Talk:Boston Elevated Railway

/List of lines

List of railroads

From the Railroad History Database (text from old Poor's and Moody's manuals):

1. RAILROAD: Boston Elevated Railway (1894)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway in Boston, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1904 Leased to Old Colony Street Railway for 99 years from 1903. P1910 Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts. Chartered, 1894. Charter amended June 10, 1897 to build an elevated railway. Leased the West End Street Railway. December 9, 1897, taking effect on October 1, 1897, and expiring June 10, 1922. Lessee's assumed operation of the property on January 1, 1898. Construction of an elevated railway to be operated in connection with the Subway and the company's surface lines was begun early in 1899; the section from Dudley Street, Roxbury, to Sullivan Square, Charlestown, by way of the Subway, was completed and opened for traffic on June 10, 1901, and the Atlantic Avenue loop on August 22, 1901. For further history, see Poor's 1909P1098.

1. RAILROAD: West End Street Railway (2/1/1887)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Boston City Passenger Railroad. P1894 Leased Line: Somerville Horse Railroad. Maiden & Melrose Street Railway. Lynn & Boston Railroad. P1910 Leased track to Boston Elevated Railway Company. Chartered, February 1, 1887. Acquired through purchase and consolidation on November 12, 1887: Metropolitan Street Railway of Boston. Cambridge Street Railway. South Boston Street Railway. Consolidated Suburban Street Railway of Boston, January, 1888. On April 14, 1909, stockholders voted to petition the legislature for permission to consolidate with the Boston Elevated Railway.

1. RAILROAD: Arlington Street Railroad
2. LINE_OF_RD: Cambridge, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1886 Leased and operated by the Cambridge Street Railway Company.

1. RAILROAD: Brookline Horse Railroad (5/30/1857)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, May 30, 1857. Purchased by Metropolitan Railroad, 1859. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Cambridge Horse Railroad (5/25/1853)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1853) Union Railroad
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, May 25, 1853. Chartered, May 25, 1853. Construction commenced, September 1, 1855. Completed, March 26, 1856. Leased for 50 years from May 25, 1853 to Union Railroad. This was the first city passenger Railroad in Boston. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Cambridge Street Railway
2. LINE_OF_RD: Cambridge, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1887) West End Street Railway of Boston
6. TEXT: P1886 Company owns 43.85 miles, and in addition runs on the lines of other Companies, a total of 8.31 miles, as follows: Arlington Railway, 1.57 miles. Somerville Railway, 4.65 miles. Middlesex Railway, .40 miles. Metropolitan Railway, 1.69 miles. Consolidated into West End Street Railway of Boston, November 12, 1887.

1. RAILROAD: Charles River Street Railway
2. LINE_OF_RD: Boston, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1886 This Company owns 6 routes in Boston, aggregating 10.06 miles of road as follows: Porter's Station via Beacon and Hampshire Streets to Bowdoin Square; Union Square via Webster and Springfield Streets to Bowdoin Square. Cottage Farm via Brookline, Columbia and Hampshire Streets to Bowdoin Square. Harvard Square via Green Main, Columbia and Hampshire Streets to Bowdoin Square. Union Square via Webster and Springfield Streets to Park Square. Harvard Square via Kirkland, Beacon and Hampshire Streets to Park Square.

1. RAILROAD: Dorchester Railroad (4/29/1855)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Chartered, April 29, 1855. Purchased property of Dorchester Avenue Railroad, January, 1858. Leased to Gore, Rose & Company, who purchased the equipment and have operated the road since, June 1, 1858. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Dorchester Avenue Railroad (4/29/1854)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1858) Dorchester Railroad
6. TEXT: P1860 Chartered, April 29, 1854. Completed, Spring, 1857. Purchased by Dorchester Railroad, January, 1858. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Dorchester Extension Railroad (2/18/1855)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1855) Leased to Gore, Rose & Company.
6. TEXT: P1860 Charter, February 18, 1855. Leased to Gore, Rose & Company. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Highland Street Railway
2. LINE_OF_RD: Roxbury, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1886 This Company owns lines in Roxbury, Massachusetts, aggregating 18.18 miles and running from Grove Hall, via Shawmut Avenue to Temple Place; Woodbine Street via Shawmut Avenue to Cornhill; Woodbine Street via Blue Hill Avenue to Cornhill; Columbia Street, via Shawmut Avenue to Eastern Depot; Dudley Street via Columbus Avenue to Eastern Depot; Columbia Street, via Hampden Street to Eastern Depot; Northampton Street, via Columbus Avenue to Post Office Square; and uses 6.20 miles of track of other Companies.

