Kalkidan doing the "Now that's a fun fact" for a collab with Miles was a nice touch! While Canton and Guangzhou are both north of the Equator when it comes to latitude, they are, however, about 2 degrees from being antipodal in longitude. Interesting fact about Canton, Paul Revere built North America's first copper rolling mill in Canton in 1801. In 1800, he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels! The 1888 station building was purchased from the state in 2015 when such purchase was approved by Town Council representatives, so it could be used by the Community Preservation Committee as part of a downtown redevelopment plan. Stoughton was named after William Stoughton, who was the first chief justice of the Colonial Courts, and the most relentless and recalcitrant judge during the Salem Witch Trials. Stoughton's nickname is the "Birthplace of American Liberty" because the Suffolk Resolves were written in Old Stoughton (although now Milton) in 1774, a declaration which rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. This would be used as a model by the drafters of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The First Continental Congress endorsed the Resolves on September 17, 1774, and passed the similarly themed Continental Association. There's an even shorter commuter rail branch that exists in the US, and no, I'm not talking about the Cynwyd Line nor the Princeton Dinky.....the LIRR's Belmont Park Branch! Belmont Park station opened in 1905, rebuilt twice in 1957 and 2015, and is only open for the Belmont Stakes. While the racetrack is in Nassau County, the station is in Queens! When Belmont Park opened in 1905, about 19,000 passengers, nearly half of all racetrack attendees, took the railroad to the racetrack on opening day. The first electric trains to Belmont Park ran on October 2, 1905, the opening day of the fall meet. The original station was located south of Hempstead Turnpike, the present terminal north of Hempstead Turnpike was opened in 1957. During race days, Belmont Park Branch trains run from Grand Central and Penn Station, but the branch itself is quite short! The Belmont Park Branch splits off from the Main Line after Queens Village, and the track is just around .16 km long from Queens Village! For the 2023 Belmont Stakes, the LIRR carried a total of 22,902 riders to and from Belmont Park station, which amounted to approximately 25 percent of the total track attendance (trains did not stop at Elmont, so people had to take the Belmont Park Branch). The freight NY & Atlantic RR also serves Belmont Park, delivering boxcars loaded with feed for the park's horses. Belmont Park used to get more regular service. 2011 was the last year it had service for the spring/summer meet, with NYRA subsidizing it. When UBS Arena opened, the Belmont Park Branch provided service for events alongside Elmont-UBS Arena (the latter built for the arena) but when the schedule was changed due to GCM's opening, the UBS Arena shuttle services to Belmont Park stopped in February 2023.
This spur line reminds me of the Princeton shuttle on New Jersey Transit. The main difference is this line runs through trains to and from Boston instead of making passengers transfer to a shuttle train. It is also somewhat similar to the SEPTA’s regional rail line to Cynwyd. It has limited service and only runs on weekdays.
This is like the...thirteenth time we've done a video together? Let me count... 1. Bike race 2021 2. Boston scavenger hunt 2021 3. Atlantic City Greyhound 2022 4. Atlantic City Monopoly adventure 2022 5. Four Philly Firsts 2022 6. Flying to Nantucket 2022 7. Charlie on the MTA 2022 8-11. The Cleveland quadrilogy 2023 12. Breeze Airways 2024 13. Stoughton Branch 2024
I found this quite an informative video! Now, I know that the MBTA has a very, very short branch line that doesn't even run on weekends, whose southbound terminus is split in two parts (an 1888 station and a modern thing with a mini-high platform) by a railroad crossing. I'm glad to hear that the South Coast Rail project will expand this line. Thanks for the video!
Fun fact about those 'danger will not clear man on side of car' signs: A member of my model railroad club (who is 92) worked for the B&M back in the 60s and 70s and was severely injured and nearly killed due to a clearance issue like that. Are the signs there because of him? I don't know, but it's interesting to speculate.
