Fitchburg Cutoff

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Fitchburg Cutoff
A postcard of a castle-like railway station
Somerville Highlands station on a 1907 postcard
Overview
OwnerBoston and Maine Railroad
TerminiHills Crossing
Somerville Junction
Stations3
History
Opened1870, 1881
Closed1979–80, 2007
Technical
Line length2.8 mi (4.5 km)
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The Fitchburg Cutoff was a rail line running 2.8 miles (4.5 km) from Brighton Street (Hills Crossing station) in Belmont, Massachusetts to Somerville Junction in Somerville, Massachusetts. It was constructed in two segments in 1870 and 1881; passenger service lasted until 1927. Freight service ended in 1979–80 to allow construction of the Red Line Northwest Extension; the line was abandoned in three sections in 1979, 1983, and 2007.

All of the right-of-way, except a short section near Alewife station, has been reused for three connecting rail trails: the Fitchburg Cutoff Path from Brighton Street to Alewife station, the Alewife Linear Park from Alewife to Massachusetts Avenue, and the Somerville Community Path east of Massachusetts Avenue. The paths are part of the Mass Central Rail Trail.

History[]

Railroad history[]

Somerville Junction station was located near where the Fitchburg Cutoff met the Lowell mainline

The Freight Cutoff linked the Fitchburg Railroad main line (now the MBTA Fitchburg Line) with the Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) main line (now the MBTA Lowell Line). It ran east from the Fitchburg Line near Brighton Street (Hills Crossing station) in Belmont, passed through Davis Square (West Somerville) and Somerville Highlands, and connected with the Lowell Line at Somerville Junction. The section east of Clifton Street was built by the B&L in 1870 to connect the newly acquired Lexington and Arlington Railroad (Lexington Branch) to its mainline.[1]: 278  Service began on December 1, 1870.[2][3] Stations were located at North Cambridge (also called North Cambridge Junction and North Avenue), West Somerville (Elm Street), Willow Avenue, and Somerville Highlands (at Cedar Street).[4] The latter two were combined as Somerville Highlands (at Highland Road) around 1887.[5][6]

In January 1876, William Robinson installed one of the first test applications of his track circuit signaling system on the line between Elm Street and North Avenue. On June 14, 1876, Pedro II of Brazil travelled to Elm Street station to view the system.[7][8]

The western section was built in 1881 by the Central Massachusetts Railroad (which paralleled the Fitchburg Railroad west of Brighton Street) to connect to the B&L; it had no stations between Hills Crossing and North Cambridge.[1]: 216  Service began on October 1, 1881.[9]

The city of Somerville proposed to eliminate the five grade crossings on the line within its borders, including the pair of College Avenue and Holland Street at Davis Square, in the early 1900s.[10] Most grade crossings on the Fitchburg Railroad mainline were eliminated over the next decade, but those on the Lexington Branch cutoff were not.[11] On January 31, 1915, the West Somerville station building was moved west of Holland Street at the request of the mayor to improve conditions in Davis Square.[12][13]

In 1926–27, the B&M built two new sections of track; these allowed the Lexington Branch and the Central Massachusetts Railroad to use the Fitchburg mainline east of Alewife Brook Parkway.[14] On April 24, 1927, passenger service was rerouted over the rebuilt line; North Cambridge, West Somerville, and Somervile Highlands stations were closed.[15] Although residents were opposed to the closures, the B&M wished to avoid the grade crossings on the line, which had seen 70 crashes in the past six years.[16] The old line from Brighton Street to Somerville Junction became freight-only; it was rebuilt with heavier rails to handle heavy freights headed to and from the new Somerville freight yard.[17]

In 1935, the city requested that the line be grade-separated as part of a Works Progress Administration-funded grade crossing elimination program.[18] However, the grade crossings were not eliminated; crashes and stalled freight trains continued to be a problem.[19][20][21] Even decades after regular passenger service ended on the line, it was occasionally used as a detour route when the Fitchburg Route mainline was blocked in Somerville.[22][23]

The B&M replaced the Somerville yard with smaller yards elsewhere in the system in the 1970s, ending regular use of the cutoff by "as many as two-dozen mile-long freight trains daily". In April 1980, the west half of the line was abandoned to allow for construction of the Red Line Northwest Extension, which runs under the cutoff from Davis Square to east of Alewife station.[17][24] The eastern portion was used to haul dirt removed from the tunnel for reuse around the region; it was abandoned in 1983 except for a short section serving an industrial customer at Somervile Junction.[24][17] That segment was abandoned in 2007.[24]

Path conversion[]

A typical section of Alewife Linear Park

As part of the Red Line extension, the 1.3-mile (2.1 km) Alewife Linear Park rail trail was constructed from Alewife to Davis, opening in 1985.[25][26] Except for a short section near Alewife, it follows the former railroad route. The Somerville Community Path opened 0.6 miles (0.97 km) from Davis Square to Cedar Street in 1992, with the 0.4-mile (0.64 km) Massachusetts Avenue–Davis Square segment of the Alewife Linear Park becoming part of the Community Path. The Minuteman Bikeway opened in 1993, connecting to the existing trail at Alewife station. The crossing of Massachusetts Avenue, which originally zig-zagged using existing crosswalks, was signalized as a direct crossing in 2011.[27] A 0.3-mile (0.48 km) extension of the Community Path to Lowell Street opened in 2015; it will be further extended along the Lowell Line in 2021 as part of the Green Line Extension project.

