page_title: North Quincy station
section_title: Old Colony Railroad
hierarchical_section_title: North Quincy station / History / Old Colony Railroad
caption_attribution_description: English: 1912 postcard of Norfolk Downs station
context_page_description: North Quincy is an MBTA subway station in Quincy, Massachusetts. It serves the Red Line. It is located in North Quincy, off Hancock Street. A major park-and-ride stop, it has over 1200 parking spaces for commuters. It also serves as a minor bus terminal, with five MBTA bus routes stopping at the south end of the station. The station is fully handicapped accessible.
  It opened in 1971 along with Wollaston and Quincy Center as the first section of the South Shore Line section of the Red Line. It is the only one of the four Red Line stations in Quincy not located at a former Old Colony Railroad station site; the Old Colony served Atlantic and Norfolk Downs stations short distances away.
context_section_description: The Old Colony Railroad opened through Quincy in November 1845. Several local stations were added in Quincy, including Atlantic at Atlantic Avenue (now Sagamore Street). In 1848, the Old Colony built its Gravel Branch from Atlantic to Montclair, but abandoned it the next year. In 1871 it was rebuilt, extended, and connected to the Granite Railway as the Granite Branch. Norfolk Downs station at Billings Road was added in the 1890s when the surrounding marshland was filled and developed.
  The Old Colony switched from English-style left-hand running to American-style right-hand running in 1893 when it was acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Unlike nearby Wollaston, Atlantic station was already on the east side of the tracks and was not moved.
  Passenger service on the Granite Branch ended in 1940. Ridership on the Old Colony system declined further after World War II, and the New Haven decided to abandon the line in the late 1950s. Emergency subsidies kept the lines open during construction of the Southeast Expressway, but all passenger service to Atlantic, Norfolk Downs and the rest of the former Old Colony system was ended on June 30, 1959.
caption: Norfolk Downs station on a 1912 postcard
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