1. RAILROAD: Malden & Melrose Street Railway 6/6/1856)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: West End Street Railway
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, June 6, 1856. Chartered, June 6, 1856. Completed, July 19, 1858. Commenced business, April 1, 1858. Leased Lines, April 1, 1858: Middlesex Railroad. Boston & Chelsea Railroad. Boston City Passenger Railroad. P1886 Leased to and virtually owned by the Middlesex Street Railway. P1894 Leased by West End Street Railway.

1. RAILROAD: Metropolitan Railroad (5/21/1854)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1887) West End Street Railway of Boston
6. TEXT: P1860 Chartered, May 21, 1854. Completed, December 1, 1856. Purchased property of Brookline Railroad in 1859. This company also operates the West Roxbury Railroad. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts P1886 Company owns 77.70 miles of road, and operates 535 miles other roads. P1910 Consolidated into West End Street Railway of Boston, November 12, 1887.

1. RAILROAD: Middlesex Horse Railroad (4/29/1854)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1858) Leased to Malden & Melrose Railroad
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, April 29, 1854. Chartered, April 29, 1854. Completed, 1857. Branch Line, Somerville Branch. Bunker Hill Branch. Leased to, and operated by, Malden & Melrose Railroad, since July 19, 1858. Malden & Melrose Railroad supplies equipment. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts P1886 Chartered, April 29, 1854. Company owns 20.70 miles of road, and runs over or operates 7.46 miles other roads.

1. RAILROAD: Somerville Horse Railroad (5/26/1857)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: West End Street Railway
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, May 29, 1857. Chartered, May 26, 1857. Completed, July 10, 1858. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts Malden & Melrose Railroad furnishes equipment and cars. P1886 Company owns 4.65 miles of road, which is leased to the Cambridge Railroad. P1894 Leased by West End Street Railway. P1910 Leased to West End Street Railway of Boston.

1. RAILROAD: South Boston Street Railway
2. LINE_OF_RD: South Boston, Massachusetts.
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS: (1887) West End Street Railway of Boston
6. TEXT: P1886 Company owns 13.01 miles of road, and uses 2.46 miles of track of other roads. Consolidated into West End Street Railway of Boston, November 12, 1887.

1. RAILROAD: Union Railroad of Boston (5/15/1855)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Chartered, May 15, 1855. Has no Railroad of its own; but is simply a transportation Company leasing and operating the Cambridge Railroad, the West Cambridge, Waltham & Watertown Railroad and other Railroads. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: Waltham & Watertown Railroad (5/19/1855) (Ma)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Never Built
5. SUCCESSORS: (1851) Fitchburg Railroad
6. TEXT: P1860 Mount Auburn to Watertown Depot. Incorporated, May 19, 1855. Chartered, May 19, 1855. Construction commenced, November, 1856. Road completed, May 1, 1857. Leased to Union Railroad, April 11, 1857 for 10 years from date of completion. Equipment furnished by Union Railroad. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: West Cambridge Horse Railroad (5/28/1857)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, May 28, 1857. Chartered, May 28, 1857. Completed, June 13, 1859. Leased to and operated by the Union Railroad. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts

1. RAILROAD: West Roxbury Railroad (5/28/1856)
2. LINE_OF_RD: Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts
3. ORIGIN:
4. CURRENT: Street Railway
5. SUCCESSORS:
6. TEXT: P1860 Incorporated, May 28, 1856. Chartered, May 28, 1856. Completed, December 1, 1857. Leased to and operated by Metropolitan Railroad. Boston City Passenger Railroad. Street Railway, Boston, Massachusetts. Operated by Metropolitan Railroad.

Info from Historic American Engineering Record - Boston Elevated Railway Company photographs and information:

By 1865 there were four main horse street railways:

• The Middlesex Railroad - serving the North (Charlestown);
• Union Railway - serving the West (Brighton, Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown, and Arlington);
• Metropolitan Railroad - serving the Southwest (Brookline, Dorchester, Roxbury, West Roxbury);
• South Boston Railroad - serving the South (South Boston, Dorchester).

In 1872 and 1881, the Highland Street Railway, serving Roxbury and Dorchester, and the Charles River Railway, serving Cambridge and Boston were established.

Useful links

• http://www.badtransit.com/TheT/commentary/railroaded_part2.htm
• http://www.roslindalehistoricalsociety.org/history.htm
• http://www.kellscraft.com/bostonillustrated/bostonillustratedcontent.html
• http://www.masshist.org/cabinet/june2003/june2003.htm
• http://www.bahistory.org/bahstreetcar.html
• http://www.bahistory.org/bahdates.html
• http://www.jphs.org/transportation/streetcars-in-jamaica-plain-a-history.html

Expansion request

The article does not make it clear where and when lines were powered by horse, electric streetcar, electric subway, and electric elevated.