The Canton Viaduct is quite the engineering feat! For those who don't know, when it was completed in 1835, it was the longest (615 ft or around 187 m) and tallest (70 ft or around 21 m) railroad viaduct in the world! It is the last surviving blind arcade cavity wall viaduct of its kind, and was the final link built for the B&P's mainline between Boston and Providence. Because of how vital it is, it has been protected three times, during WWI when the 9th Regiment National Guard guarded it, during WWII when Canton's Civil Defense Corps guarded it, and finally just after the 9/11 attacks when various security entities protected it until the threat level decreased. The Canton Viaduct actually inspired the Russian railroad, as Tsar Nicholas I sent workmen to draw extensive diagrams of the Canton Viaduct, and George Washington Whistler (who assisted with the Canton Viaduct) was assigned as a consulting engineer for the Moscow-St Petersburg Railway. Two viaducts on the line were modeled after the Canton Viaduct. For another interesting rail viaduct in the US besides the Canton Viaduct, the first stone masonry bridge for railroad use in the US was the Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore, built in 1829 for the B&O. The bridge is named in honor of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, known for being the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, the only Roman Catholic in the Second Continental Congress, and wealthiest man in the Thirteen Colonies of the time of the revolution. Andrew Jackson, the first president to ride a train, crossed the bridge on a trip between Ellicott's Mills and Baltimore on June 6, 1833. Today, the viaduct is still used by CSX.
The building on the right hand side in the background by the parking lot entrance at the 6:25 mark used to be a Bank of America branch. They shut it down during the pandemic then left the ATM is there until around 2022. I think the parking space is behind the Bank of America building adjacent to the church still have a sign that says Bank parking only.
It's nice to hear that the MBTA is still planning on extending the Stoughton branch as sn alternate route for the South Coast Rail services. Running all those trains through the single track Old Colony Main would result in inferior sevices for both the South Shore and Cape, and the South Coast. PS Interesting little town!
Great video. I've seen this line and out the window from Amtrak or the MBTA Commuter Rail but never knew its history and also as someone not from Easter Mass I finally know the proper pronounciation. Hope the plans for that extension and electrificatiion come to bear fruit.
One of my earliest memories was going with my mom to pick my dad up at Woburn Center station on the 1.8 mile long Woburn Branch. It diverted off the New Hampshire Mainline to a parking lot station opposite of St. Charles church in Woburn, current site of the Northern Bank and Trust branch, and had a station at Cross St on the Woburn/Winchester City/Town line. Unfortunately, service there ended in 1981, around the time Mishawum Station opened up several miles away on the Lowell Line. I think Woburn would kill to have such service today.
The station DOES deserve a 2/10. Honestly even if you live in Stoughton, it's so much more worth it to make the trek to Canton Junction. Sometimes it's necessary since trains won't run to Stoughton/Canton Center. (Source: Used to live there! You should have grabbed some pizza from Town Spa.)
Finally we learn the truth: Miles lives in an old train in Stoughton when he's not out sleeping on greyhound buses This comment was brought you by Manta
I live near Canton Junction and grew up in Canton. I actually saw that portion of the Northeast Corridor get electrified as well as the construction of that walk over Bridge. We actually had to cross the tracks. Some people that weren't comfortable crossing the tracks would actually walk up to the Spalding Street Bridge which was closed to traffic at the time but you could still walk through it.
Is there any reason for not having high level platform along all stations on the branch? I.E. is the branch used by any other trains, like some museum trains or whatnot?
Ah yes, the classic New England Station stop in the middle of an unprotected crossing...I'm looking at you Dover, NH. To clarify, the train usually stops right before the street, which confuses the crossing timer and then the gates go up just as it departs.
Eventually this is supposed to be the final alignment of South Coast trains. But this route has numerous construction and environmental challenges. That’s why South Coast service will run initially via Middleboro.
