"Entering Hingham," with track. Photo by Doug Scott

Greenbush Construction Inspection Tour
September 2006

We reached Kingston just as a northbound local, the return from our southbound trip, was approaching. This writer then spoke briefly on the station layout, where the ex-Duxbury & Cohasset turned east behind the station and continued north through Duxbury and Marshfield to Greenbush.

After reaboarding our bus at Kingston, we headed north to Greenbush, when we met our tour guides. After a safety briefing, we looked over the rebuilt Greenbush yard from the completely rebuilt road bridge. Last year, there was only dirt in sight; now a six-track holding yard and a new station fill the area. (The station and yard are reversed from New Haven days; the station and parking lot are now on the east side, with the yard to the west.)

North of Greenbush, we first stopped at Egypt, a tiny crossing we skipped in 2005, to look over the track construction on the Greenbush line. Here we met a Patriot Ledger correspondent, who interviewed trip leader Vic Campbell; her story showed up in the paper October 2, giving both Vic and Mass Bay RRE some good 'press'. We continued to North Scituate, where amid the construction there was just time for a quick photo stop at the station before going on to Cohasset.

Cohasset ... was the end of the 1849 South Shore Railroad from Braintree for about 25 years, until the Duxbury & Cohasset opened. The original turntable pit was unearthed during construction, photographed and documented, and then reburied under a parking lot. The ex-New Haven station will not be a Greenbush stop; riders will have to board trains some distance away, outside the downtown district. ...

On the way north to Hingham, we made a roll-by inspection from the bus of the Nantasket Junction station site, where the former New Haven electrified branch to Hull and Pemberton once met the main line. From the front window of our moving bus, Callboy photographer Doug Scott was able to snap a picture of the new Greenbush track passing the road sign, "entering Hingham", completely in defiance of so many years of outraged local opposition.