Oak Grove: The End of the Haymarket North Extension?

The next and last stop on the northern Orange Line is Oak Grove, which happens to be my home station! So, let's get into detail about all that Oak Grove has to offer!

This station opened over a year after the rest of the extension was already built. So, what took so long? According to the 1976 MBTA Annual Report, the station itself was complete in the fall of 1976, but the opening was delayed until the spring of 1977 "pending completion of a study of the impact the station will have on land use and traffic in the area" (pg. 13). Oak Grove officially opened on March 19, 1977.

The design of Oak Grove is kind of different than some of the HNE stations. But, it may not be as different as other MBTA stations built around that time. According to the 1973 MBTA Annual Report, "a contract was awarded for architectural and engineering services to adapt the award-winning North Quincy station design to the Oak Grove Station-Winter Street Bridge Complex on the Haymarket North Extension" (pg. 22). Way to be original, MBTA! I always thought these stations kind of looked alike based on the architecture, but this quote confirms that they sort of copied North Quincy to make Oak Grove. Alright, but at least Oak Grove's a little different though. Oak Grove has a second platform, its entrances are in different places, and still looks original whereas North Quincy has been renovated, so one can't tell the similarities as much anymore.


North Quincy before opening and renovations, 1970.
Source: https://archive.org/stream/annualreportmas1970mass_1#page/n13/mode/2up

Oak Grove station today. Notice any similarities to North Quincy?



Oak Grove is located in northern Malden and is right on the line with Melrose. It is located in a quiet, sort of suburban neighborhood (compared to Boston and the rest of the OL stops), and often times this station is dead outside of rush hour. This is one of the lesser used stations on the northern Orange Line, getting in around 6000 people daily, compared to Malden and Sullivan, which is twice that number.

When the Haymarket North Extension stations were constructed, the T wanted all of them to have parking lots and drop-off/pick-up areas to encourage increased use of rapid transit. They opted for lots instead of garages to save money. North Station and Community College (and later Assembly) were the only stations on the HNE to not have a MBTA owned parking lot or drop-off/pick-up area. MBTA-owned parking for the Orange Line can be found at Forest Hills (small lot, only station on the southern Orange Line to have parking), Sullivan (small lot), Wellington (medium size), Malden Center (small lot), and Oak Grove. This station has a large parking lot that gets full by 7am during the week but has plenty of spaces on weekends. It is clear Oak Grove is primarily a park and ride station, with all those parking spaces, two drop off/pick up areas, and only 4 bus routes serving the station, with all of them continuing on to Malden, using Oak Grove as a supplementary stop. The other primarily park and ride oriented station on the Orange Line is Wellington, with its own parking lot and the Station Landing (privately owned) garage to serve riders.

There are two entrances to Oak Grove's one fare lobby: one from the parking lot and a smaller one off of Washington Street, with escalators (up only) going to the fare lobby. This station has a lot more windows and in the open than most HNE stations. The elevators, which were actually the first elevators ever installed on the T when Oak Grove first opened, serve the parking lot to the lobby (with a locked rear door exiting to the second platform) and the lobby to the platform. They are starting to show their age and need to be rehabbed. The ADA compliance already present since Oak Grove opened is probably the main reason Oak Grove still looks completely original compared to its HNE and North Quincy counterparts, which didn't have elevators when they first opened and were remodeled somewhat when the elevators were put in.

Oak Grove has two platforms, the main one and the secondary side platform. The Haverhill Line passes through the second platform but does not stop. The last recorded use of the second platform being used was during the 2004 DNC when North Station was closed and Haverhill Line service terminated at Oak Grove and passengers switched here for continuing Orange Line service to Boston. I am not sure Oak Grove was considered Zone 1A or Zone 1 for the commuter rail when it was used, but the zone boundary is very close to here. The platform is now chained off, but one can go up to the fence dividing it from the parking lot.

A route map at Mass. Ave saying that the Commuter Rail still stops at Oak Grove and not Malden Center. Guys, the commuter rail stopped coming here a long time ago...

View down the unused second platform.

The second platform looks somewhat similar to the main platform.

Gated off escalator to the second platform.



Entrance to top of gated off escalator.

Bottom of gated off escalator to second track.

Oak Grove's route maps really need to be updated, especially since Assembly now exists, and it's on the way to Boston. On the second platform, this route map hasn't been updated since 2000.


State/Aquarium? I believe Aquarium's been long reopened by now.

Overall, Oak Grove is a pretty good station, except for the restroom, which is not so great. It's gross like every other MBTA bathroom, which is to be expected, but I've seen worse when it comes to MBTA bathrooms (like Alewife). It is a single stall handicapped bathroom, with the usual toilet paper being chained to the railing and a space heater in the wall. This bathroom was installed in 2014 (Oak Grove originally didn't even have a bathroom, they made space for one), and it did not take long for it to become gross.

However, is Oak Grove really the end of the line? According to these pictures, it's not, as the Orange Line supposedly keeps going after Oak Grove...

The current track 2 says Inbound/Outbound, as this was supposed to be the bidirectional express track.

Map of the Oak Grove area. Notice the Orange Line is drawn showing it continuing to go north into Melrose.

This sign now says "Do Not Enter", but for the longest time it said "Orange Line Outbound" because the second platform was to serve the third track going north to Reading.
Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oak_Grove_outbound_platform_entrance.JPG
User: Pi. 1415926535

Truth is, Oak Grove is the real end of the Orange Line, for now. Those signs are there for the one day it may get extended to Reading, but it seems like that extension idea has been sort of forgotten and there are other more important extension projects/proposals on the T's list right now, such as the Green Line extension and the Red-Blue Connector. Oak Grove is a good place to end the Orange Line, and the Haymarket North Extension.

Reading, maybe someday...

Update (2019): Oak Grove's parking rate is $9 Monday-Friday and $3 on weekends. Also, Oak Grove is getting some upgrades in the near future. The upgrades include new elevators (an increase from 1 to 2 from platform to lobby, one new one from lobby to Washington St. and new busway/parking lot elevator in addition to the existing one on the commuter rail platform), new signs, and overall maintenance upgrades to the place. The full details on the project can be found here: https://mbta.com/projects/oak-grove-station-accessibility-improvements. Updates of Oak Grove's upgrades before, during, and after the upgrades have been completed will be posted on this site, so stay tuned!