This seems like one of those branch lines that would be well suited for a DMU, instead of having a huge diesel engine pull a bunch of heavy bi level cars.
I really doubt phase II or the full south coast rail project will ever happen. The government and homeowners of Easton, Raynham, and Tauton have been doing everything since the 90s to ensure that right of way never gets rebuilt. Besides that the MBTA does not have the money to take on the challenges of this line either.
It’s because of the electrification and the long viaduct through Hockomock swamp that are now stupidly required by the army corps for the line to get built that it won’t happen. The morons in those towns can squeal all they want, it won’t make a difference, just like it didn’t for the anti Greenbush people. It’s the army corps fault.
Waltham Station has a very similar track layout and it's very confusing which side of the railroad crossing you should wait at, especially first-timers
it isn't because of the equater thatcanton china is opposite gater boston but the international date line the runs down the middle of the pacific ocean.
Still more track than 90% of the rest of the country (freight rail doesn't count) Shame, but I would happily ride this if there was a train near me that can easily take me to school and back.
I would really like to see MBTA Commuter Rail follow in the footsteps of their northern friends at Toronto's Government of Ontario Transit and Australian friends in Perth and Brisbane and engage in a massive electrification and frequency increase across commuter rail with a new CrossRiverRail-style North South Rail Link featuring platform screen doors, high platforms with level boarding, and electric EMUs.
@ the GO Expansion hasn’t even happened yet, so you can’t use it as an example, and Perth is in Australia, where cities are built differently from the US.
@@mbrproductions160 Are Australian cities really built that different? Perth is sprawling (and still sprawling) with mostly low-density housing outside the CBD. Heck, the most recent railway lines (Joondallup, Mandurrah, and Ellenbrook) use freeway alignments at least partly. GO Expansion is in detailed design and development, but billions of dollars has already been committed by both liberal and conservative governments.
Exposed??? .... anyway, If you want to explore interesting branches... try the red line, Mattapan to Ashmont branch. It's almost 3 miles long. It runs the old restored 1940's cars (painted original orange) Its the only transit system that runs through the middle of a cremetery. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattapan_Line
Actually that line is so short you could run it off an extension cord.
😂😂😂
Oh my gosh I know just the One.... Needs a power plug
needs a power station
i know… a USB cable
Kalkidan doing the "Now that's a fun fact" for a collab with Miles was a nice touch! While Canton and Guangzhou are both north of the Equator when it comes to latitude, they are, however, about 2 degrees from being antipodal in longitude. Interesting fact about Canton, Paul Revere built North America's first copper rolling mill in Canton in 1801. In 1800, he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels! The 1888 station building was purchased from the state in 2015 when such purchase was approved by Town Council representatives, so it could be used by the Community Preservation Committee as part of a downtown redevelopment plan. Stoughton was named after William Stoughton, who was the first chief justice of the Colonial Courts, and the most relentless and recalcitrant judge during the Salem Witch Trials. Stoughton's nickname is the "Birthplace of American Liberty" because the Suffolk Resolves were written in Old Stoughton (although now Milton) in 1774, a declaration which rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. This would be used as a model by the drafters of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The First Continental Congress endorsed the Resolves on September 17, 1774, and passed the similarly themed Continental Association.
