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The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving suburbs north and south of Boston, Massachusetts. It was acquired by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which still runs some of its routes, in 1968.

Old Colony Street Railway Co.
Incorporated 1901 as merger of the following four companies listed. The companies themselves having acquired smaller street railways.

1) BROCKTON STREET RAILWAY COMPANY Incorporated 1881, merged 1901 into Old Colony Street Railway Co. The following companies were sold or merged into Brockton St. Ry. Co:


 * Boston Milton & Brockton Street Railway - sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Brockton Bridgewater & Taunton Street Railway - incorporated 1896, sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Brockton & East Bridgewater Street Railway - incorporated 1897, sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Brockton & Holbrook Street Railway - sold 1894 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Brockton & Stoughton Street Railway - sold 1895 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * East Side Street Railway - sold 1894 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * New Bedford Middleborough & Brockton Street Railway Co. - sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Quincy & Boston Street Railway - incorporated 1889, sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Quincy Street Railway - incorporated 1888, leased 1889 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway, sold 1895 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway
 * Braintree Street Railway - incorporated 1893, leased 1895 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway, sold 1899 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway
 * Randolph Street Railway - sold 1897 to Braintree Street Railway.
 * Taunton & Brockton Street Railway - incorporated 1896, sold 1900 to Brockton Street Railway Co.
 * Whitman Railway - sold 1894 to Brockton Street Railway Co.

2) SOUTH SHORE & BOSTON STREET RAILWAY

Incorporated 1899, merged 1901 into Old Colony Street Railway Co.


 * Braintree & Weymouth Street Railway - incorporated 1891, merged 1899 into South Shore & Boston Street Railway.
 * Bridgewater Whitman & Rockland Street Railway - incorporated 1897, merged 1899 into South Shore & Boston Street Railway.
 * Hanover Street Railway - incorporated 1894, merged 1899 into South Shore & Boston Street Railway.
 * Hingham Street Railway - incorporated 1895, merged 1899 into South Shore & Boston Street Railway.
 * Hull Street Railway - incorporated 1887, sold 1898 to Hingham Street Railway.
 * Nantasket Electric Street Railway - sold 1898 to Hingham Street Railway.
 * Rockland & Abington Street Railway - incorporated 1892, merged 1899 into South Shore & Boston Street Railway.

., South Shore & Boston Street Railway, West Roxbury & Roslindale Street Railway, and Globe Street Railway Co. Also acquired the following street railway companies.


 * Newport & Fall River Street Railway Co. incorporated 1898, leased 1901 to Old Colony Street Railway Co.


 * Taunton & Pawtucket Street Railway incorporated 1904, sold to Old Colony Street Railway Co.


 * Bristol County Street Railway Co. incorporated 1899, sold 1904 to Taunton & Pawtucket Street Railway.

Old Colony St. Ry. later to be the southern part of the Bay State St. Ry. which became the Eastern Mass. Bay State Street Railway carried freight only on the former Old Colony Street Railway lines, south of Boston. The former Boston & Northern lines did not have freight service. After the Bay State was reorganized as the Eastern Massachusetts St. Ry., one of the first things the management did was to discontinue freight service.

Bay State Street Railway Company
The precursor to Eastern Mass was the Bay State Street Railway Company (Bay State). On March 31, 1916 the carmen of the Woburn division were ordered by their union to strike --- When the Massachusetts Electric Companies began its massive consolidation of streetcar lines, the ones south of Boston (one is West Roxbury & Roslindale Street Ry. Norfolk and Bristol Street Railway Company?? The Medway and Dedham Street Railway Company??) were merged into the Brockton Street Railway, which later became the Old Colony St Rwy. That was finally merged with its northside counterpart, the Boston & Northern, in 1911 to create the Bay State St Rwy. --- Bay State Street Railway Co. which became Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Co. in 1919, met the BERy men at the same location as where the Dedham Line bus terminates today (originally at Wash/Grove). An issue arose between the EM and BERy regarding use of the EM's Birney one-man operated "Safety Cars" in which BERy refused to operate them. After a stand-off, EM initiated bus service on their own in 1932, a tradition that remains today, courtesy of the MBTA.

The Bay State had 16 divisions:

NORTH

 * Chelsea (214 Broadway)
 * Gloucester (100 Main Street)
 * Haverhill (3 Water Street)
 * Salem (237 Essex Street)
 * Lawrence (586 Essex Street)
 * Lowell (5 Merrimack Square)
 * Lynn (333 Union Street)
 * Nashua (150 Main Street)
 * Wakefield (Reading Square)
 * Woburn (North Warren Street, Woburn Center)
 * SOUTH
 * Brockton (87 Main Street)
 * Fall River (794 North Main Street)
 * Hyde Park (435 Hyde Park Avenue)
 * Newport (Vernon Avenue)
 * Quincy (Hancock Street)
 * Taunton (20 Winthrop Street)

BERy connection points
The Eastern Mass connected to the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) system at many points; through service continued along BERy trackage at some.
 * Neponset
 * Milton Lower Mills
 * Mattapan
 * Forest Hills - the Hyde Park division was leased to the BERy ca. 1930, unifying routes across Forest Hills but creating other connection points.
 * Arlington Heights
 * West Medford
 * Middlesex Fells
 * Malden Center
 * Charlestown
 * Chelsea (the Chelsea division was sold to the BERy in 1936, unifying routes across Charlestown and Chelsea but creating other connection points)
 * Suffolk Downs
 * Fields Corner

Preserved cars
Former Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway car 4387, built in 1918 by the Laconia Car Company, is preserved in operating condition at the Seashore Trolley Museum, in Kennebunkport, Maine.