Brockton station
It may be an auto-parts store now, but whatever this building was originally, it almost certainly received deliveries by rail. (North Montello St. in this area is lined with old industrial and commercial buildings for which that must have been true, including an old multi-story Grossman's lumber.)
Brockton station
Looking back southeast at the police station, BAT Centre, and garage
Brockton station
Single-track pedestrian grade crossing (yet another station with only one means of egress!)
Brockton station
A closer look at the new made-to-look-old BAT Centre's entrance
Montello station
Another two-track station, this time with a big parking lot on the west side, and an even bigger parking lot on the east side, with a surprise!
Montello station
Looking south down the center of the tracks from the pedestrian grade crossing at the north end of the platform
Montello station
Ooh, what have we here? It's an MBTA bus, in Brockton! This route, #230 Quincy Center–Montello, is a remnant of the old Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, which operated a large network of bus routes in several South Shore communities including Quincy and Norwood. The 230 for many years stopped at the Holbrook/Brockton line, since Brockton was not in the MBTA district and has its own bus service, but when the Old Colony commuter-rail service reopened, the bus route was re-extended to Montello station to provide connections with the train and give the bus drivers a better place to lay over. BAT buses do not enter the station but serve a stop on Spark St. east of the station.
Montello station
Between the two lots there are a total of 351 spaces; nearly 400 passengers per day used the station in 2018.
Montello station
Apparently some folks are using this lot for activities other than parking.
Montello station
An unusual "saltbox-style" canopy design keeps the support posts toward the outer edge of the (relatively narrow) platform where they don't interfere with mobility devices.
Montello station
The high platforms go a good way south of the actual station; clearly when the overpass was reconstructed they were able to reuse most but not all of the original abutment.
Montello station
Looking up the inbound platform from under that overpass
Montello station
Finally at the end of the platform, and you can see that the line was still three tracks wide here.
Randolph/Holbrook station
As with Hamilton/Wenham, this station has a double-barreled name because it's split between two towns; in this case, the east parking lot and the platform are in Holbrook, while the west lot is in Randolph.
Randolph/Holbrook station
Looking north from the Route 139 grade crossing toward the platform
Randolph/Holbrook station
Looking south from Route 139 where there is an apparently disused double-track freight siding serving a steel fabricator and distributor.
Randolph/Holbrook station
The train was trailed by #1804, another Rotem CTC-5.
Randolph/Holbrook station
Another long straight high-level platform with the location of the second track made extremely obvious in its absence.
Randolph/Holbrook station
Sigh. The double-track ends just north of the station, so they could save money by not building a second platform.
Randolph/Holbrook station
Second exit from the platform, stairs only, at the north end of the east parking lot
