Greenbush station

Greenbush
Greenbush
	Platform at Greenbush, looking inbound
General information
Location	247 Old Driftway; Scituate, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°10′46.2″N70°44′45.6″W / 42.179500°N 70.746000°W
Line(s)	Greenbush Branch
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1 platform track; 4 yard tracks
Construction
Parking	1000 spaces ($4.00 fee)
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	6
History
Opened	October 31, 2007
Closed	June 30, 1959
Passengers
2013	441 (weekday average boardings)
Services
Former services

Last updated September 26, 2023

Greenbush station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Scituate, Massachusetts. Located in the Greenbush section of Scituate, it is the terminus of the Greenbush Line.

Station layout

The station consists of a single side platform serving the easternmost track. Adjacent to the platform, the Greenbush layover consists of four tracks, which are used to store trains overnight. Also adjacent to the platform, a massive parking lot accommodates commuters from nearby towns, such as Norwell and Hanover. The parking lots total 1000 spaces - twice the capacity of the other stations on the line - to accommodate commuters driving in from Hanover, Norwell, Marshfield, and Duxbury.

History

The modern Greenbush Line was originally built as the South Shore Railroad, which opened to Cohasset in 1849. The Old Colony-backed Duxbury and Cohasset Railroad, chartered in 1867, which opened from Cohasset to Duxbury in 1871, including a stop at South Scituate.^[2]^[3] The station was renamed Greenbush on October 1, 1877.^[4] After financial troubles in the 1870s, the Duxbury and Cohasset was joined with the South Shore under the fold of the Old Colony Railroad in 1877. The Old Colony was leased to the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad in 1893.

Greenbush became an important short-turn terminal on the South Shore Line, particularly as ridership began to wane. Service south of Greenbush, limited to a single South Duxbury round trip since 1932, was discontinued in 1939 after the 1938 New England hurricane damaged the causeway over the North River to Marshfield.^[3] The line enjoyed a brief uptick in traffic in World War II with the construction of the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot and the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot Annex. The number of daily trips was increased from 4 to 8 after World War II under Frederick C. Dumaine, Jr., and modern diesel trains including Budd RDCs were introduced in the 1950s.^[3] The old station building was replaced with a simple plywood-sheathed station in the early 1950s.^[5] However, the New Haven Railroad continued to lose money on the service, and after Dumaine was ousted the railroad announced all trains would cease running in 1958. Only an emergency subsidy by the state kept trains running until June 30, 1959 when the Southeast Expressway opened and all passenger train service ended.^[3]

Calls for the former Old Colony lines to be reactivated began in the 1980s; the Plymouth/Kingston Line and Middleborough/Lakeville Line were reopened in 1997. After much controversy surrounding the $534 million project, construction was completed in 2007. The Greenbush line and Greenbush Station were opened for full service on October 31, 2007 after a ceremonial train the previous day.^[6]

Related Research Articles

Cohasset is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 8,381.

Norwell is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,351 at the 2020 United States census. The town's southeastern border runs along the North River.

Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census.

Scituate is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hingham, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Hingham is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on Boston Harbor. The town was named after Hingham, Norfolk, England, and was first settled by English colonists in 1633.

The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.

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Wompatuck State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area of about 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) in size located primarily in the town of Hingham with portions in the neighboring towns of Cohasset, Norwell, and Scituate, Massachusetts, in the United States. In addition to a large campground and an extensive trail system, the park is noted for the free spring water that can be obtained at Mt. Blue Spring, which has been in operation since the mid-19th century. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation which protects forests of the northeastern coastal forests ecoregion.

The Greenbush Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which serves the South Shore region of Massachusetts. The 27.6-mile (44.4 km) line runs from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through the cities and towns of Quincy, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate to the Greenbush neighbourhood in southern Scituate. There are ten stations along the line. From South Station, to Quincy Center, service operates in conjunction with the Old Colony Lines commuter rail service via the Old Colony Main Line. From Weymouth Landing/East Braintree to Greenbush, trains utilize the Greenbush Branch, the former South Shore Railroad line that was later incorporated into the Old Colony Railroad.