There's an even shorter commuter rail branch that exists in the US, and no, I'm not talking about the Cynwyd Line nor the Princeton Dinky.....the LIRR's Belmont Park Branch! Belmont Park station opened in 1905, rebuilt twice in 1957 and 2015, and is only open for the Belmont Stakes. While the racetrack is in Nassau County, the station is in Queens! When Belmont Park opened in 1905, about 19,000 passengers, nearly half of all racetrack attendees, took the railroad to the racetrack on opening day. The first electric trains to Belmont Park ran on October 2, 1905, the opening day of the fall meet. The original station was located south of Hempstead Turnpike, the present terminal north of Hempstead Turnpike was opened in 1957. During race days, Belmont Park Branch trains run from Grand Central and Penn Station, but the branch itself is quite short! The Belmont Park Branch splits off from the Main Line after Queens Village, and the track is just around .16 km long from Queens Village! For the 2023 Belmont Stakes, the LIRR carried a total of 22,902 riders to and from Belmont Park station, which amounted to approximately 25 percent of the total track attendance (trains did not stop at Elmont, so people had to take the Belmont Park Branch). The freight NY & Atlantic RR also serves Belmont Park, delivering boxcars loaded with feed for the park's horses. Belmont Park used to get more regular service. 2011 was the last year it had service for the spring/summer meet, with NYRA subsidizing it. When UBS Arena opened, the Belmont Park Branch provided service for events alongside Elmont-UBS Arena (the latter built for the arena) but when the schedule was changed due to GCM's opening, the UBS Arena shuttle services to Belmont Park stopped in February 2023.
premiers in 9 days is crazy😭
This spur line reminds me of the Princeton shuttle on New Jersey Transit. The main difference is this line runs through trains to and from Boston instead of making passengers transfer to a shuttle train. It is also somewhat similar to the SEPTA’s regional rail line to Cynwyd. It has limited service and only runs on weekdays.
The band geek representation for Miles's shirt!
Living for Kalkidan's Fun Facts!
Love the "now that's a fun fact!" Remix! -Miles fan first viewing of your channel, will watch more!
classy whale and miles in transit is the craziest crossover ever
This is like the...thirteenth time we've done a video together? Let me count...
1. Bike race 2021
2. Boston scavenger hunt 2021
3. Atlantic City Greyhound 2022
4. Atlantic City Monopoly adventure 2022
5. Four Philly Firsts 2022
6. Flying to Nantucket 2022
7. Charlie on the MTA 2022
8-11. The Cleveland quadrilogy 2023
12. Breeze Airways 2024
13. Stoughton Branch 2024
@@ClassyWhale Hopefully there will be a Bike Race 2 Electric Boogaloo
so legendary it transcends sarcasm!
I found this quite an informative video! Now, I know that the MBTA has a very, very short branch line that doesn't even run on weekends, whose southbound terminus is split in two parts (an 1888 station and a modern thing with a mini-high platform) by a railroad crossing. I'm glad to hear that the South Coast Rail project will expand this line.
Thanks for the video!
Fun fact about those 'danger will not clear man on side of car' signs: A member of my model railroad club (who is 92) worked for the B&M back in the 60s and 70s and was severely injured and nearly killed due to a clearance issue like that. Are the signs there because of him? I don't know, but it's interesting to speculate.
informative as always! looking forward to the UK video, I'm going to Iceland in January and it'll be my first time abroad!
I look forward to the UK video as well, with my like of many things British Isles.
6:35 Newer signs now say “Will not clear person on side of car”. They have them at winchester center and other locations.
1:05 That will look like a fun grade separation.
The Canton Viaduct is quite the engineering feat! For those who don't know, when it was completed in 1835, it was the longest (615 ft or around 187 m) and tallest (70 ft or around 21 m) railroad viaduct in the world! It is the last surviving blind arcade cavity wall viaduct of its kind, and was the final link built for the B&P's mainline between Boston and Providence. Because of how vital it is, it has been protected three times, during WWI when the 9th Regiment National Guard guarded it, during WWII when Canton's Civil Defense Corps guarded it, and finally just after the 9/11 attacks when various security entities protected it until the threat level decreased. The Canton Viaduct actually inspired the Russian railroad, as Tsar Nicholas I sent workmen to draw extensive diagrams of the Canton Viaduct, and George Washington Whistler (who assisted with the Canton Viaduct) was assigned as a consulting engineer for the Moscow-St Petersburg Railway. Two viaducts on the line were modeled after the Canton Viaduct.
