Beaconsfield station (MBTA)

Beaconsfield is an MBTA light rail station in Brookline, Massachusetts. It serves the Green Line D branch. It is located off Dean Road and Beaconsfield Road just south of Beacon Street. Like the other stops on the line, it was formerly a commuter rail station on the Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland Branch, which was closed and converted to a branch of the Green Line. The station reopened along with the rest of the line in 1959.[1]

Beaconsfield
Facing inbound at Beaconsfield station in November 2015
LocationBeaconsfield Road
Brookline, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°20′09″N 71°08′26″W
Owned byMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)Highland Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Construction
Parking11 spaces
Bicycle facilities8 spaces
Disabled accessNo
History
Opened1907 (original station)
July 4, 1959 (modern station)[1]
ClosedMay 31, 1958[2]
Passengers
20111,075[3]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Reservoir
toward Riverside
 Green Line Brookline Hills
toward Government Center
Former services
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Reservoir
toward Riverside
 Highland Branch Brookline Hills
toward Boston

Beaconsfield is not handicapped accessible; the low platforms do not permit level boarding. Beaconsfield station is located one block from Dean Road station on the C branch of the Green Line, offering an easy transfer point. The interchange is outside of fare control; passengers must still pay a second fare.

History

B&A station
1910 postcard of Beaconsfield station

The Boston and Worcester Railroad opened a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) branch from Brookline Junction to Brookline on April 10, 1848.[2] The Charles River Branch Railroad extended the Brookline Branch to Newton Upper Falls in November 1852 and to Needham in June 1853.[2][4] The Boston and Albany Railroad bought back the line, then part of the New York and New England Railroad, in February 1883. It was double-tracked and extended to the B&A main at Riverside; "Newton Circuit" service via the Highland Branch and the main line began on May 16, 1886.[2]

There was not originally a station on the line at Dean Road, as it was close to Reservoir station. In late 1906, transit magnate Henry Melville Whitney built a new station to serve his nearby Beaconsfield hotel.[5] Work on the station began in October 1906 by the firm of Benjamin Fox. It was constructed in a heavy stone style similar to the Richardsonian Romanesque stations constructed elsewhere on the B&A system in the previous two decades.[6] By November, the masonry was largely complete, the roof ready for tile, and the granolithic floor and 330-foot (100 m) platform ready to be poured.[7] The platform was poured in December 1906, and the station was opened then or soon after.[8]

Conversion to trolley service
The 1959-built wooden shelter

In June 1957, the Massachusetts Legislature approved the purchase of the branch by the M.T.A. from the nearly-bankrupt New York Central Railroad for conversion to a trolley line. Service ended on May 31, 1958.[2] The line was quickly converted for trolley service, and the line including Beaconsfield station reopened on July 4, 1959.[1] The 1906-built station was torn down to build a parking lot; a small wooden shelter was built on the inbound platform.

The M.T.A. was folded into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in August 1964.[1] The station has not been substantially modified during the MBTA era, though a heated shelter for fare machines on the outbound side was added around 2006. In 2019, the MBTA indicated that the four remaining non-accessible stops on the D branch were "Tier I" accessibility priorities.[9] As of November 2020, conceptual design for accessibility modifications at the station is complete; design is expected to reach 100% in 2021, followed by construction.[10]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  2. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 21–24. ISBN 9780685412947.
  3. "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  4. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 277, 288–289. ISBN 0942147022.
  5. "Vacation Notes". The Independent. 62: lvib.
  6. "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 11. October 1906 – via Internet Archive.
  7. "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 15. November 1906 – via Internet Archive.
  8. "New Engineering Work". Monthly Bulletin. Boston Society of Civil Engineers: 11. December 1906 – via Internet Archive.
  9. "Preview of 2019 Recommendations: Presentation to the FMCB" (PDF). Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 1, 2019. p. 12.
  10. Brelsford, Laura (November 30, 2020). "System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—November 2020" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility. p. 5.
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