Бостонның бұрынғы трамвай желісі: Уотертаун сызығы

Former streetcar line in Massachusetts, US

The A branch or Watertown Line was a streetcar line in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, operating as a branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line. The line ran from Watertown through Newton Corner, Brighton, and Allston to Kenmore Square, then used the Boylston Street subway and Tremont Street subway to reach Park Street station. Portions of the route were built as horsecar lines between 1858 and 1880. The segment between and was electrified in 1889 as part of the Beacon Street line. By 1896, electric routes ran from Newton Corner (Nonantum Square) to downtown Boston via Brighton and via Watertown. Brighton service was extended to Watertown in 1912. The line was operated until 1969, when it was replaced by MBTA bus route 57, though it remained in service for non revenue moves to Watertown Yard until 1994.

Construction of the Brighton Horse Railroad, a horse car street railway, began in 1858. The line began at Central Square, Cambridge, and crossed the Charles River on the River Street bridge into Allston. It continued through Union Square along Cambridge Street and Washington Street to Oak Square in the center of Brighton. The line was operated by the Union Street Railway, a holding company for the Cambridge Railroad system. After a dispute with the Boston and Worcester Railroad over the right to cross their tracks, the line opened on November 15, 1858. Service was doubled in April 1878, with cars operating every half hour. In 1880, the company opened a second Brighton–Cambridge line via Market Street and Western Avenue. A planned extension that year from Oak Square to Nonantum Square was not built, though a line from Watertown to Nonantum Square was. In the late 1880s, the West End Street Railway consolidated the horse railroads, including the Cambridge Railroad, under its control. The West End opened its first electric streetcar line on January 3, 1889. The line ran between the Allston Carhouse (just north of Union Square) and Park Square via Harvard Street, Beacon Street, Massachusetts Avenue, and Boylston Street. Electric service was extended to Oak Square on January 13. On August 18, 1896, the Western Avenue line was double tracked and electrified. It was the last line that ran over the West Boston Bridge to be electrified; until then, its cars were hauled by horses to Central Square, then attached to electric cars from Allston for the remainder of the trip into Boston. On May 18, 1896, tracks opened from Union Square east along North Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue to Kenmore Square, merging with the existing tracks on Beacon Street. On June 13, the western terminal was also extended to just shy of Newton Corner (Nonantum Square). On November 8, 1897, Newton service via Commonwealth Avenue began running into the Tremont Street subway. A lengthy Nonantum Square– route via Allston, Coolidge Corner, and Park Square opened on August 4, 1900. On December 9, 1912, service was extended north to Watertown on the existing Galen Street tracks. During the early part of the 20th century, the line was also used for freight service. The Boylston Street subway was opened to an incline in Kenmore Square on October 3, 1914, with Watertown service via Brighton Center immediately routed into the new tunnel. On February 23, 1922, Oak Square short turns were extended to Watertown in the evening peak hour. The Newtonville and Watertown Street Railway soon secured position to build between and Union Square, with the intention to use the West End tracks to reach downtown Boston. After approval by the Watertown Arsenal (which owned a section of North Beacon Street) in 1896 – despite the objection of the West End – the company constructed the line in 1898. After further disagreements between its parent company Newton and Boston Street Railway and the BERy about operations, the line opened in 1900. Through service on the line between Watertown and the Tremont Street subway, acting as a branch of the Newton Brighton line, began on November 18, 1900. The BERy took over the line from the Newton and Boston in 1907. The Newton Street Railway (later the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway) began Waltham–Park Street service via the North Beacon Street line on February 23, 1903. Upon the opening of the Boylston Street subway in October 1914, North Beacon Street service was cut to a Watertown–Union Square shuttle. It was further cut to a North Beacon Street bridge (the Brighton/Watertown line) – Union Square shuttle on June 2, 1917. The North Beacon Street shuttle was replaced with a bus route on February 23, 1922. A Watertown–Arsenal Street bridge bus route, which ran on North Beacon between Watertown and School Street, was briefly run in 1925–26. The bus route was extended to Union Square on September 11, 1926, replacing the streetcar line. The two bus routes were combined in February 1933 to eliminate the transfer; the route is now the route 64 bus.

Prior to 1967, when the current letters were assigned to the Green Line's branches, the Watertown Line was route 69. (Route 57, the line's current number, was originally assigned to short turn trips on the Huntington Avenue line.) The line was assigned the letter "A" because it was the northernmost branch. Turnback loops existed at Union Square (via Cambridge Street and Harvard Avenue) and Oak Square, as well as the terminal. Additionally, from 1915 to January 15, 1962, a loop existed at Braves Field, for special events along the part of the line concurrent with the Commonwealth Avenue line. Additional overhead infrastructure, as well as the tracks themselves, were mainly removed by the end of the summer of 1996 as part of a resurfacing project on North Beacon Street. Remnants of the tracks are still visible today in the Watertown Yard bus terminal (no longer used for railcar maintenance), as well as a short stub track at Packard's Corner, where the "A" branch used to diverge from the "B" branch. The stub, part of the former outbound track, was used for temporarily storing disabled trains until it was shorted to just a few feet long in the mid 2000s; the switch was not disconnected until 2014 and not paved over until 2020. Restoration of the "A" branch was advocated to provide a one seat ride to downtown Boston from the northern corridor (rather than requiring a transfer at Kenmore), but was ruled too costly and less safe compared to the replacement bus service.

The 57 Watertown Yard–Kenmore station bus was initiated in 1969 as replacement service for the A branch. The 57 follows the same routing from Watertown Yard to except for the Newton Corner rotary, where inbound buses follow traffic rather than operating in a counterflow lane as streetcars had. As a way to make the service more attractive, the MBTA originally had the 57 operate as a limited (boarding only outbound and dropoff only inbound) between Packards Corner and Kenmore, with the "B" branch providing local service along Commonwealth Avenue. In December 2006 the 57 began making local stops on Commonwealth. Additional short turn trips between Oak Square and Kenmore at rush hour were cut in June 1971, and restored for mornings only in 1987. Morning only Brighton Center–Kenmore trips were operated from September 1999 to June 2013. Approximately every other trip operated as a 57A during rush hours; during off peak hours and weekends all buses ran the full length route. Oak Square short turn service was discontinued in December 2020 except for a small number of school day trips; frequency on the full route was increased. Route 57 is based at the Albany Street Bus Facility during weekday rush hours and midday service, and is based at the Cabot Garage for evening, weekend, and holiday service. No short term changes were recommended. 2022 MBTA proposals for its systemwide bus network redesign called for the 57 to have increased frequency to provide service every 15 minutes or better at all operating hours.