Plymouth Trip

When visiting my sister and some friends down in Plymouth I decided to bring my camera along to get some train pictures, since my journey mostly involved commuter rail. I think they turned out pretty well, apart from a couple being a bit blurry. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger version of the image.

Inbound train #168 arriving at Ipswich. MBTA commuter trains operate in push-pull configuration with the locomotive always facing away from Boston. The brick building with the cupola visible in the background is a bank that sits on the site of (and mimics the appearance of) the former Boston & Maine railroad station.

An outbound commuter train pulling into Ruggles station. Located on the campus of Northeastern University, Ruggles is a major transit hub serving three commuter rail lines, the Orange Line subway, and 13 bus routes. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor also passes through the station, but no Amtrak trains stop.

A view of the rail corridor (known as the Southwest Corridor, a name dating back several decades to when the right of way was cleared for Interstate 95, which was never built through the city) showing an Outbound (Forest Hills) Orange Line train across from the Kawasaki-built bilevel coaches typical of South Service commuter trains.

An Inbound (Oak Grove) Orange Line train arriving at Ruggles.

A transfer from the Orange Line to the Red Line at Downtown Crossing would take you to South Station, the Boston terminal of all South Service commuter trains, as well as the northern end of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. After some more photography around the station, I'll be getting on train #041, bound for Kingston.

To kill some time, I walked around outside. South Station is located in the heart of Boston's Financial District, on Atlantic Avenue adjacent to Dewey Square (the former site of Occupy Boston). Dewey Square is new land freed up by the Big Dig relocation of Interstate 93.

Boston has a relatively new bike-sharing program called Hubway, and one of the largest stations is located on Atlantic Avenue outside South Station. The system sees a respectable level of use, so it is surprising to see this many bikes not in use.

South Station itself, from across Atlantic Avenue. The station headhouse was built in 1899 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Various buildings around South Station. The first one is the Boston Federal Reserve building.

The South Station bus terminal was built over the ends of the rail platforms in 1995, and features an attractive glass entrance from Atlantic Avenue, though it is also accessible from the main station concourse. While you can't really tell in these pictures, the "BUS TERMINAL" sign above the door is in retro-esque neon.

MBTA F40PH-2C #1054 parked on Track 1 ready to pull an outbound Stoughton train. F40PHs are the staple of the MBTA's commuter rail fleet, but many are being replaced by newer MotivePower locomotives scheduled for delivery starting later this year.

Looking down Platform 1 at the Kawasaki bilevels that make up the aforementioned Stoughton train. Ahead on the left is an entrance to the bus terminal, allowing direct connections from the rail platforms.

Two Amtrak Acela Express trainsets at South Station, the second one pulling in with a train from Washington, D.C.

Two views of the electrified Northeast Corridor tracks curving away from South Station taken out the window of my outbound Kingston train.

The Cabot Yard commuter rail shops. On the opposite side of the tracks is the Cabot Yard subway maintenance and storage facility. Heading south from Boston the Red Line subway and four commuter rail lines share a right-of-way that mostly parallels Interstate 93.

Two shots of Red Line trains from the window. The first one is an inbound (Alewife) train stopped at a station that does not serve commuter rail, and the second is an outbound train that traveled at approximately the same speed as the commuter train approaching Braintree, the southern end of the Red Line.

The commuter rail route between splitting from the mainline and the end in Kingston was mostly a mix of forest and marsh, accompanied by a few scenic vistas such as this salt marsh located not far from Kingston.

I planned to photograph every leg of my journey, which also included North Station, and several more subway stations, but was pressed for time.