{{mb}} to {{MBTABus}}

I have changed the {{mb}} template to a new {{MBTABus}} template (which is identical to the old {{mb}} template) so that {{mb}} can be used for {{Mfd bottom}}, in the same way that {{Ab}} can be used for {{Afd bottom}} —Mets501 (talk) 22:21, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

"Family tree"

• West End Street Railway, chart. February 1, 1887; leased by Boston Elevated Railway December 30, 1897
  • Metropolitan Railroad, chart. May 21, 1854; completed December 1, 1856; merged into WESRy February 1, 1887
    • Brookline Railroad, bought by MRR 1859
    • West Roxbury Railroad, chart. May 28, 1856; completed December 1, 1857; leased by MRR
  • Boston Consolidated Street Railway, merged into WESRy February 1, 1887
    • Highland Street Railway
    • Middlesex Railroad, chart. April 29, 1854; completed 1857; leased by M&M April 1, 1858
      • Malden and Melrose Railroad, chart. June 6, 1856; completed July 19, 1858; leased by MRR March 31, 1862
      • Somerville Horse Railroad, chart. May 26, 1857; completed July 10, 1858; leased by MRR and URy
  • South Boston Railroad, merged into WESRy February 1, 1887
  • Cambridge Railroad, chart. May 25, 1853; completed March 26, 1856; leased to URR from opening; merged into WESRy February 1, 1887
    • Charles River Street Railway
    • Arlington Horse Railroad
  • Suburban Street Railway, merged into WESRy February 1, 1887

• Broadway Railroad, chart. April 29, 1854; completed March 1859; leased to J. C. Gipson & Co.

• Dorchester Railroad, chart. April 29, 1855; leased to Gore, Rose & Co. June 1, 1858
  • Dorchester Avenue Railroad, chart. April 29, 1854; completed spring 1857; sold to DRR January 1858
  • White Line of Omnibuses, chart. J.C. Gibson and Horace Hammond Proprietors; Established 1842, Merged DARR in about 1857. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.179.233.235 (talk) 02:26, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
  • Dorchester Extension Railroad, chart. February 18, 1855; leased to Gore, Rose & Co.

• Newton Railroad, chart. May 30, 1857; completed November 15, 1858; leased to private company

• Union Railroad, chart. May 15, 1855; no track of its own
  • Waltham and Watertown Railroad, chart. May 19, 1855; completed May 1, 1857; leased to URR April 11, 1857
  • West Cambridge Railroad, chart. May 28, 1857; completed June 13, 1859; leased to URR

• Lynn and Boston Railroad, chart. April 6, 1859
  • Naumkeag Street Railway, merged into L&BRR 1892
  • Lynn Belt Line Street Railway, merged into L&BRR 1892
  • Essex Electric Street Railway, merged into L&BRR 1892
  • East Middlesex Street Railway, leased by L&BRR May 1, 1893
  • Winnisimmet Railroad, leased by L&BRR 1880
    • Boston and Chelsea Railroad, chart. April 29, 1854; completed November 20, 1858; leased by M&M April 1, 1858; leased by L&BRR 1880
  • Boston and Revere Electric Street Railway, leased by L&BRR July 1, 1895

• Suffolk Railroad?
• Chelsea?
• East Boston?
• Winthrop Railroad?
• Charles River Street Railway?
• Revere? Boston and Revere Electric?
• Norfolk Suburban?
• West Roxbury and Roslindale?
• New England?
• Newtownville and Watertown?
• Quincy and Boston?
• West Roxbury and Newton?
• Old Colony?

Early bus routes

As of 1924, the following bus routes were operated:[1]

• Brooks and Faneuil streets, to Union Square, Allston: now part of 64
• Readville to Mattapan Square: now 33, roughly
• Green Street, Cambridge to Commonwealth Avenue, Boston: now 47
• Arch and Summer streets to Rowes Wharf, Boston
• Haymarket Square to Battery and Commercial streets, Boston: now part of 6
• Belgrade Avenue and Centre Street, West Roxbury to Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain: now 38
• Fellsway and Medford Street to Malden Square: now 108
• Riverside Avenue to Medford Hillside: now 96 and 134?
• Magoun Square, Somerville to Sullivan Square: now part of 80
• Linden to Malden Square: now 108
• Malden Square to Broadway, North, Malden: now 411/430
• Faulkner to Cross and Main streets, Malden: now 105

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Source for "world's first street railway system to use articulated streetcars" ??

The image caption says "The Boston Elevated Railway was the world's first street railway system to use articulated streetcars." Does anyone have a source citation for that? This https://villamosok.hu/nza/beng-kulf/index_en.html appears to support the "world's first" but only with regard to large-scale revenue service. The 1893 Cleveland "experimental tram" would appear to be the "world's first" when not accounting for regular revenue service. Thoughts? Stefan01902 (talk) 00:22, 12 July 2023 (UTC)