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Before CharlieCards
By adamg on Mon, 03/02/2015 - 10:47am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this photo. See it larger.
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Shawmut Station
Shawmut Station
Ashmont
Ashmont
Found this image of the old
Found this image of the old Ashmont Station. Maybe...
http://mydorchester.org/files/1284%20Ashmont%20Station%20pre%201970s.jpg
Yes, Ashmont
The signage is right, anyway. Pointing to the left for subway would get you onto the inbound platform, if entering from Peabody Square, and pointing to the right would get you to the busway/streetcar/trolley berths on the other side of the station near Dorchester Avenue.
Since signage still says "Boston Elevated Railway", and fare is a dime, that would put it between 1919 and 1948, if memory serves.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Wild Guess...
I'm always terrible at these things, but based on the "Fields Corner" information, I'm going to guess the old Andrew Station.
andrew
Andrew also. Street cars were on the mezzanine level (before the line south was converted to heavy rail).
I'm guessing prior to 1918..
Agree, it's Andrew
The set-up is for an end of the line station, and street cars to Field's Corner mean that it is closer in to town than that, which leaves as possibilities Broadway, Andrew, Columbia Pt., but I don't think the first or third were ever terminal stations.
I originally thought it was
I originally thought it was Columbia, but, like you say I didn't think Columbia was ever a terminus.
I'm Thinking Savin Hill
Savin Hill Station is Brick while Andrew never was brick, always cement and Shawmut never really had surface car service while there was, up until the 70's a bus that went to Savin Hill from Dudley through Kane Square. (My dad used to drive it once and a while).
Yes, perhaps it is!
Savin Hill does work with the thought process I articulated above. For some reason, I always forget about Savin Hill, maybe because it's the only station on the core Cambridge/Dorchester line that I've never once used.
[edit]
Nope, can't be Savin Hill -- Fields Corner opened at the same time, so no street cars or buses between stations I would think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savin_Hill_(MBTA_station)
I believe it can't be Savin
I believe it can't be Savin Hill as that the headhouse always had one stairway down to the platform - access to the former busway that closed around 1962 was accessible by the second stairway midway down the platform. Ashmont had a brick headhouse until the 1970's so unless Andrew had a brick headhouse I'm unaware of, the only logical choice is Ashmont.
Busway
wow there was a busway at Savin Hill?!?
Where was that? the parking lot on the side?
Yes
In the parking lot and there were two collections areas, the one that is there now and one for people getting off of the buses. I think the bus one got torn down when the stations were "upgraded" in the early 1980's.
I stand corrected about Savin Hill
It is the old Peabody Square entrance to Ashmont. You would walk in here and then there was a tunnel that ran under the trolley / bus loop then parallel to the tracks and you would come out onto the northbound side of the platform. It was closed around 1978 any logical use of access to Ashmont for people and buses was thrown out in favor of the renovation which existed until the new station was built. It wasn't in the best shape towards the end.
It existed in that concrete plaza is at the corner of Dot. Ave and Ashmont, the place where the Sleepy Head station now exists.
http://mydorchester.org/files/1284%20Ashmont%20Station%20pre%201970s.jpg
"Prepayment Station" was the
"Prepayment Station" was the precursor to "Conjunction Junction."
This is much more fun than space savers!
I originally thought Shawmut or Savin HIll but that brick wall seen on the other side of the windows eliminates both stations, and Andrew too, I think.
So by elimination, I'll go with Ashmont or Columbia.
Hm..
Was the Red Line ever elevated? I was thinking somewhere on the Orange Line...
10 cents!
10 cents!
What did they *do* with all that money!? No doubt lining the pockets of the union bosses and T board political cronies!!
Just for shits and giggles:
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=.10&year1=1920&year2=2015
says, if we assume 1920, that'd be $1.17 today adjusted for inflation. Not much higher today.
Station
The Station that is now called MGH/Charles
Andrew Square
circa 1985.
The Answer!
Thanks for playing, folks! Those of you who guessed Ashmont Station are correct. This is the entrance to the station on January 4, 1929
Broadway 1919
From Boston/Cambridge we can fairy infer this is the Red Line. Because Boston and Cambridge are both listed as destinations, we can infer this is south of South Station, otherwise it would be in Downtown or Cambridge and the sign would make little sense.
Next, because only streetcars are going to Fields Corner, this has to be before 1927, when Fields Corner opened on the Red Line. This narrows it down to Andrew and Broadway, which makes sense because both served streetcars through a prepay station.
Broadway originally had three levels: subway, subterranean streetcar platform, and a surface-level street car platform. In this picture you can see the subway and one streetcar platform (presumably the subterranean one) are down the path to the left, while it looks like there's another streetcar platform to the right (presumably the surface one).
Broadway opened in 1917, Andrew opened in 1918. The fare increased from $0.08 to $0.10 in 1919, which was the same year streetcars to Dorchester and South Boston moved their terminus from Broadway to Andrew. Therefore, this must have been Broadway in 1919 after the far increase but before the streetcars moved.
Sources: Wikipedia; http://imgur.com/a/Eape5
you're right
I was wrong.. I kept thinking Andrew was the transfer station to local trolleys before the Ashmont line was converted. But no.. it was Broadway.. Ooops :)
So I am changing my answer to Broadway.
bad rail fan bad...
sign on right points to buses
sign on right points to buses, and Boston El didn't have any bus routes until 1922
Peabody Sq entrance of
Peabody Sq entrance of Ashmont Station...17 minutes to Park St.