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As with many large cities, a large number of Boston-area streetcar lines once existed, and many continued operating into the 1950s. However, only a few now remain, namely the four branches of the
Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...
and the Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line, with only one (the Green Line E branch) running regular service on an undivided street.


History

The first streetcar line in the Boston area was a horse-drawn line from
Central Square, Cambridge Central Square is an area in Cambridge, Massachusetts centered on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street and Western Avenue. , formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Columbia Street, Sidney Street and Main Street, is also ...
to Bowdoin Square, Boston opened by the Cambridge Railroad on March 26, 1856. Over the following decade a large number of horsecar lines were built by different companies, including the Metropolitan Railroad, Middlesex Railroad, and
South Boston Railroad The South Boston Railroad was a street railway company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century. It provided horsecar service for passengers traveling between South Boston and the city downtown. History Originally fo ...
; these companies competed with each other while also sharing tracks in many locations. By the mid-1860s horsecar lines reached to
Lynn Lynn may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lynn (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Lynn (surname) * The Lynns, a 1990s American country music duo consisting of twin sisters Peggy and Patsy Lynn * Lynn ( ...
, Arlington, Watertown, Newton,
West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to t ...
, and Milton. In 1887 the various Boston-area horsecar companies (except for the
Lynn and Boston Railroad The Lynn and Boston Railroad was a streetcar railway chartered for operations between Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts in 1859. Following a number of acquisitions, the railway was a part of a 1901 street railway merger that formed the Boston and No ...
) were all consolidated into the West End Street Railway. In 1889 the West End Street Railway experimented with electric power for its streetcars; the results were so promising that it abandoned a
cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift ** ...
project already under construction. Several lines were electrified in 1889 and by 1895 almost the entire system had been electrified. The last horsecar line was abandoned in 1900. In 1897 the recently-formed
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 Rai ...
(BERy) took over the West End Street Railway in order to make the streetcar lines part of its planned rapid transit system. In 1897 the
Tremont Street Subway The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and the Bu ...
opened and many streetcar routes that had previously used surface tracks in downtown Boston were rerouted into the subway. Over the following decades the opening elevated and underground
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
lines (which became today's Orange Line and Red Line), as well as extensions of the Tremont Street subway (which became the
Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...
), allowed progressively more streetcar lines to be removed from the congested streets downtown and rerouted to rapid transit stations further out. Passengers could transfer for free between streetcars and rapid transit lines to complete their journeys to or from downtown. In 1904 the East Boston Tunnel opened and was initially used to allow streetcars from
East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and dow ...
to reach downtown, but in 1924 it was converted into another rapid transit line (part of today's Blue Line) operated with free transfers to and from streetcars at Maverick station. In the 1920s as competition from cars increased and bus technology improved, the BERy began replacing some of its streetcar lines with buses. These conversions accelerated in the 1930s, with some routes also converted to
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es (locally referred to as 'trackless trolleys'). Bus conversions paused during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
when gasoline and rubber were in limited supply, but resumed in the late 1940s. In 1947 the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) was formed to take over the streetcar, bus, and rapid transit operations of the Boston Elevated Railway. It continued to convert lines from streetcar (and trackless trolley) to bus. In 1964 the MTA's operations were in turn taken over by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network i ...
(MBTA), which also took over other bus systems running to suburban towns outside the MTA area. By this point the only remaining streetcar lines were five routes running into the Tremont Street Subway and one route on private right-of-way between
Mattapan Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester a ...
and Ashmont at the end of the Red Line. These were respectively designated as the Green Line branches A thru E and as part of the Red Line. The Green Line "A" branch was subsequently abandoned in 1969 and the "E" branch south of Heath Street abandoned in 1985.


Route numbering

In 1936, the BERy assigned numbers to its routes for map use, but route numbers were not used on buses until the late 1960s (when the colors were assigned to the remaining rail lines). Additionally, the numbers were only kept the same on and after the 1942 revision of the map; before that they were changed with each new version. A few routes were renumbered around 1967, but most routes have kept their original numbers even through conversions from streetcar to trackless trolley to bus. Routes were numbered roughly clockwise from
South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
to
East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and dow ...
.


Timeline of streetcar abandonments

This is a table of when each streetcar line was converted to trackless trolley or
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
. Only information post-1940 is complete.


MTA streetcar routes as of 1953

As of early 1953 the Metropolitan Transit Authority operated the following streetcar routes. All lines were connected via trackage to the
Tremont Street subway The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and the Bu ...
(
Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...
), but only the 9, 39, 43, 57, 61, 62 and 69 actually operated in the subway.


Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway routes

The
Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, whic ...
(EMSR) operated lines between Boston and towns north and south of the Boston area, including
Lynn Lynn may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lynn (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Lynn (surname) * The Lynns, a 1990s American country music duo consisting of twin sisters Peggy and Patsy Lynn * Lynn ( ...
,
Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
,
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
, Lowell, Lawrence, Quincy, Hingham, and Brockton. It also operated local streetcar service within those towns. The company was formed in 1919 to take over the lines of the bankrupt Bay State Street Railway, which advertised itself as "the world's largest street railway system" in the 1910s. Between 1931 and 1937, EMSR replaced almost all of its streetcar routes with bus service. Only three streetcar lines were left by the end of 1937, all linking Boston to nearby towns.


Stoneham–Sullivan

This streetcar line ran between Sullivan Square#Elevated station and
Stoneham, Massachusetts Stoneham ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, nine miles (14.5 km) north of downtown Boston. Its population was 23,244 at the 2020 census. Its proximity to major highways and public transportation offer convenient access to Bos ...
. It left Sullivan operated by a Boston Elevated Railway driver and ran via the tracks of BERy's
100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
line. It continued beyond from the north end of the 100 through the Middlesex Fells on a private
right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
west of
Fellsway West The Fells Connector Parkways are a group of historic parkways in the cities of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts, suburbs north of the city of Boston. The three parkways, The Fellsway, Fellsway West, and Fellsway East serve to provide access fro ...
. At a stop called "Sheepfold" near Spot Pond in Middlesex Fells, the operator was replaced by an EMSR employee who drove the streetcar the rest of the way into Stoneham and alongside Main Street to the terminal at Farm Hill Station of the
Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970 ...
Stoneham Branch. The line was bustituted in 1946. In 1968 the MBTA took the bus service over as the 430, and from March 1969 to the end of its service in September 1971, it was part of the 100A
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
–Sullivan via Main Street and Fellsway.


Quincy routes

Two Quincy routes left Fields Corner station, running to Quincy center and then splitting. One line continued to Hough's Neck, and the other to
Quincy Point Quincy Point is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. "The Point" is generally defined as the land east of Quincy Center, the downtown district. Quincy Point is bordered on the west by Elm Street, on the east by Weymouth Fore River and the Bra ...
and the
Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In ...
. The lines were bustituted in 1946 and 1948 respectively. The bus routes that replaced them eventually became MBTA routes , , and /.


See also

* Middlesex and Boston Street Railway *
Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, whic ...


References

* Carlson et al. (1986), ''The Colorful Streetcars We Rode'', Bulletin 125 of the Central Electric Railfans' Association, Chicago, Il.
Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District 1964-Present
(
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
) *m00209
MBTA Green Line -- unused tunnel at Boylston station
rec.railroad May 5, 1994 *RTSPCC
Boston Trolleys
misc.transport.urban-transit June 4, 1998

*rtspcc
More Boston streetcar questions
ne.transportation May 20, 2005

* Boston Elevated Railway system maps
193019361937194019431946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston-Area Streetcar Lines Streetcars in the Boston area