Revere Beach station

Revere Beach station is a rapid transit station in Revere, Massachusetts. Located between Beach Street and Shirley Avenue, it serves the MBTA Blue Line. It serves Revere Beach, a popular summer destination with a substantial year-round resident population. It opened in January 1954 on the site of a former Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad station, as part of an extension to Wonderland. Revere Beach station was closed and rebuilt from 1994 to 1995.

Revere Beach
An outbound train at Revere Beach station in July 2021
General information
Location220 Shirley Avenue at 300 Ocean Avenue
Revere, Massachusetts
Coordinates42.4078°N 70.9926°W / 42.4078; -70.9926
Line(s)Revere Extension
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport MBTA bus: 110, 117, 411
Construction
Structure typeOpen cut
Bicycle facilities11 spaces
AccessibleYes
History
OpenedJune 19, 1954[1]
RebuiltJune 25, 1994–June 24, 1995[2][3]
Previous namesCrescent Beach (BRB&L)
Passengers
FY20193,098 boardings (weekday average)[4]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Beachmont
toward Bowdoin
 Blue Line Wonderland
Terminus
Location

Like all Blue Line stations from Airport east, Revere Beach has two tracks and two side platforms. Uniquely among Blue Line stations, it is located below grade in a trench, with a surface-level fare lobby. Entrances to the station are from Beach Street and Shirley Avenue.

History

Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn
Crescent Beach station on a 1910 postcard

The narrow gauge Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB&L) opened from East Boston to Lynn on July 29, 1875. The line ran directly adjacent to the beachfront, a popular summer destination, on the alignment of the modern Revere Beach Boulevard. Revere station at Beach Street was among the initial stations.[5] The station was renamed Pavilion in the late 1870s and Crescent Beach in 1884.[6]

The Eastern Railroad-backed Boston, Winthrop, and Shore Railroad (BW&S) operated slightly inland in 1884 and 1885, with its own Crescent Beach station just west of the BRB&L station.[7][8] A new BRB&L station was opened on October 31, 1887. It was located at Centennial Street, about 500 feet (150 m) south of the previous location.[9] It was very similar in design to Chatham station – which opened the same year – with a polygonal tower on the track side of the building.[10]

In April 1897, the BRB&L was moved inland onto the BW&S right-of-way, with Crescent Beach station relocated to the new alignment.[11] By 1928 the line was electrified, with pre-pay stations - more a rapid transit line than a conventional railroad.[12] However, due to the Great Depression, the BRB&L shut down on January 27, 1940.[7] Crescent Beach station was demolished in the early 1940s.[10]

Rapid transit
Drawing of the 1954-built station

In 1941, the Boston Elevated Railway bought the BRB&L right of way from Day Square to Revere Beach for use as a high-speed trolley line similar to the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line; these plans were delayed by the onset of World War II.[11] The 1926 Report on Improved Transportation Facilities and 1945–47 Coolidge Commission Report recommended that the East Boston Tunnel line, which had been converted to rapid transit from streetcars in 1924, be extended to Lynn via the BBRB&L route rather than using it for a trolley line.[13][14]

In 1947, the newly formed Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) decided to build to Lynn as a rapid transit line, and construction began in October 1948.[11] The first part of the Revere Extension opened to Orient Heights in January 1952 and Suffolk Downs in April 1952; the second phase (cut short due to limited funds) opened to Wonderland on June 19, 1954 with intermediate stations at Beachmont and Revere Beach.[11][13][1]

Renovations

Revere Beach station was closed for approximately one year starting on June 25, 1994 as the station was rebuilt along with Suffolk Downs, Beachmont, and Wonderland stations as part of the Blue Line Modernization Program. Blue Line service temporarily ended at Orient Heights and buses served the closed stations during the project[2][3] Revere Beach station was largely rebuilt at a cost of $9.8 million; it reopened along with the other stations on June 24, 1995.[15]

The station was closed while additional platform repair work was performed from August 2 through 29, 2008.[3][16]

References
  1. "Rapid Transit Line to Revere to Open June 19". Boston Globe. June 9, 1954. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Blake, Andrew (March 20, 1994). "MBTA to begin $467 million Blue Line project". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page) open access
  3. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  4. "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 8.
  5. Bradlee, Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1921). The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Narrow Gauge Railroad. Essex Institute. pp. 4–5 – via Google Books.
  6. Stanley, Robert C. (1980). Narrow Gauge: The Story of the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad. Boston Street Railway Association.
  7. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 268–272. ISBN 0942147022.
  8. "Part of the Town of Revere". Atlas of the City of Chelsea and the Towns of Revere and Winthrop. G.W. Bromley and Co. 1886. Archived from the original on 2016-04-29. Retrieved 2015-12-24 – via WardMaps.
  9. "A New Depot for Crescent Beach". The Boston Globe. November 1, 1887. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780942147087.
  11. Cheney, Frank (2003). Boston's Blue Line. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 8, 74–75, 83. ISBN 9780738535760.
  12. ""Narrow Gage" Electrified for Economy". Electric Railway Journal. 72 (23): 991–998. 8 December 1928 – via Internet Archive.
  13. Central Transportation Planning Staff (November 15, 1993). "The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2". National Transportation Library. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013.
  14. Boston Elevated Railway and Boston Department of Public Utilities (1945), Boston Rapid Transit System & Proposed Extensions 1945 - Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission Air View
  15. Blake, Andrew (June 18, 1995). "Blue Line stations set to reopen after $467m upgrade". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page) open access
  16. "Blue Line Rehab Project To Begin" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 18, 2008.
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