shops. Also includes discussion of operations at Dover Street, Boston. 40 pages, including photos and a map of a portion of the Readville complex.

Volume 29 Issue 3

• "Readville Shops - Part 1" -- Detailed history of the Readville shops. 20 pages, including photos, maps and diagrams of the Readville complex.

Volume 29 Issue 4

• "Readville Shops - Part 2" -- Detailed history of the Readville shops. 20 pages, including photos, maps and diagrams of the Readville complex.

Volume 30 Issue 1

• "The Bussey Bridge Disaster" -- Chronicles the March 14, 1887 collapse of the Bussey Bridge on the Boston and Providence Railroad's Dedham branch, which killed 23 people. 20 pages with photos and maps.

• "Readville Shops -- Part 3" -- Continues the history of the New Haven's repair shops at the junction of the Boston and Providence and Midland routes, on the Boston - Dedham town line. 16 pages with photos (including cover and some color).

Volume 30 Issue 2

• ·Readville -- The Final Chapter" -- Concludes the history of the New Haven's repair shops at the junction of the Boston and Providence and Midland routes, on the Boston - Dedham town line. 32 pages with photos (including cover and some color).

• "Readville's People -- The War Years" -- Photo essay depicting the people who worked at Readville during World War II. 3 pages.

Volume 35 Issue 3

• "New Haven's Rebuilt Double-Sheathed Box Cars" -- Discusses the 1920s rebuilding of the New Haven's 22,000+ 30-ton, 36-foot box car fleet built 1903-1912. Most of the rebuilding occurred at the New Haven's two major shops in New Haven, CT, and Readville, MA, and at the Keith Car and Manufacturing Company in Sagamore, MA. From the July 1988 and December 1988 issues of MainLine Modeler. 14 pages with photos and diagrams.

Dover Street/South Bay Yards:

Volume 21 Issue 4 1990

• Cover photo RS-3 #537 with a consist of New Haven sleepers and a converted troop sleeper/baggage car next to Broadway tower, May 24, 1957.

• "New Haven's Dover Street Yards" -- The history of the New Haven's passenger and locomotive servicing and storage facilities in South Boston. 20 pages, with photos (some color) and maps.

Volume 22 Issue 1 1991

• "South Bay Jct. & Dover Street Yards Revisited" -- Color photo essay of activity in these yards in the mid to late 1960s. 5 pages, all color.

South Boston and Union Freight:

Volume 17 Issue 3 1986

• "South Boston and the New Haven" -- About the history and operations of the New Haven's South Boston freight yards near the waterfront. 14 pages with photos (including cover) and maps (including a two-page centerspread map).

Volume 18 Issue 2 1987

• Inside cover photo of S-2 #0600 serving night duty on Atlantic Avenue for the Union Freight Railroad. 1/2 page.

• "South Boston Recollections" -- Memories of the New Haven's freight yards in South Boston by former truck driver Bruce Hamilton. 3 pages with photos.

• "New Haven Car Floats in Boston Harbor" -- About the use of car floats to quickly unload perishables from ships on get them quickly on the way to inland markets. 1/2 page with photo.

Volume 18 Issue 3 1987

• "What's the Story?" -- Early photo of a highway truck riding on the rails at Congress Street in South Boston. 1 page.

Volume 19 Issue 2 1988

• "Here's the Story?" -- Details on the photo of a highway truck riding on the rails at Congress Street in South Boston, which appeared in Volume 18 Issue 3 1987. 1/3 page.

Volume 20 Issue 1 1989

• "Trolley Stop: More Molasses!" -- Photos of damage to the Atlantic Avenue elevated by the molasses disaster of January 1912. 1 page with photos.

• "New Haven's South Boston Waterfront Property" -- Photos showing the float bridge and Pier 4 coal trestles. 1 page with photos.

Volume 34 Issue 1

• "The Union Freight Railroad" -- Detailed history of this Boston freight operation between South and North Stations. 32 page with photos and maps.

• "Riding the Union Freight Railroad" -- Bill Butler's memories of the Union Freight in the 1930s and '40s. 2 pages with photos.

Miscellaneous Boston Topics:

Volume 10 Issue 3 1979

• "Trolley Stop: Milton Branch, Shawmut Branch" -- A short history of the two former Old Colony branches and their conversion to rapid transit lines. 10 pages with photos.

Volume 11 Issue 4 1980

• Front cover photo of DL-109 #0722 with the Cranberry crossing the Fort Point Channel enroute to Cape Cod in the early 1950s.

Volume 16 Issue 2 1985

• "Car W-151" -- The story of work car W-151, used by the Boston wreckmaster. 3 pages with photos.

Volume 16 Issue 3 1985

• "Car W-151" -- Documents the latter years of work car W-151 in the Boston area. 1 page with photo.

