We start our journey on the Orange Line partway through a subway tunnel that dates back to the early 1900's. It is unique in that most stations were built with the northbound and southbound platforms staggered. Some, like Downtown Crossing (formerly Washington) and Haymarket (which we will see later on in the Fest) were later rebuilt with the platforms opposite one another.
You will see evidence of this at the first station we come to, Chinatown. Chinatown was formerly known as Essex. It sits right underneath a very seedy part of downtown Boston known as the Combat Zone, akin to what New York City's 42nd Street used to be.
After Chinatown, we move onto a much newer right-of-way. The tracks used to continue due south from here, and up onto the old Washington Street elevated line to Forest Hills. The elevated Orange Line made a major stop at Dudley Square. It was torn down in 1987, after the Orange Line was rerouted to serve Back Bay Station and Boston's Southwest Corridor.
Now moving in a southwestward direction, we stop at the New England Medical Center station. You can see that this station, although 15 years old, looks much newer than those under Washington Street. Its platforms were built across from one another.
The tracks then curve due westbound for a bit, emerging from the tunnel to run on the surface next to the beginning of the Massachusetts Turnpike. We are sitting in between two sets of railroad tracks. Those on the right are the former Boston & Albany (now CSX), and carry AMTRAK's LAKE SHORE LIMITED as well as the one Inland Route round trip of Acela Regional between Boston and Washington, DC, and MBTA's Commuter Rail to Worcester. The tracks on the left are AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor, and they also host several MBTA routes which later fan out once out of the city. This same configuration serves Back Bay Station, which is marked on the transit line as Back Bay/South End.
After Back Bay, the CSX tracks continue westward along the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the rest of the tracks enter a tunnel underneath a linear park, and then emerge in a depressed right-of-way running within concrete walls. From here to Forest Hills, the Orange Line stations all have island platforms, and were built fully accessible to the handicapped.
After the Massachusetts Avenue stop, the next station is Ruggles. This is a popular station, as it replaced the Dudley Square station on the old elevated that ran parallel to this corridor to the east. Ruggles is also a Commuter Rail stop for the Attleboro/Providence, Stoughton, Needham, and Franklin lines.
We will now make a succession of stops, ending at Forest Hills. Only at Forest Hills is there another interface with Commuter Rail, but it is only served by the Needham Line.
Just before the Orange Line train terminates, we will go underneath the right-of-way of the former Arborway streetcar, as it served the older, elevated Orange Line station a little east of here. Now, both the Arborway streetcar and the Orange Line elevated are gone. The old carhouse at Arborway is being refurbished into a new bus depot. When the Arborway line was running, it was possible to transfer between the Orange Line and the Arborway Line (a branch of the Green Line) for free. More on the Green Line Arborway streetcar in Parts B3 & B4 of our trip.