Boston & Albany Railroad / Terminal Grain Elevator and Wharf Conveyor System. East Boston, Mass., 1910

Historical/Biographical Note

Historical/Biographical Note

The Boston & Albany Railroad Company was formed in 1868 by the consolidation of the Western Rail-Road Corporation and the Boston and Worcester Railroad Corporation.

The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad leased the Boston & Albany for 99 years from July 1, 1900. This lease passed to the New York Central Railroad in 1914. Throughout this era, the Boston & Albany kept its own branding in the public eye.

In 1883, the Boston & Albany acquired track then owned by the New York and New England Railroad as far as Newton Highlands, Massachusetts and in 1884, began the construction of a line northwest to its mainline creating a commuter loop.

In 1899, the new South Station union station opened in Boston, a few blocks northeast of the old terminal. That terminal had been located on the west side of Utica Street, from Kneeland Street south to a bit past Harvard Street, now part of the South Bay Interchange.

By the early part of the twentieth century, commuter rail service was provided east of Worcester, with intercity rail continuing west. The intercity trips were taken over by Amtrak in 1971, and in 1973 the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority acquired the line east of Framingham. The New York Central merged into the Pennsylvania Central in 1968. Conrail took over the Pennsylvania Central in 1976.

Sources: Library of Congress national authority file; Wikipedia.
Abbreviated from PC015 - Boston & Albany Railroad photographic collection Historical/Biographical Note Field