Talk:Ball Square station

Early history

From off-wiki communication:

• In the November 1852 Pathfinder... but Willow Bridge has been renamed Cambridge Road
• The January 1855 Pathfinder shows ... the Cambridge Road station name has been changed back to Willow Bridge

I've added what details I can verify from online sources I've found. Hopefully we'll eventually be able to add citations from more documents as they're digitized. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 20:03, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Ball Square station/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Mike Christie (talk · contribs) 14:56, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

I'll review this. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 14:56, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

Images are appropriately tagged. Earwig finds no issues. Flickr is not typically a reliable source but it this is the official account of GLX so it's fine.

• "The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened Willow Bridge station at Central Street by 1850": the body of the article gives the address as Cambridge Road/Broadway.
  • Error corrected.
• Since Willow Bridge and its later names are bolded I assume this station is considered a lineal predecessor for Ball Square. If "Central Street" is not an error it seems to have been quite a bit south of Ball Square, but the lead says "A Ball Square station near the former station site...".
  • Central Street was indeed an error - Willow Bridge/North Somerville was located within a few yards of the modern station
• Can we add the planned opening date to the lead?
  • Should already be there - last sentence of the first paragraph.
• "In December 2015, the MBTA ended its contracts with four firms. Construction work in progress would continue, but no new contracts would be awarded": suggest "In December 2015, the MBTA ended its contracts with four firms; construction work in progress continued, but the MBTA paused the award of new contracts" to avoid the use of the subjunctive in the past.
  • Reworded.

That's everything I can find in the prose; this is cleanly written. Spotchecks:

• FN 32 cites "The 1962 North Terminal Area Study recommended that the elevated Lechmere–North Station segment be abandoned. The Main Line (now the Orange Line) was to be relocated along the B&M Western Route; it would have a branch following the Southern Division, splitting at Somerville Junction to reach Arlington and Woburn." As I'm unfamiliar with the geography I'm having a hard time seeing exactly which bits in the source support this; can you connect the dots for me?
  • The first sentence is discussed more explicitly on page iv, which I've added to the citation, and I've corrected the wording. The map on page 51 shows the relocation along the Western Route (which the source calls the Reading Branch for reasons too lengthy to discuss here), and the two western branch possibilities over the Southern Division (New Hampshire Division). The exact routings are discussed starting at the bottom of page 59.
• FN 55 cites "Design was then paused while Phase 2/2A stations (Lechmere, Union Square, and East Somerville) were prioritized, as they were scheduled to open sooner than the rest of the GLX. Design resumed in fall 2014 and reached 90% by June 2015". The first part of this seems to be sourced to slide 6, but that lists "(Lechmere, Washington Street, Union Square)" as the three stations; are the two stations the same? And not a verification issue, but you could say May instead of June as the document is dated 5/14/15.
  • Correct - Washington Street was the old name for East Somerville. Date is corrected.
• FN 45 cites "An alternative with a tunnel from Ball Square to Alewife via Powderhouse Square and Clarendon Hill was analyzed later in 2008. It was found to be technically feasible but not cost-effective." Verified.

-- Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 16:27, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

@Mike Christie: Thanks for the review! My replies are above. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 03:33, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

Replies and fixes look good; passing. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 12:56, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

The Ball Square station is actually located in Medford , MA

The Ball Square station is located in Medford, MA not Somerville. Please update the location information 108.20.195.85 (talk) 13:05, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

This is already discussed in the article: while the majority of the station is in Medford, the entrances themselves are in Somerville. See page 25 of this PDF. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 19:16, 14 December 2022 (UTC)