The recent thunderclap of news re: the possible premature end of the Green Line extension through Somerville (or at least its serious curtailment) got us to thinking about other grand T plans that never materialized. For instance, the original plans for the Blue Line had it extending beyond Wonderland all the way to Lynn. See the above 1945 map for that and other, um, blue-sky thinking.
Some of that thinking also included plans for the Orange Line to go to Dedham on one end and out to Reading on the other. This and the Lynn idea were always tentative at best and interest soon waned. The scheme to extend the Red Line to Arlington and even Lexington, however, got as far in the 1980s as discussions of massive federal funds for the project. Tip O'Neill of Cambridge, after all, was U.S. House speaker. Opposition from Arlington residents doomed the whole affair, though the tunnels into that town remain and are sometimes used for train storage.
· No Green Line Extension?! A Lot of People Are Worried [Curbed Boston]
· That Time the Blue Line Was Supposed to Go to Lynn [Curbed Boston]
· Anyone Feel Like Extending the Orange Line to Dedham? [Curbed Boston]
· The Red Line Stops in Arlington and Lexington [Curbed Boston]
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