Welcome to Day One of the Boston "T" Party Rail Fest. Today, for us earlybirds, we will focus primarily on Commuter Rail lines. We will make round trips on the Franklin and Needham lines, and travel over the Dorchester Branch in one direction. Today will also be our only visit to Back Bay Station.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the "meat" of the Fest, with about 12 hours planned on the rails, mostly on the Green Line trolleys, as well as the Blue and Orange Lines, AMTRAK's DOWNEASTER, and the Haverhill Commuter Line. And on Sunday, we wrap up our travels as we ride the entire Red Line and part of the Fitchburg Commuter Line.
Enjoy your travels today!
You won't see much on this trip, as it's only one stop in the dark subway. We will be passing this way many more times over the weekend, so commentary will be reserved until then.
Part B1 of the Fest, which takes place on Saturday, will provide a better description of this part of the Red Line.
Lunch today will be at The Corner, a food court on the corner of Washington and Summer Streets, also known as Downtown Crossing. We will leave the system here, and return shortly for a short ride on the Orange Line.
Another dark subway tunnel, as we go from Downtown Crossing to Back Bay Station. The guide for this portion of the Orange Line will be found in Part B2, which we will cover tomorrow during the main part of the Fest.
We'll detrain at Back Bay/South End, and have about 10 minutes to explore the area before catching a commuter train to Needham Heights. I am told there are nice rest rooms in an Au Bon Pain store next to Neiman Marcus.