For another interesting rail viaduct in the US besides the Canton Viaduct, the first stone masonry bridge for railroad use in the US was the Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore, built in 1829 for the B&O. The bridge is named in honor of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, known for being the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, the only Roman Catholic in the Second Continental Congress, and wealthiest man in the Thirteen Colonies of the time of the revolution. Andrew Jackson, the first president to ride a train, crossed the bridge on a trip between Ellicott's Mills and Baltimore on June 6, 1833. Today, the viaduct is still used by CSX.
there’s a pretty nice biking and walking trail alongside the carrollton viaduct! highly recommend next time you’re in the area supreme leader
Love the collab, nice one!!
The building on the right hand side in the background by the parking lot entrance at the 6:25 mark used to be a Bank of America branch. They shut it down during the pandemic then left the ATM is there until around 2022. I think the parking space is behind the Bank of America building adjacent to the church still have a sign that says Bank parking only.
It's nice to hear that the MBTA is still planning on extending the Stoughton branch as sn alternate route for the South Coast Rail services. Running all those trains through the single track Old Colony Main would result in inferior sevices for both the South Shore and Cape, and the South Coast.
PS Interesting little town!
Great video. I've seen this line and out the window from Amtrak or the MBTA Commuter Rail but never knew its history and also as someone not from Easter Mass I finally know the proper pronounciation. Hope the plans for that extension and electrificatiion come to bear fruit.
@MilesinTransit The old stoughton station building got state funding to turning it into a community center, Town of Stoughton owns it not the MBTA
0:35 4.1 miles I find it quite funny
Am I saying "bollahds" at 6:44???
You can never escape the Bostonian way of life 😈
bollocks!
Yes! 😊 You're picking up a thick Boston accent 👍
It’s contagious.
Stoughton used to have weekend service, and it was popular, but they took it out for no reason
Melbourne, Australia also has a branch line for the showgrounds and racecourse. Mainly for events and train stabling.
MY HOME STATION GOD BLESS MILES IN TRANSIT
Caleb and Miles were hanging out in my neighborhood and I had no idea
One of my earliest memories was going with my mom to pick my dad up at Woburn Center station on the 1.8 mile long Woburn Branch. It diverted off the New Hampshire Mainline to a parking lot station opposite of St. Charles church in Woburn, current site of the Northern Bank and Trust branch, and had a station at Cross St on the Woburn/Winchester City/Town line. Unfortunately, service there ended in 1981, around the time Mishawum Station opened up several miles away on the Lowell Line. I think Woburn would kill to have such service today.
The station DOES deserve a 2/10. Honestly even if you live in Stoughton, it's so much more worth it to make the trek to Canton Junction. Sometimes it's necessary since trains won't run to Stoughton/Canton Center. (Source: Used to live there! You should have grabbed some pizza from Town Spa.)
My uncle owns the Stoughton commuter rail coffee stand say hi for me
"Now, that's a fun fact!" 😅
I love the "now that's a fun fact" but classy whale style instead of miles style
Finally we learn the truth: Miles lives in an old train in Stoughton when he's not out sleeping on greyhound buses
This comment was brought you by Manta
I live near Canton Junction and grew up in Canton. I actually saw that portion of the Northeast Corridor get electrified as well as the construction of that walk over Bridge. We actually had to cross the tracks. Some people that weren't comfortable crossing the tracks would actually walk up to the Spalding Street Bridge which was closed to traffic at the time but you could still walk through it.
nah my youtube recommendations getting wayyyy too local 😭
2:08 Miles should sue you for copyright infringement…lol
On a serious note, I’ve never heard of a grade crossing without gates. Is that even legal?
Who built that station that they had to try 4 times? The Three Little Pigs?
Mini Bollards 😂🤣😂🥹
Hope to see both of you ride Caltrain with me. Content creators unite!
Is there any reason for not having high level platform along all stations on the branch?
I.E. is the branch used by any other trains, like some museum trains or whatnot?
