The MBTA has begun running test trains from Boston to Fall River and New Bedford on the new South Coast Rail Line. This exciting development will have a big impact on a part of Massachusetts that has not prospered since the cotton mills moved south.

South Coast Rail Phase 1 Map

The Impact of South Coast Rail

Fall River and New Bedford have long remained the only major cities within 50 miles of Boston that lacked commuter rail service to the capital of Massachusetts. I anticipate that restoring rail service will have a number of impacts on this part of the state.

1. It will open up the South Coast to residents who have been priced out of Boston’s stratospheric real estate market. That will increase property values in local communities. You may see this as either good or bad depending on whether you are buying or selling.
2. South Coast Rail will connect workers to jobs and drive economic development in the area.
3. It will make day trips to Boston easier for folks who want to go to a Red Sox game, visit a museum, walk the Freedom Trail, explore the State House or otherwise spend a day in the city.
4. On the other hand, people from the city can visit Battleship Cove, ride the carousel, check out the Lizzie Borden House, take a walking tour, or order a chow mein sandwich easily.

The Unknown South Coast

Perhaps more important, South Coast Rail will introduce Boston to a part of the state many of them don’t know exists. I can imagine that part of a state map being blurred out. Back in February, I attended a tour-guide training day that went down to a cranberry bog and event space in Berkley. The other guides on the bus did not know where Berkley was. They also asked about that large body of water in the distance. So, I briefed them on the Taunton River.

I think it’s fair to say that most Bostonians have never been south of Brockton unless it’s to visit Cape Cod—and even then they take Route 3 through Plymouth County to the canal.

Taking the Train Back in Time

For me, however, the return of trains to Fall River has an added dimension. Back when Fall River’s train station was located on Ferry Street, my grandfather, Arthur Boucher, operated a sandwich and ice cream place nearby. It was called Dairyland. From what I understand of its location, the photographer who took the photo below might have been standing right outside.

Old postcard of Fall River train station

I have no pictures of Dairyland, unfortunately, but I heard all about it. My Dad, Hervey Boucher, worked there as a teen and a young man. He told us stories of being a short-order cook and taught me how to make a professional fried egg.

The Hobo Code

Dad also talked about the Great Depression and how homeless men, then called hobos, would come to the restaurant’s back door, hoping to get something to eat. Some may well have arrived by jumping on the trains. Getting off in Fall River, they would have seen Dairyland right next to the station—a magnet for hungry men.

My grandfather and my father did not turn them away. Dad often told us how they made milk shakes with ice cream for the men who showed up at their door.

Dairyland may well have been marked with the Hobo Code, a system of symbols and signs that communicated important information to the men who “rode the rails.” The code could signal a safe place to sleep, warn about a dangerous resident or vicious dog, or point the way to food for work.

That would mean Dairyland was marked as a place where you could get something to eat. Dad thought that their milkshakes might have kept some of those men alive. He felt good about that.

After the Trains Stopped Coming

Then the trains stopped coming and the train station was torn down. Fall River, and the surrounding communities like Somerset, where I grew up, fell into an economic slump. The cotton mills moved south, the huge brick buildings got small tenants or became derelict, and opportunities went elsewhere.

The men in the State House didn’t seem to see the South Coast, either, because for many years they didn’t offer much in the way of economic assistance.

Now, finally, Boston is reaching out to the South Coast. Of course, the South Coast Rail line began with Gov. Bill Weld’s promise in 1991 and five other governors have had their hand in it. No one could call the project a slam dunk.

Researching Fall River

The Old Colony Railroad Bridge in its heyday

I plan to do some research in Fall River one day this summer. While I’m at the Fall River Historical Society, I hope to find at least one photo of Dairyland. But I’m not going to wait until the South Coast Rail line is actually running. That should happen this summer, although it was supposed to happen last year.

NOTE: The South Coast used to be served by the Old Colony Rail Line. Those tracks came into Boston’s South Station on the largest drawbridge to span the Fort Point Channel. A piece of that bridge was preserved in Rolling Bridge Park.