The 0.8-mile (1.3 km) segment west of Alewife station through the Alewife Brook Reservation was used as an unpaved trail; a stone dust surface was added in the 1990s.[28] Construction of the paved Fitchburg Cutoff Path took place from September 2010 to August 2013, with a new bridge built over a stormwater management wetland at Alewife.[29][30] The planned Belmont Community Path will extend west through Belmont parallel to the Fitchburg Line, connecting with existing sections of the Mass Central Rail Trail.[31][32]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Karr, Ronald Dale (2017). The Rail Lines of Southern New England (2 ed.). Branch Line Press. ISBN 9780942147124.
  2. ^ "Boston and Lowell Railroad". American Railroad Journal. Vol. 27, no. 5. February 4, 1871. p. 122 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Boston and Maine Railroad". Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Vol. 30: Valuation Reports. Interstate Commerce Commission. 1931. p. 780 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Map of the city of Somerville (Map). 1884 – via Norman B. Leventhal Map Center.
  5. ^ "Real Estate". Boston Globe. October 2, 1887. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  6. ^ "For the use of marketmen". Boston Globe. March 15, 1887. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  7. ^ The Invention of the Track Circuit. American Railway Association. 1922. pp. 18–21 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Morrison, Donald F. (Fall–Winter 2010). "William Robinson, Railroad Signal Innovator". Railroad History. Railway & Locomotive Historical Society (203): 51–55. JSTOR 43525154.
  9. ^ Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1986). Boston's Commuter Rail: Second Section. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 12. ISBN 9780938315025.
  10. ^ "To Abolish Grade Crossings". Boston Globe. December 27, 1903. p. 35 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Two Somerville Grade Crossing Improvements Nearly Complete". Boston Globe. December 16, 1912. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Somerville". Boston Globe. October 22, 1914. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Somerville". Boston Globe. February 1, 1915. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Two Railroad Lines Being Built by B. & M. for Total of Two Miles". Boston Globe. October 28, 1926. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  15. ^ "Train Diversion Starts April 24th". Boston Globe. April 16, 1927. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  16. ^ "Protest Giving Up 3 Stations". Boston Globe. November 10, 1926. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ a b c Roderick, John Alan (October 17, 2015). "Determination of Historic Significance For Historic Resource Projects Funded through the Community Preservation Act". Preservation. Rehabilitation, Restoration and Improvements to the Somerville Community Path (PDF). City of Somerville, Massachusetts. pp. 1, 2.
  18. ^ "Somerville". Boston Globe. June 11, 1935. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Train Breaks Down, Auto Traffic Stalled". Boston Globe. December 23, 1946. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Disabled Freight Delays Traffic on Massachusetts Av". Boston Globe. January 28, 1942. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "2 Badly Hurt in Auto–Train Collision". Boston Globe. April 25, 1955. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "B. & M. Storage Shed Levelled at Marblehead". Boston Globe. September 2, 1947. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Highways Flooded". Boston Globe. November 12, 1947. pp. 1, 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ a b c Karr, Ronald Dale (2010). Lost Railroads of New England (Third ed.). Branch Line Press. pp. 184, 197, 211. ISBN 9780942147117.
  25. ^ Moore, Alan (January 27, 2016). "CPA Proposal: 'Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration and Improvements to the Somerville Community Path'" (PDF). City of Somerville.
  26. ^ "Belmont - Cambridge - Somerville Path". City of Cambridge.
  27. ^ Gilsdorf, Ethan (June 29, 2008). "Popular bike trail gets even better". Boston Globe.
  28. ^ Allen, John S. (2005). "Fitchburg Cutoff Path, Cambridge/Belmont".
  29. ^ Malamut, Melissa (September 5, 2013). "Photos: New Bike Path From Belmont to Alewife Opens". Boston Magazine.
  30. ^ "Alewife Walking Tour" (PDF). Cambridge Pedestrian Committee. June 2017.
  31. ^ "2019 MassTrails Grant Awards". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2019. p. 8.
  32. ^ Stanton, Vincent Jr. (March–April 2020). "Community Path Began Decades Ago". Newsletter. Belmont Citizen's Forum.

External links[]

Media related to Fitchburg Cutoff at Wikimedia Commons

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