Beaconsfield station (MBTA)
Beaconsfield is an MBTA light rail station in Brookline, Massachusetts. It serves the Green Line D branch. It is located off Dean Road and Beaconsfield Road just south of Beacon Street. Like the other stops on the line, it was a commuter rail station on the Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland branch until 1958, when the line was closed and converted to a branch of what is now the Green Line. The station reopened along with the rest of the line in 1959.[1]
Beaconsfield | |||||||||||||
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Facing inbound at Beaconsfield station in November 2015 | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | Beaconsfield Road east of Dean Road Brookline, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42°20′09″N 71°08′26″W / 42.33583°N 71.14056°W | ||||||||||||
| Line(s) | Highland branch | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | 11 spaces | ||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | 8 spaces | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | No | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | February 1, 1907 (original station) July 4, 1959 (modern station)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Closed | May 31, 1958[2] | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| 2011 | 1,075[3] | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
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Beaconsfield is not accessible, as the low platforms do not permit level boarding. Beaconsfield station is located one block from Dean Road station on the C branch of the Green Line, offering an easy transfer point. The interchange is outside of fare control; passengers must still pay a second fare.
History edit
B&A station edit
The Boston and Worcester Railroad opened a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) branch from Brookline Junction to Brookline on April 10, 1848.[2] The Charles River Branch Railroad extended the Brookline branch to Newton Upper Falls in November 1852 and to Needham in June 1853.[2][4] The Boston and Albany Railroad bought back the line, then part of the New York and New England Railroad, in February 1883. It was double-tracked and extended to the B&A main at Riverside; "Newton Circuit" service via the Highland branch and the main line began on May 16, 1886.[2]
There was not originally a station on the line at Dean Road. In late 1906, transit magnate Henry Melville Whitney built a new station to serve his nearby Beaconsfield Hotel.[5] Work on the station began in October 1906 by the firm of Benjamin Fox. It was constructed in a heavy stone style similar to the Richardsonian Romanesque stations constructed elsewhere on the B&A system in the previous two decades.[6][7] By November, the masonry was largely complete, the roof ready for tile, and the granolithic floor and 330-foot (100 m) platform ready to be poured.[8] The platform was poured in December 1906.[9] The new station opened on February 1, 1907.[10]
Conversion to light rail service edit
In June 1957, the Massachusetts Legislature approved the purchase of the branch by the M.T.A. from the nearly-bankrupt New York Central Railroad for conversion to a trolley line. Service ended on May 31, 1958.[2] The line was quickly converted for trolley service, and the line including Beaconsfield station reopened on July 4, 1959.[1] The 1906-built station was torn down to build a parking lot; a small wooden shelter was built on the inbound platform.
The M.T.A. was folded into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in August 1964.[1] The station has not been substantially modified during the MBTA era, though a heated shelter for fare machines on the outbound side was added around 2006.
In 2019, the MBTA indicated that the four remaining non-accessible stops on the D branch were "Tier I" accessibility priorities.[11] A preliminary design contract for accessibility modifications at the four stations was issued in February 2021.[12][13] The station platforms will be raised and rebuilt, the wood shelter repaired, and a path constructed under Dean Road to Waldstein Playground.[14] Design reached 75% in June 2022 and was completed late that year.[14][15] As of November 2023[update], construction is expected to be advertised in early 2024 and begin midyear.[16]
References edit
- ^ a b c d Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
- ^ a b c d e Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 21–24. ISBN 9780685412947.
- ^ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
- ^ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 277, 288–289. ISBN 0942147022.
- ^ "Vacation Notes". The Independent. 62: lvib. 1907.
- ^ "New Station Called The Beaconsfield". The Boston Globe. January 5, 1907. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 11. October 1906 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 15. November 1906 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 11. December 1906 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "New Station Opens Today". The Boston Globe. February 1, 1907. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Preview of 2019 Recommendations: Presentation to the FMCB" (PDF). Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 1, 2019. p. 12.
- ^ . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ "D Branch Station Accessibility Improvements: Waban, Eliot, Chestnut Hill, Beaconsfield: Virtual Public Meeting" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "D Branch Station Accessibility Improvements: Beaconsfield, Chestnut Hill, Eliot, Waban: Public Meeting" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 23, 2022.
- ^ "System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—December 2022" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility. December 6, 2022. p. 4.
- ^ "System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—November 2023" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility. November 27, 2023. pp. 3–4.
External links edit
- MBTA - Beaconsfield
- Google Maps Street View: Beaconsfield Road entrance, Dean Road entrance, Clark Road entrance