The Old Colony Lines are a pair of branches of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, connecting downtown Boston, Massachusetts with the South Shore and cranberry-farming country to the south and southeast. The two branches operate concurrently for 10 miles (16 km) via the Old Colony Mainline from South Station to Braintree station. The Middleborough/Lakeville Line then winds south through Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Lakeville via the Middleborough Main Line and Cape Main Line. The Kingston Line heads southeast to serve Weymouth, Abington, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, and Kingston by way of the Plymouth branch. Limited service to Plymouth was provided prior to April 2021 but was cut due to low ridership and budget constraints.

Mariner Group, based in Marshfield, Massachusetts, United States, was a chain of weekly newspapers in the suburban South Shore near Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1972 with one paper, the Marshfield Mariner, the group was sold in 1989 to Capital Cities/ABC and again in 1995 to Fidelity Investments, which dissolved it into Community Newspaper Company a few months later.

East Weymouth station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line, and is located in the East Weymouth village. It consists of a single side platform serving the line's one track. The station is fully accessible.

West Hingham station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Hingham, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line. It consists of a single side platform serving the line's one track. The station is fully accessible.

Nantasket Junction station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Hingham, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line. It is located off Chief Justice Cushing Highway east of downtown Hingham. It consists of a single side platform serving the line's one track. The station is fully accessible.

North Scituate station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Scituate, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line. The station, located at 777 Country Way in North Scituate village, is the primary station for Scituate, while nearby Greenbush station primarily serves as a park-and-ride for adjacent communities. Like the other stations on the Greenbush Line, North Scituate consists of a single full-length high-level platform which provides accessible boarding to the line's single track.

Cohasset station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Cohasset, Massachusetts. It serves the Greenbush Line. It is located off Chief Justice Cushing Highway west of downtown Cohasset. The station was opened with the line on October 31, 2007, providing the first rail service to Cohasset since 1959. Cohasset station is fully accessible.

Middleborough/Lakeville station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Lakeville, Massachusetts, just south of the Middleborough border. It is the southern terminus of the Middleborough/Lakeville Line; it is also an intermediate stop for seasonal CapeFlyer service to Cape Cod. Middleborough/Lakeville has a single full-length high-level side platform serving the line's single track.

Buzzards Bay station is a train station located on Main Street in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The site also contains an interlocking tower. The Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge is adjacent.

The South Shore Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1846 to provide rail service between Quincy and Duxbury, Massachusetts through the towns of Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and Marshfield.

Middleborough station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Middleborough, Massachusetts. It is expected to open in late 2023 as part of the South Coast Rail project, replacing Middleborough/Lakeville station for regular service. The station will have a single side platform located inside the wye between the Middleborough Main Line and the Middleboro Secondary.

References

↑ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
↑ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 316–317. ISBN 0942147022.
1 2 3 4 Thomas J. Humphrey. "History of the Greenbush Rail Line". WATD-FM. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
↑ Jacobs, Warren (October 1928). "Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926". Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin . Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. 17 (17): 15–28. JSTOR 43504499.}
↑ Liljestrand, Robert A. (2005). The New Haven Railroad's Old Colony Division: Volume 2. Bob's Photo. p. 15.
↑ Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.

External links

Media related to Greenbush station at Wikimedia Commons

MBTA – Greenbush

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[CRcounts-1] Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

[sne-2] Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 316–317. ISBN 0942147022.

[humphrey-3] 1 2 3 4 Thomas J. Humphrey. "History of the Greenbush Rail Line". WATD-FM. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-06.

[4] Jacobs, Warren (October 1928). "Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926". Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin . Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. 17 (17): 15–28. JSTOR 43504499.}

[5] Liljestrand, Robert A. (2005). The New Haven Railroad's Old Colony Division: Volume 2. Bob's Photo. p. 15.

[netransit-6] Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.

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