Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway

The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving most suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, which it absorbed in 1919.[1][2]It was acquired by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which still runs some of its routes, in 1968.

Ex-Eastern Mass. Street Railway car 4387 at the Seashore Trolley Museum

1930s map of Eastern Mass streetcar and bus lines

Major cities served

The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, and previously the Bay State Street Railway, ran direct or indirect interurban services from Boston to these cities.[3]

• Revere
• Lynn
• Salem
• Reading
• Lowell
• Lawrence
• Haverhill
• Brockton
• Taunton
• Fall River
• Nashua, New Hampshire service ended in 1919
• Newport, Rhode Island service ended in 1919

BERy connection points

The Eastern Mass connected to the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) system at many points; through service continued along BERy trackage at some.

• Neponset
• Milton Lower Mills
• Mattapan
• Forest Hills - the Hyde Park division was leased to the BERy ca. 1930, unifying routes across Forest Hills but creating other connection points.
• Arlington Heights
• West Medford
• Middlesex Fells
• Malden Center
• Charlestown
• Chelsea - the Chelsea division was sold to the BERy in 1936, unifying routes across Charlestown and Chelsea but creating other connection points.
• Suffolk Downs
• Fields Corner

Preserved cars

Former Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway car 4387, built in 1918 by the Laconia Car Company, is preserved in operating condition at the Seashore Trolley Museum, in Kennebunkport, Maine.[4]

References

1. Carlson, Stephen P.; Harding, Thomas W. (1 May 1990). From Boston to the Berkshires: a pictorial review of electric transportation in Massachusetts (1st ed.). from Newport to Nashua: The Bay State Street Railway Bay State/Eastern Mass. System: Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 42–65. ISBN 093831503X.
2. "Acts and resolves passed by the General Court". Internet Archive.
3. Carlson, Stephen P.; Harding, Thomas W. (1 May 1990). From Boston to the Berkshires: a pictorial review of electric transportation in Massachusetts (1st ed.). from Newport to Nashua: The Bay State Street Railway Bay State/Eastern Mass. System: Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 42–65. ISBN 093831503X.
4. Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit, p. 45. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. ISBN 0-9647279-2-7.