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Charlestown Navy Yard Rail Area Restoration

Two preservation corps members wearing hard hats and gloves. They are kneeling next to a set of trolley rails, and placing bricks between the rails to be mortared later.
Crew members laying brick between the rails. May 2024.

Student Conservation Association photo, R. Davis.

The rail tracks of the Charlestown Navy Yard are important to its history, being vital for the manufacture of ships and other aspects of running the yard. The Student Conservation Association's Massachusetts Historic Preservation Corps revitalized the area around the rails by Dry Dock 1, making the area more accessible to visitors. The project took place from April to May 2024.

A black and white image of two parallel sets of train track receding into the background. The track on the right crosses over to the one on the left.
The rails as they stood in 1936, in the same area that the Historic Preservation Corps revitalized. August 25, 1936.

Boston National Historical Park, BOSTS-15683-640.

Site History

First built around 1863, the Navy Yard rail system proved effective and was later expanded in the early 1900s. Navy Yard workers used the rail system for different aspects of the Navy Yard's operation, including moving coal and other materials as well as repositioning cranes around the dry docks.[1] Today, only a few of the tracks remain, none of which are in operation. The Historic Preservation Corps focused on revitalizing the rails in front of the USS Constitution Museum and Dry Dock 1.

To learn more, please visit: Charlestown Navy Yard Railroad Tracks.

A trolley track diverts into two separate tracks. The ground inside and around the tracks is paved with gravel, much of which is spilling out onto the paved brick and asphalt outside the tracks. A trolley track diverts into two separate tracks. The ground inside and around the tracks is paved with gravel, much of which is spilling out onto the paved brick and asphalt outside the tracks.

Top image
The rail area BEFORE the bricks were laid
Credit: Student Conservation Association photo, R. Davis

Bottom image
The rail area AFTER the bricks were laid
Credit: Student Conservation Association photo, R. Davis

Project Overview

The area in and around the rail tracks in the Navy Yard—located in front of the USS Constitution Museum—was paved with loose gravel. The gravel posed issues; aside from looking messy, the gravel posed difficulties to people in wheelchairs, walkers, and other movement assisting devices trying move around the rails.

Six crew members with shovels, wearing hard hats, standing in an area of ground with gravel and trolley rails. They are shoveling the gravel out and putting it into two nearby wheelbarrows.
Crew members shoveling away the old gravel to make room for the bricks. April 2024.

Student Conservation Association photo, R. Davis

A thin strip of brick laid between two close areas of trolley track. Some bricks are partially leaning on the ground outside the track with lines, some of which have lines drawn to denote where to cut them to fit.
Bricks being measured to later be cut. May 2024.

Student Conservation Association photo, T. Sprankle

Tasked with improving visitor experience and revitalizing this rail area, the Historic Preservation Corps crew began the project by digging up and removing the gravel. Once cleared, the crew paved the rail area with brick.

Aside from looking nicer, this surface is also much smoother, making the area more accessible for the public to traverse.

Contributed by: Greg Bsales, SCA Historic Preservation Corps Crew Member

Footnote

[1] Scott Jacobs and Alane Guitian, Historic Structure Report Architectural Data Section: The Railroad Tracks, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston National Historical Park, Charlestown, Massachusetts (Denver, CO: Denver Service Center, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior), 6-8.

Tags

Boston National Historical Park

Last updated: September 5, 2024