Chelsea station (new)

New Chelsea station taking shape...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

However, $83 million seems like quite a lot for a new station even with signal improvements. I wonder what else they bundled into this contract that would have been handled under a different project if they hadn't.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Turnaround loop for the SL3 buses, which terminate here. The SL3 follows the abandoned right-of-way of the Grand Junction Railroad (yes, it went to East Boston1) through Chelsea before heading to Airport station and the Ted Williams Tunnel.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Lots of new development in this part of Chelsea, lured by cheap brownfields real estate and proximity of the Tobin Bridge/Northeast Expressway.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

The "Silver Line' gets some of the treatments of BRT, which is how they got the feds to buy it back in the late 1990s, including partially private right-of-way and actual stations (although this extension didn't open until the mid-2010s). The commuter rail station is being relocated here because it's the SL3 terminus, even though the existing Chelsea station is closer to both residents and the city center.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Better look at the canopy and shelters

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

New Doubletree Hotel not far up Everett Ave. from the station

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Looking through the chain-link fence at the new train station taking shape, with the outbound platform on the right and an access ramp curing at left

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Shooting through the chain-link fence to get a better view of the inbound platform, with some ballast piled up underneath

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

The new platforms are made of "fiber-reinforced polymer" (most people call it "fiberglass"), rather than wood or cast concrete, on the theory that it will stand up better to winter oversalting and also weighs less, so the footings can be smaller. This is to be the new standard for all MBTA platforms going forward. (And of course it's a full-length high platform as required by ADA and MAAB regulations.)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

Bus 1103 is a 60-foot Neoplan dual-mode articulated bus built in 2004. The MBTA engineering staff hates overhead wires and is trying to replace these with diesel buses so they don't have to maintain wiring in the South Boston Transitway any more. (Battery buses were demo'ed but did not work well in winter, as any fule could have told them.)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Chelsea station (new)

The grey outbuilding is a toilet. I'm not sure whether it's intended to be permanent (for the use of bus operators) or just for the duration of construction.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

Standing on 6th Street next to Bellingham Square bus station, which is also the location of the current Chelsea rail station; the actual Bellingham Square is about a quarter mile away, in front of Chelsea's city hall. The viaduct is the Northeast Expressway, US 1, currently in the third year of a superstructure reconstruction project.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

The bus station looks just like the one at the end of the line, except there's no turnaround loop; all of the SL3's route in Chelsea was built at the same time under a single design contract.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

When the station for the SL3 was built, the outbound platform at the train station was demolished. (The airport-bound bus platform is located near the Washington Ave. overpass in the distance.)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

The remaining platform is is very rough shape, but obviously with the new station soon to open (and this station to be demolished shortly thereafter) they're not going to invest in fixing it up.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

Hey, it's the MBTA's favorite solution to rail platforms not serving the right track: just dump a few yards of hot-mix asphalt in the middle of the tracks!

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

The station doesn't seem to serve much in the way of local employment (D&B claims this company has 17 employees).

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Bellingham Square/old Chelsea station

There is, however, public housing across the street. (Of course the public housing is in the shadow of the freeway — few parts of Chelsea aren't in the shadow of the freeway.)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

This atrium between the two halves of the parking garage must have looked nice when it was built, but it's looking like a maintenance problem now.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

This is really Not Good.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

I assume it's actually still structurally sound, but all this rust does not inspire confidence.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Looking down from the stairs towards the train station

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

From the roof of the garage, looking north past the train viaduct at some old and new buildings in downtown Lynn

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Umm, what was I saying about maintenance? At least it looks like they've re-ballasted the track recently.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

For some reason, this station has offset platforms; I don't know why. It may be an artifact of how it was constructed.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Garage atrium

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Stairs up to the platform (there is also an elevator; this station is fully accessible)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Looking south through the atrium towards the bus stop on Broad St. and North Shore Community College's Lynn campus

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

This must have been nice once.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Up the stairs to the platform we go...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Full-length high-level platforms, as you would hope and expect; I'm facing east here, and Lynn Central Square is north of the rail line (photo left).

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Looking back ar the enormous parking garage, which apparently rarely filled up in pre-COVID days (because trains were infrequent, expensive, and usually arrived already full)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

These "ears" on the viaduct are a little bit of a puzzle...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Some businesses seen north of the platform

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

A mural celebrating Lynn on the station-faci ng side of 25 Exchange St.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Something weird going on here....

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Lynn Central Square station

Yes, this used to be a three-track station. You can see the yellow platform edges on both sides of the center platform, and (at bit harder to discern) on the side platform at right as well. The trackway where the center track used to run is now occupied by the high platform. Not sure if this was just temporary for station construction or if the original platform location was always this far east.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

25 Exchange St.

Currently the home of Lynn Arts, Inc., and the North Shore Music Center's offices, 25 Exchange St. is known to many Boston radio old-timers as the building where WFNX (101.7 Lynn) had its studios for its entire on-air history; its erstwhile sister station, WLYN (1360), shared the building for many years. Note the dish mounted on the mast, a former studio-transmitter link.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport LineWFNXcommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

This station was a bit of a disappointment, although I didn't see the "front" (outbound) side, largely because I didn't realize there was another side to see.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Back to our suburban commuter-rail oceans of parking (there's another one on the outbound side)

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Cute little B&M station (they must have stamped out a few of these...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Standard full-length low-level platform, but there's a fence and no grade crossings, so raising the inbound platform to full-high would be relatively easy.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Another angle on that cute little station. It's too close to the platform edge and would have to be relocated to raise the outbound platform.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Mini-highs at the distal end of the platform, as usual. Note that the ramp down from the platform leads to a set of stairs (!) down to Burrill St.; people with mobility devices have to walk through the parking lot out to the street to get an accessible path to the outbound side of the station.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Deteriorating platform conditions and lack of required tactile edge treatments are going to be the story of this line...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

O hai train 2107 to Newburyport! Only two minutes behind schedule! Locomotive is #1029, an F40PHM-2C.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Train 2107 stops at the outbound mini-high.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations