Watertown Yard
| Company type | Facility |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public transportation maintenance |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Headquarters | Watertown, Massachusetts , United States |
| Products | Bus and trolleybus maintenance services |
Watertown Carhouse is a facility dedicated to bus maintenance and was originally constructed as a streetcar carhouse located in southern Watertown, Massachusetts, positioned just across the Charles River from Watertown Square. Known also as Watertown Yard, it operates as a bus depot serving both local and express routes, with additional transfer options available at Watertown Square station situated across the Watertown Bridge. The yard's parking area is utilized for commuter vehicle parking.
History
Streetcar service was extended southward from Watertown Square to in 1900, establishing a transfer point between the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) and suburban transit providers. The Watertown Line came into existence in 1912 by prolonging this route to a newly developed transfer station, along with a yard and maintenance facility at Watertown Yard.
Serving as the endpoint for the Green Line A branch, Watertown Yard housed heavy maintenance shops that managed most trolley repairs by the 1950s. With the inauguration of the D branch in 1959, Riverside shops supplemented the maintenance activities previously handled by Watertown and Reservoir carhouses. Due to shortages in rolling stock and congestion problems at Newton Corner rotary, the A branch ceased operations in 1969 and was replaced by bus route 57. Despite this change, Watertown Carhouse continued its operations.
The Bennett Street Carhouse near Harvard Square was closed during the 1970s to make way for Harvard Kennedy School construction. On February 22, 1974, the MBTA repurposed Watertown Carhouse into a facility for maintaining trolleybuses and streetcars to substitute Bennett's role. Between June and December 1984, during reconstruction of Watertown Square, route 71 trolleybuses and short-turn trips of route 70 were extended to reach Watertown Yard.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the line remained operational primarily for maintenance transfers. After new Boeing LRV models experienced failures in the late 1970s, the MBTA refurbished 15 out-of-service PCC streetcars at Watertown Carhouse; ten of these vehicles continue to run on the Mattapan Line. The carhouse teams also undertook rebuilding trolleybuses servicing Harvard routes, converted PCC cars into utility vehicles, and reclaimed trucks from early Blue Line trains for new work cars. Maintenance of LRVs and modern Type 7 cars was conducted here using specially modified equipment.
Following track removals in 1994, Watertown largely functioned as a scrapyard for Green Line vehicles. Several damaged cars remained on site until their dismantling in 2012. As of 2021, tracks are still present within both the yard and carhouse.
Today, Watertown Carhouse serves as a midday bus layover location, crew base, and light maintenance facility. Up until January 2006, it was used for servicing and testing new dual-mode buses and trolleybuses intended for Silver Line Phase 2 BRT operations under route 71 wires.
Passenger boarding occurred at the yard’s northwest corner near Nonantum Road until 2024. On March 11, 2024, stops were relocated due to nearby development projects; terminating buses were moved to Galen Street while departing buses temporarily used Water Street with plans to shift operations to Technology Way. The city intends to extend route 71 service to Watertown Yard and designate it as the termination point for route 59 as part of changes related to the Watertown Square redesign.