File:History of the West End street railway, in which is included sketches of the early street railway of Boston- consolidation of the various lines- foreign street railways- the Berlin viaduct- anecdotes, (14780788773).jpg

Identifier: historyofwestend00hage (find matches)
Title: History of the West End street railway, in which is included sketches of the early street railway of Boston- consolidation of the various lines- foreign street railways- the Berlin viaduct- anecdotes, etc., together with speeches by President Henry M. Whitney, and others. Also, expert testimony as to the safety of electric currents..
Year: 1892 (1890s)
Authors: Hager, Louis P
Subjects: West End Street Railway Company Street-railroads
Publisher: Boston, Ed. and pub. by L. P. Hager
Contributing Library: Northeastern University, Snell Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Northeastern University, Snell Library

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r travellingin any direction east and west and to any part of Europe, thus notonly giving the citizens of Berlin easy, cheap and rapid transit, butforming a direct line of communication between the great railroadsof the German empire. If Boston had such a road, the people who live in its northernsuburbs or in northern New England would come from their respec-tive homes to one central station on the north side of Boston andtravel over this viaduct road, which would have three or four sta-tions in the city and near the business streets, and would connect ata central station on the south side with the southerly roads, andcould go to any southern or western suburb or farther south orwest, thus avoiding the necessity of buying tickets two or threetimes, of changing baggage or of travelling across the town. The German empire built the road I have described. I ammuch afraid no private corporation could afford to build such a roadhere. But if built, no matter by whom, nobody will deny that it
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VIEW OF THE BABCOCK & WILCOX CO. BOILERS IN THE EAST CAMBRIDGE POWER STATION OF THE WEST END. See page 83. WEST END STREET RAILWAY. 139 would be of inestimable advantage to the people of Boston and itssuburbs, and would solve a great part of the rapid transit ques-tion with which we have to deal. The elevated viaduct of Berlin, to which the commissioner refers,is unquestionably the greatest railway in the world, but a briefdescription of it will serve to show the impracticability of such asystem for Boston. For a large portion of its length the stadtbahnof Berlin is constructed of brick, and as it is nearly all double-tracked, such a structure would simply mean the arching over ofthe streets of Boston with masonry and shutting out the light ofday from all who chanced to live below it. Objection has beenmade to an elevated road, for the reason that it would have a tend-ency to darken stores and dwellings, necessitating extra expensefor lighting, besides rendering them unhealthy for

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