Boston Elevated Railway

The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Railway via lease and merger to become the city's primary mass transit provider. Its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which continues to operate in part on infrastructure developed by BERy and its predecessors.

History

Originally intended to build a short electric trolley line to Brookline, the West End Street Railway was organized in 1887. By the next year it had consolidated ownership of a number of horse-drawn streetcar lines, composing a fleet of 7,816 horses and 1,480 rail vehicles. As the system grew, a switch to underground pulled-cable propulsion (modeled after the San Francisco cable car system) was contemplated. After visiting Frank Sprague and witnessing the Richmond, Virginia system in action, WESR President Henry Whitney chose to deploy electric propulsion systems. A section of track was used to test the Bentley-Knight underground power line, but this was abandoned because of failures and safety concerns (especially after the electrocution of a team of horses in 1889). After competing in operational tests with the Sprague streetcar system, the Thomson-Houston company was chosen for system-wide deployment of overhead wires.[1]

Elevated railway

In 1890, the West End Railway was authorized by the state to construct elevated railways, but did not pursue this possibility. The state consequently authorized a new franchise for such an endeavor, which resulted in the founding in 1894 in the establishment of the Boston Elevated Railway. The first stretch of elevated track was put in service in 1901, between Sullivan Square in Charlestown and Dudley Square in Roxbury. Tickets for the elvated line cost 5 cents.[6] In 1909 the elvated line was extended from Dudely Squre to Forest Hills.[7] In 1897, BERy acquired a long-term lease on the West End's lines, and the two companies were formally merged in 1922. The elevated network was expanded to include six end-points, with vehicles run on the tracks in routes designed to allow passengers to reach any destination without changing trains.

Power generation

The difficulty of transporting coal over land from the Port of Boston and the short range of the direct current system prevented significant expansion inland. In 1911, a large generating station was built in South Boston which produced 25 Hertz alternating current, which could be transmitted long distances at high voltage, to substations which would drop the voltage and convert it to direct current for use by trains. The system was gradually converted until completion in 1931, when 14 substations were in place. This station would operate until 1981, when the MBTA had completed converting all of the active substations to be able to use 60 Hertz alternating current, and could switch to purchasing energy from local utility companies instead of running its own generators.[1]

Conversion of routes to trolleybuses and buses

The first route of the Boston trackless trolley system was opened by BERy, on April11, 1936. It was route 77 (later route 69), Harvard to Lechmere via Cambridge Street. Trackless trolleys ran from Harvard station, but only to the west and north, not east to Lechmere after 1963. Trackless trolley service to these routes ended in March of 2022, and they were replaced with temporary diesel buses that are to be replaced with battery electric busses in the spring of 2024.[8]

began operation	1897
area served	Greater Boston
transit type	Elevated railway Street railway Trolleybus Motor bus
box width	22em
image2	BERy Articulated number 2 side view, 1913.jpg
caption2	The Boston Elevated Railway pioneered the use of articulated streetcars, seen here in 1913
ended operation	1947

Boston Elevated Railway

History

Elevated railway

Power generation

Conversion of routes to trolleybuses and buses

Operations

Further reading

External links

References