Volume 18 Issue 1 1997

• "Modeling the New Haven: Milk Cars on the New Haven" -- Short one page article on New Haven milk car service from receiving stations in Amston and Westchester, CT, and New Haven, as well as milk car service in the Boston area. 1 page with photos.

Volume 18 Issue 4 1987

• "Chocolate -- La Belle Chocolattiere" -- Reprint of an August 1944 Along the Line article on the history of railroad customer Walter Baker & Company, Inc., of Milton. 3 pages with photos.

Volume 19 Issue 1 1988

• "The Circus Comes to Town" -- Photo story of the Ringling Brothers, and Barnum & Bailey circus transported via the New Haven and the Boston & Maine between New York City and the Boston Garden at North Station, circa 1938. New Haven photos are in the Auburn - South Worcester area. 6 pages with photos.

• "Trolley Stop: Trolley Freight and Express in Southern New England -- Eastern Massachusetts" -- Discusses the Bay State Street Railway Company, which served the area south of Boston, including Quincy, Hingham, Rockland, Brockton, Middleboro, New Bedford, Taunton, Fall River, Newport and Providence. 4 pages with photos, map and roster.

Volume 19 Issue 2 1988

• "Trolley Stop: Trolley Freight and Express in Southern New England -- Eastern Massachusetts" -- Includes service on the Boston Elevated Railway and the Boston & Worcester Street Railway. Included is a short discussion of the 1919 molasses disaster in Boston. 4 pages with photos, map, route list and roster.

Volume 19 Issue 3 1988

• "Trolley Stop: Trolley Freight and Express in Southern New England -- Eastern Massachusetts" -- Includes service on the Brockton & Plymouth Street Railway, the New Bedford & Onset Street Railway, and the Cape Cod Short Lines, and U.S. Mail trolley service in the Boston area. 6 pages with photos.

Volume 20 Issue 2 1989

• "A Very Elegant Station" -- A short history of the Boston & Providence Railroad's Park Square station. 2 pages with photos and map.

Volume 22 Issue 4 1991

• "Swill Cars" -- Memories by Fran Donovan of the brief operation of garbage trains from Boston to the state farm in Pomfret, CT. 1 page.

Volume 28 Issue 3

• "A Day with Grampa Wall" -- Memories by Ronald Barber, Jr., of spending a day with his grandfather Albert Wall, agent at Forest Hills, MA, in the 1960s. 2 pages with photos and map.

Volume 29 Issue 1

• "PP-716 -- The World's Last DL-109" -- Reviews the history of DL-109 0716, used as a third rail power source at Boston's Dover Street yard for the McGinnis experimental trains in the late 1950s. 7 pages with photos, including some color.

Volume 30 Issue 1

• "The Bussey Bridge Disaster" -- Chronicles the March 14, 1887 collapse of the Bussey Bridge on the Boston and Providence Railroad's Dedham branch, which killed 23 people. 20 pages with photos and maps.

Volume 33 Issue 4

• "My New Haven Railroad" -- Bill Butler shares his memories growing up with the New Haven Railroad during the late 1930s, '40s and '50s in the Boston area, including visits to Southampton Street, Dover Street, South Station, Boston Freight Terminal, Back Bay and Sharon Hill. 6 pages with photos.

Volume 37 Issue 1

• "The Destruction of the Neponset River Bridge" -- Marc Frattasio discusses the cause of the fire that destroyed this bridge on June 22, 1960. 1/2 page with color photo.

Volume 38 Issue 2

• "Signal Towers" -- Jack Swanberg presents a photo feature of New Haven signal towers, featuring photos by Tom Donahue and captions by Peter E. Lynch. Most towers shown are from the Shore Line between New Rochelle, NY, and Boston, plus S.S. E-274 in Springfield, and M-333 Jackson Street and M-334 Franklin Street in Worcester. 8 pages with all color photos.

• "Ben Hines, Resident Information Officer" -- Richard K. Hurst reviews the New Haven career of Ben Hines. Hines served as the railroad's public face in the Boston area in the late 1950s and 1960s. 4 pages with photos, period news articles and travel guide written by Hines.

• "The Best Locomotive Built in New England" -- The story of the innovative nineteenth century locomotive designer George S. Griggs and early Boston & Providence locomotives, including the Norfolk. The article includes a review of the B&P's Roxbury Shops in Boston. 12 pages with photos of early B&P locomotives, and maps and drawings of the Roxbury Shops.

Volume 40 Issue 1

•   "Crash of Titans – The Collision at Readville, Easter Night, April 21, 1946" -- Ed Sweeney tells the story of the deadly crash involving I-4 #1344 and I-5 #1401. #1344 was leading train No. 134, a Hartford - Boston first-class train, while #1401 was leading the Sunday-only train No. 535, Boston - Providence. 7 pages, with photos and Readville track diagram mapping the accident.