Route
The line originally branched off from the Boston and Albany main line on the Weston side of the Charles, and then crossed back over the Charles before continuing on its current course. When the Highland Branch was built in 1886, it made more sense to connect to that line. The right-of-way in modern form branches off from the Riverside Yard, which serves the Highland Branch (which since 1959 has been the Green Line "D" Branch). It crosses highway ramps and Route 128 before running parallel to the Leo J Martin golf course. It transects a residential area before crossing Concord Street and the Charles in to Wellesley. The tracks extended across Route 16 after crossing the Charles River a few hundred yards before ending.
Most of the rail grade in Newton is intact, while in Wellesley it has mostly been built over. The tracks have been removed, although three bridges are still extant: a pair over Route 128 and the off-ramp from exit 23, and one over the Charles River that still carries a single track.
Read more about this topic: Newton Lower Falls Branch
Famous quotes containing the word route:
“A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“In the mountains the shortest route is from peak to peak, but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are spoken should be big and tall of stature.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)