Ah yes, the classic New England Station stop in the middle of an unprotected crossing...I'm looking at you Dover, NH.
To clarify, the train usually stops right before the street, which confuses the crossing timer and then the gates go up just as it departs.
The Stoughton station looks a lot like a Richardson building.
I know some people who live in stoughton and use that train, so cool!
they should reextend the stoughton line to somewhere.
Eventually this is supposed to be the final alignment of South Coast trains. But this route has numerous construction and environmental challenges. That’s why South Coast service will run initially via Middleboro.
This seems like one of those branch lines that would be well suited for a DMU, instead of having a huge diesel engine pull a bunch of heavy bi level cars.
I really doubt phase II or the full south coast rail project will ever happen. The government and homeowners of Easton, Raynham, and Tauton have been doing everything since the 90s to ensure that right of way never gets rebuilt. Besides that the MBTA does not have the money to take on the challenges of this line either.
It’s because of the electrification and the long viaduct through Hockomock swamp that are now stupidly required by the army corps for the line to get built that it won’t happen. The morons in those towns can squeal all they want, it won’t make a difference, just like it didn’t for the anti Greenbush people. It’s the army corps fault.
Waltham Station has a very similar track layout and it's very confusing which side of the railroad crossing you should wait at, especially first-timers
@@zhangyangzexuaneliot7590 I've been through there and it's so weird
Hello from Canton, Ohio. No commuter trains here, I’m afraid. (Used to be, though.)
Brilliant video sir, love Ya wifes cameo in it lol
Damn Guangzhou has a large subway system lol
That special K Fun Fact could only be improved by using Kalkidan's exit Stage Left as a scene wipe \m/
it isn't because of the equater thatcanton china is opposite gater boston but the international date line the runs down the middle of the pacific ocean.
Hey Miles, the Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore would like a word
Yay Miles!
Calabe is cooking😊
Wow
TIL Miles was into Tuba
up in a few MONTHS!?
Still more track than 90% of the rest of the country (freight rail doesn't count)
Shame, but I would happily ride this if there was a train near me that can easily take me to school and back.
Framingham Secondary is the same length if not shorter
Who's the girl that says NOW THAT'S A FUN FACT?
My wife Kalkidan :)
I would really like to see MBTA Commuter Rail follow in the footsteps of their northern friends at Toronto's Government of Ontario Transit and Australian friends in Perth and Brisbane and engage in a massive electrification and frequency increase across commuter rail with a new CrossRiverRail-style North South Rail Link featuring platform screen doors, high platforms with level boarding, and electric EMUs.
That massive waste of tax money is never gonna happen, we don’t live in railfan dreamland
@@mbrproductions160 It wouldn't be a waste of taxpayer money. Look at the history of Perth suburban rail or the GO Expansion full business case.
@ the GO Expansion hasn’t even happened yet, so you can’t use it as an example, and Perth is in Australia, where cities are built differently from the US.
@@mbrproductions160 Are Australian cities really built that different? Perth is sprawling (and still sprawling) with mostly low-density housing outside the CBD. Heck, the most recent railway lines (Joondallup, Mandurrah, and Ellenbrook) use freeway alignments at least partly.
GO Expansion is in detailed design and development, but billions of dollars has already been committed by both liberal and conservative governments.
Fun fact about Stoughton, there is an IKEA, one of two in New England, there, though it’s not near the station at all
One Line Wonders entry ahh video 🔥🔥🔥
Edit: guys i think Classy Whale’s channel is gonna be Miles-ified
1:10 you would never see that in Australia
they s
whoops my keyboard died
great video!
very curious to know the GE stop is only open weekdays!
Exposed??? .... anyway, If you want to explore interesting branches... try the red line, Mattapan to Ashmont branch. It's almost 3 miles long. It runs the old restored 1940's cars (painted original orange) Its the only transit system that runs through the middle of a cremetery. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattapan_Line