boxcars

wonderful photograph!

Wonderfully composed image as well as being of historical interest.

It's one of my all-time favorite photos. Glad you enjoy it! --Helena

"As one approached Boston Terminal (South Station) from the South on the former Old Colony Mainline, all inbound and outbound trains had to cross one of the 3 Rolling Lift Bridges that spanned the South Bay Channel. These bridges, which took 2 years to build carried untold amount of passengers & trains during their 87 year lifetime.

"The driving force to build Boston Terminal (South Station's Real Name) back in 1894 required the co-operation & consolidation of 4 Railroads: The New England Railroad (NY&NE), The Boston & Providence Railroad (B&P), the Old Colony Railroad (OCRR), and the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&A) to all share 1 common railroad terminal instead of being spread out all over Boston. In order to do this, the planners needed to accommodate the approach tracks for these 4 railroads & funnel them all into the South Station yards & platforms."

Read more about this bridge in this fascinating blog, The Rolling Lift Bridge by John Sheridan.

The Library of Congress has a collection of 47 amazing photographs of the Fort Point Channel Rolling Lift Bridge in their collection, including several detail views that no ordinary person would ever have the chance to see in person.

Tower bridges – Then and Now (100+ Years Later)

"Tower bridges" 1904 by Detroit Publishing Company



"Old Colony Railroad Bridge" 2010 by Penny Camberville

"When the bridges were torn-down in the 1980s, plans were created to preserve the memory of the bridges that kept traffic moving for over 85 years. If you are coming to South Station on any of the Old Colony tracks, look to the right as the train is crossing the remains of Fort Point Channel. There you will see, painted bright red is a piece of the original bridge - still watching passengers cross the channel." – John Sheridan, "The Rolling Lift Bridge"

www.flickr.com/photos/pixelwrangler/: Thank you for this historical context! From railroad bridge to public art--100 years of change.

These pictures are great. I am really happy that the Library of Congress is doing this.

Wonderful photo! Ditto, I am happy LC is doing this. I was 1 month old when this was taken, in Illinois to boot, and this scene brings back fond memories. The more railroad pictures you post, the better! Bravo and thank you.

What a fantastic serie of beautiful photos. Fantastic that the Library of Congress is doing this. -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

This is a real treasure of the public domain. I think it is fantastic to make these available through Flickr, the best photo sharing site around. It is a shame they have not uploaded the full resolution images. The LOC's own site will often have 20MB scans of these photos. I've made some beautiful prints of New York's Penn Station from there.

Thomas, the link to the persistent URL in the description area will take you to a high-resolution version of the image. Good luck!

very cool - I'm going to take a photo of that corner when I go there again that's near where I keep my horses

amazing picture, a treasure. Thanks to the McCord Museum employees for this amazing work!

mette tristezza, ma è molto bella...

Hi, this photo has been discussed in one of the threads in the Flickr Commons group, and we'd love to have this added to the group pool!

I just came across this 1996 view: