Abandoned rail stations
Sean The Great
curiosity-seekers who is always trying to "search" for old commuter rail
stations, etc. A lot of times, it seems like nothing is there which would
denote a rail stop of years past; i.e. Beaver Brook in Waltham, etc.
My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter rail
stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for old-time rail
stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a haystack; 3.)
if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts, how much
would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
I know it's a lot to digest, but just wanted some feedback from the
newsgroup...
-Sean
RTSPCC
>My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter
>rail
>stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station
>at
>one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for old-time
>rail
>stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a haystack;
In some places the only sign is a little patch of asphalt or some stone curbing
for the platform edge. At other places, the only sign is a large clear area.
The railroads sold off a lot of station land (why pay taxes on something you
don't need any more?) before the MBTA bought the lines in the 1970s.. There are
some station buildings that survive that are in private use (like the sports
bar at the old Allston station).
>3.)
>if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts, how
>much
>would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
A whole lot (high platforms or even just mini-highs, , new pamps, parking,
drainage, lights, signage, etc all add up).
Ron Newman
sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
> When riding the rails of Boston on commuter rail, I'm one of those
> curiosity-seekers who is always trying to "search" for old commuter rail
> stations, etc. A lot of times, it seems like nothing is there which would
> denote a rail stop of years past; i.e. Beaver Brook in Waltham, etc.
>
> My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter rail
> stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
> one point in the past;
Yes. You can still see the abandoned asphalt platforms of the former
Riverside station on the Framingham commuter rail line, near Route 128.
Also, there's a fenced off stairway from Webster Avenue in Somerville
to what was once the Union Square station on the Fitchburg line.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/
Sean The Great
>Also, there's a fenced off stairway from Webster Avenue in Somerville
>to what was once the Union Square station on the Fitchburg line.
Was this ever an actual stop when trains ran all the way into Boston, or did
this only operate during the time the trestle at North Station was being
rebuilt after the fire?
-Sean
Sean The Great
>don't need any more?) before the MBTA bought the lines in the 1970s..
So, a lot of the stations closed before the MBTA took over commuter rail?
I was under the impression that the T closed a good deal of the stations, not
the railroads.
-Sean
EM42
stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
one point in the past >>
On the old Saugus Branch, the building that was the Saugus Center station still
exists. It is now a glass company. Don't know of any others that may remain on
that branch.
Ron Newman
sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
> >Also, there's a fenced off stairway from Webster Avenue in Somerville
> >to what was once the Union Square station on the Fitchburg line.
>
> Was this ever an actual stop when trains ran all the way into Boston,
Yes, many decades ago. It was no longer being used by 1964.
> or did
> this only operate during the time the trestle at North Station was being
> rebuilt after the fire?
It never operated then. I don't remember where the Fitchburg trains
temporarily terminated during that time, but it wasn't at Union Square.
Ron Newman
sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
> >The railroads sold off a lot of station land (why pay taxes on something you
> >don't need any more?) before the MBTA bought the lines in the 1970s..
>
> So, a lot of the stations closed before the MBTA took over commuter rail?
Yes, especially in dense urban areas like Cambridge, Somerville,
Medford, and Dorchester that were also served by streetcars, subways, or buses.
> I was under the impression that the T closed a good deal of the stations, not
> the railroads.
The T has closed a few stations since 1964, but not that many, unless
you're counting whole abandoned lines like the Lexington-Bedford branch,
the South Sudbury branch, the West Medway branch, the Woburn branch, and
the Dedham branch. (Except for the Woburn branch, all of these had only
one daily round-trip even in 1964.)
I think the following is a complete list of stations that were open
in 1964 but aren't open today, along lines that are still running:
Lowell Line:
Winchester Highlands
Walnut Hill (in Woburn?)
Silver Lake (in Wilmington?)
East Billerica
Haverhill Line:
Wakefield Junction
Shawsheen (in Andover)
North Andover
Fitchburg Line:
Clematis Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
Beaver Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
Riverview (Waltham, west of the center)
West Acton
Franklin Line:
Mt Hope (in Roslindale)
Providence Line:
East Foxboro
Pawtucket-Central Falls
Framingham Line:
Riverside
The MBTA has also opened or reopened stations in some places that weren't
used in 1964, such as Chelsea, GE River Works, Belmont, Waverly, North
Wilmington, Mishawum, Forest Hills, Ruggles, Windsor Gardens, and West
Natick.
RTSPCC
>I think the following is a complete list of stations that were open
>in 1964 but aren't open today, along lines that are still running:
>
>Lowell Line:
> Winchester Highlands
> Walnut Hill (in Woburn?)
> Silver Lake (in Wilmington?)
> East Billerica
>
>Haverhill Line:
> Wakefield Junction
> Shawsheen (in Andover)
> North Andover
>
>Fitchburg Line:
> Clematis Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Beaver Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Riverview (Waltham, west of the center)
> West Acton
>
>Franklin Line:
> Mt Hope (in Roslindale)
>
>Providence Line:
> East Foxboro
> Pawtucket-Central Falls
>
>Framingham Line:
> Riverside
Yes I believe that is a complete list of stations closed. It should be noted
that 1964 was when the MBTA began providing subsidy money to commuter rail but
it was only in the 1970s that the MBTA actually bought the lines (1973 for Penn
Central and 1976 for the Boston & Maine). Some of the stops on on the list were
discontinued between 64 and 73, and station land could even have been sold in
that period.
RTSPCC
>In article <20010102225042...@ng-fv1.aol.com>,
>sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
>
>> >Also, there's a fenced off stairway from Webster Avenue in Somerville
>> >to what was once the Union Square station on the Fitchburg line.
>>
>> Was this ever an actual stop when trains ran all the way into Boston,
>
>Yes, many decades ago. It was no longer being used by 1964.
>
>> or did
>> this only operate during the time the trestle at North Station was being
>> rebuilt after the fire?
>
>It never operated then. I don't remember where the Fitchburg trains
>temporarily terminated during that time, but it wasn't at Union Square.
>
Trains ended at a temporary platform built near Boston Engine Terminal, with a
bus shuttle to Lechmere.
David J. P. Long
>My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter rail
>stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
>one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for old-time rail
>stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a haystack; 3.)
>if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts, how much
>would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
>
Just north of Woburn (Mishawum) on the Lowell line, I saw an *old*
sign and platform - white lettering on and orange-ish background for
"Dickson Depot". I only saw it because we were going slow through
that area (northbound - saw the 'platform' on the right (east) side of
the tracks).
+----/|-------------------------------------+-------------------+
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EM42
Wakefield Junction
Shawsheen (in Andover)
North Andover >>
Just thought of another one.
In Wakefield, at the intersection of Water and Vernon Sts. there is a building
that is easily recognizable as an old station that is now a restaurant. (I'm
not sure what the name of that branch is, I'm a bus guy!)
To take discussion of that branch a bit further, I recently talked to an old
timer at the Lynnfield Historical Society who told me that in his youth there
was a branch off that line that went to South Lynnfield, and that there was a
station in the general area of where the Holiday Inn is now located on Route
One. I wonder if there is any trace of that line left?
Ron Newman
(David J. P. Long) wrote:
> Just north of Woburn (Mishawum) on the Lowell line, I saw an *old*
> sign and platform - white lettering on and orange-ish background for
> "Dickson Depot". I only saw it because we were going slow through
> that area (northbound - saw the 'platform' on the right (east) side of
> the tracks).
Could this have been a freight depot rather than a passenger stop?
Ron Newman
(RTSPCC) wrote:
> Some of the stops on on the list were discontinued between 64 and 73
And even before they were discontinued, some of them had only one or
two trains a day stopping in each direction.
I have a B&M "Waltham-Lincoln-Concord" schedule dated June 6, 1965
that shows trains stopping at Clematis Brook only at 7:46 am and 8:02 am
(inbound) and 5:47 pm (outbound). Trains stopped at Beaver Brook
only at 7:43 am (inbound) and 5:48 pm and 6:08 pm (outbound). No trains
stopped at either station on Saturdays or Sundays.
The B&M "Winchester-Woburn-Lowell" schedule dated April 28, 1968
shows trains stopping at Winchester Highlands at 7:32 am (inbound)
and 6:09 pm and 6:44 pm (outbound), weekdays only.
What I don't understand is why the MBTA discontinued the Woburn Branch.
That had a *lot* of service in the 1968 schedule -- 20 trains each
weekday, 11 on Saturdays, 6 on Sundays.
Alexander R Svirsky
: To take discussion of that branch a bit further, I recently talked to an old
: timer at the Lynnfield Historical Society who told me that in his youth there
: was a branch off that line that went to South Lynnfield, and that there was a
: station in the general area of where the Holiday Inn is now located on Route
: One. I wonder if there is any trace of that line left?
The section of Route 128 between the Colonial and Route 1 was built on
that ROW in the late 1930s. Also, there may still be some grading in the
woods between 128 and Wakefield Center.
--
Alexander_R_Svirsky_______...@world.std.com
Alexander R Svirsky
: The Loop
: went under 128 at what is now the overpass for
: the west side of the Route 38 rotary (is that
: rotary new? Or did the rotary and the Loop
: share that underpass?) where the Middlesex
: Canal may also be seen.
The rotary is new, 1970s IIRC, built after the loop was gone. The
aesthetic differences between the two overpasses are interesting and
show their original purposes. The original Route 38 overpass is an
attractive formed concrete arch while the other overpass, originally for
the loop, is an ordinary but functional steel beam bridge.
: I understand that in Wilmington is has largely
: been sold to the abutters, and is long gone
: from the public domain.
Some of it remains as an industrial spur. I think Eames Street is still
an active crossing.
Alistair Bell
sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
commuter rail
> stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a
station at
> one point in the past;
The old location of Littleton station is still extant (or was when I
looked a year or so back) on Taylor Street next to the King Street
grade crossing. (The crossroads is a 3-way stop; traffic coming across
the grade crossing does not have to stop, but all other directions do.)
Given that the new Littleton station (when did it open?) is such a
pointless hole in the middle of nowhere without even reasonable
parking, why was it moved? The name 'Littleton/495' suggests that it
should be a park-and-ride, and yet the car park would struggle to hold
15 cars.
--
Alistair
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Rik Ahlberg
: sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
:>My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter rail
:>stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
:>one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for old-time rail
:>stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a haystack; 3.)
:>if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts, how much
:>would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
:>
There's a set of stairs and a platform in Medford behind the Tufts U.
police station. There is another a bit further down at Medford Hillside.
I rode the Acela Regional to Boston from DC this weekend and saw a number
of abandoned stations along the corridor, though I didn't note where they
were (seemed mostly to be in Pennsylvania/New Jersey stretch).
-Rik
--
Rik Ahlberg
r...@aie.com tel 617 522-7207 fax 617 983-0908
"...a pedestrian is a man in danger of his life;
a walker is a man in posession of his soul."
- David McCord, quoted in Boston: A topographical history
RTSPCC
>
>What I don't understand is why the MBTA discontinued the Woburn Branch.
>That had a *lot* of service in the 1968 schedule -- 20 trains each
>weekday, 11 on Saturdays, 6 on Sundays.
>
>--
Most of the people riding those trains got on in Winchester/Wedgmere/West
Medford. The riding from the two stations on the branch (Woburn and Cross St.)
fell to just 200-300 after the express bus service to Boston (Route 354 today)
began. The track was in terrible shape and at the time it was closed in 1981
and needed $400,000 in emergency repairs and much more to rebuild it to high
quality. For just 200-300 riders, they weren't going to spend that kind of
money, especially as Route 134 and 354 bus service was available, and the park
& ride at Mishawum was on the drawing board at that time. Park & Ride is the
name of the game for commuter rail, and Woburn and Cross St. had very little of
it (just a 90 car lot at Woburn and about 12 at Cross St.).
RTSPCC
>The old location of Littleton station is still extant (or was when I
>looked a year or so back) on Taylor Street next to the King Street
>grade crossing. (The crossroads is a 3-way stop; traffic coming across
>the grade crossing does not have to stop, but all other directions do.)
>
>Given that the new Littleton station (when did it open?) is such a
>pointless hole in the middle of nowhere without even reasonable
>parking, why was it moved? The name 'Littleton/495' suggests that it
>should be a park-and-ride, and yet the car park would struggle to hold
>15 cars.
Service beyond South Acton to Ayer was discontinued in 1975. When service was
restored in 1980 all the way to Fitchburg, that is when "Littleton/495" opened.
Originally, they had an agreement to use part of the parking lot of an
indistrial concern located nearby. When that agreement fell through, they were
stuck with an out of the way station with little parking. They didn't go back
to the original station because the present owner wasn't interested in selling
it. There have been plans to relocate Littleton yet again to a new location
with direct access to Route 2 and 495 and a large parking lot. However the cost
of this proposed facility is quite high, and it would involve building a
parking lot in wetlands. I'm not sure if any real progres has been made to move
forward on it. None of the other towns on the line (Acton, Concord, Lincoln,
Weston) seem interested in expanding parking at their stations (the lots are
full, but they don't want more "out of town" traffic coming into their
communities). The Fitchburg line will probably be stuck with limited parking
for the forseeable future, which is one reason why ridership growth on that
line has lagged behind the rest of the system.
Ron Newman
che...@world.std.com stated...
> And don't forget the Lechmere flag stop, behind what was
>then the Lechmere warehouse and corporate HQ at 225 Wildwood
>Street, just north of Salem Street. It was delisted from
>the Lowell Line schedule after about 1996, just before
>Lechmere went bankrupt.
I didn't forget it, but that stop wasn't around in 1964; it was
added later. Also, I don't think Lechmere technically "went bankrupt";
its then-owner, Montgomery Ward, closed it. (Monkey Ward itself is
now filing for bankruptcy again and is in the process of going out
of business.)
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/home.html
Ron Newman
<rnewman-0301...@ppp39-135.thecia.net>, rne...@thecia.net stated...
>I think the following is a complete list of stations that were open
>in 1964 but aren't open today, along lines that are still running:
I left "Rustcraft" out of my list, because I believe that the current
station called "Dedham Corporate Center" is at approximately the
same location as the old Rustcraft station. Am I correct?
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/home.html
Ron Newman
<20010103145913...@ng-ch1.aol.com>, rts...@aol.com stated...
>>What I don't understand is why the MBTA discontinued the Woburn Branch.
>>That had a *lot* of service in the 1968 schedule -- 20 trains each
>>weekday, 11 on Saturdays, 6 on Sundays.
>Most of the people riding those trains got on in Winchester/Wedgmere/West
>Medford. The riding from the two stations on the branch (Woburn and Cross St.)
>fell to just 200-300 after the express bus service to Boston (Route 354 today)
>began. The track was in terrible shape and at the time it was closed in 1981
>and needed $400,000 in emergency repairs and much more to rebuild it to high
>quality.
OK, I see your point here. But didn't discontinuing the branch result
in Winchester, Wedgmere, and West Medford losing half of their service
frequency?
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/home.html
Sean The Great
>station called "Dedham Corporate Center" is at approximately the
>same location as the old Rustcraft station. Am I correct?
Dedham Corporate Center is in the neighborhood of Rustcraft Street. If one is
to presume that there is only one time where the railroad tracks come in
contact with Rustcraft (via overpass), then you would be correct.
Let it be noted that DCC didn't open until 1990 or so; when it first opened, it
was signed as Dedham Corporate Center/128, and reportedly confused the heck out
of people looking for Route 128 Station one exit up the highway.
-Sean
Alexander Nobler Cohen
> communities). The Fitchburg line will probably be stuck with limited parking
> for the forseeable future, which is one reason why ridership growth on that
> line has lagged behind the rest of the system.
Undoubtedly there are other reasons, too, including the slow travel time
on the Fitchburg line, and the convenience of park-and-ride at Alewife.
Alex
dpel...@my-deja.com
Rik Ahlberg <r...@shore.net> wrote:
> David J. P. Long <djlong@wild_wizards.net> wrote:
> : sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
>
> :>My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned
commuter rail
> :>stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a
station at
> :>one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for
old-time rail
> :>stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a
haystack; 3.)
> :>if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts,
how much
> :>would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
> :>
>
> There's a set of stairs and a platform in Medford behind the Tufts U.
> police station. There is another a bit further down at Medford
Hillside.
>
> I rode the Acela Regional to Boston from DC this weekend and saw a
number
> of abandoned stations along the corridor, though I didn't note where
they
> were (seemed mostly to be in Pennsylvania/New Jersey stretch).
You might be surprised at some of the PA stations between Trenton
and Philadelphia that still serve as flag stops for the SEPTA R7
local. Or at least they did when I last rode in 1999.
Dan
John F Carr
Michael F. Maggard <mb...@spdcc.com> wrote:
>Figure the cost of a public building: waiting room, bathroom(s), place
>for a station-staffer to work from & keep an eye on it, etc. It would
>need to be handicapped accessible, heated in the winter, at least
>operable windows in the summer. A sales counter would be nice as well
>a detailed maps & schedules, vending machines would be appreciated.
Do you a building at all? How about just a covered area by the side of
the tracks? That's all the Auburndale station is, and except for the
lack of a clock it is adequate for my needs.
>Riverside would be a poor candidate for replacement. It's poorly
>situated and too close to other stations. The only way it would be
>do-able would be to put in a parking structure and move the station to
>the Recreation-Road side of the bridge.
There was talk about building a new, improved connection from 128 to
the Green line Riverside station, effectively extending Recreation Road.
(The state doesn't want to improve Grove Street.) One could imagine an
expanded, combined parking lot. Good for commuters, but Auburndale
and/or the nearest Wellesley stop should be closed to keep the schedule
and that means people in those communities have trouble.
(There's a good point in this thread about the changing nature of
commuter rail -- once upon a time people walked to the train, now
they drive. You can't say "take the train and you don't need a car";
you have to convince drivers "now that you drove 3 miles to the train
station you should stop instead of taking the highway into Boston".)
--
John Carr (j...@mit.edu)
Tom Nelligan
> There's a set of stairs and a platform in Medford behind the Tufts U.
> police station. There is another a bit further down at Medford Hillside.
Wasn't that Tufts stop a short-lived experiment in the early 1980s?
RTSPCC
>Wasn't that Tufts stop a short-lived experiment in the early 1980s?
>
It lasted from November of 1976 to October of 1979 and was not well used.
Sean The Great
I don't know if this was true for the 1970s, but I can say that a lot of MBTA
service introductions (cross-town buses in part) weren't very well publicized.
I can only think of the Southwest Corridor and the Alewife extension when
thinking of well-planned, publicized new service within the past 20 years.
Nowadays, a Tufts station likely wouldn't work, given the proximity of Davis.
However, if the T ever got the word out through aggressive PR -- notice you're
always reading about subways in the New York City newspapers, thanks to the
Straphangers Coalition, but rarely in Boston other than weekly columns by
Thomas Palmer and Robin Washington -- and was a little more than a patronage
agency, things might get done a little better.
-Sean
RTSPCC
And sometimes new services fail because they are dumb ideas that no amount of
propaganda could save. The route 80 provided more frequent service to Lechmere
then than it does now (Davis took away a big chunk of Route 80 ridership and
service was reduced) and for most people was simply a better way to get to
Tufts. Service was restored at Belmont and Waverley around the same time as
Tufts (well, 1974) and despite the lack of promotion generated enough
ridership to survive.
PNTX
> Clematis Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Beaver Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Riverview (Waltham, west of the center)
There is still a stop on Carter St, the station building is now used as a
police substation.
Bill
Tom Nelligan
Right, that location has always been the main Waltham station. But that
building you refer to was never a railroad station per se, although it
was built on the site of the classic clock-towered Waltham station that
was torn down in 1962 and looks like it *should* have been a station. It
did have a lean-to type shelter on the track side before the current
lexan passenger shelter was built. But it was always used for other
purposes, including an American Legion post.
In the good ol' days of the 1960s Waltham had at least two other
stations as well, Waltham North and Waltham Highlands on the Central
Mass Branch. Add in Roberts (now Brandeis/Roberts) and you had seven B&M
passenger stations within city limits.
Ron Newman
<nell...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> In the good ol' days of the 1960s Waltham had at least two other
> stations as well, Waltham North and Waltham Highlands on the Central
> Mass Branch. Add in Roberts (now Brandeis/Roberts) and you had seven B&M
> passenger stations within city limits.
But like the rest of the Central Mass line, those two stations saw
only two trains a day, weekdays only -- one inbound in the morning,
the other outbound in the evening. At least that's how things were
by 1964.
Ron Newman
(RTSPCC) wrote:
> And sometimes new services fail because they are dumb ideas that no amount of
> propaganda could save. The route 80 provided more frequent service to Lechmere
> then than it does now (Davis took away a big chunk of Route 80 ridership and
> service was reduced) and for most people was simply a better way to get to
> Tufts.
But a much, much slower way.
> Service was restored at Belmont and Waverley around the same time as
> Tufts (well, 1974) and despite the lack of promotion generated enough
> ridership to survive.
Belmont and Waverley are such obvious places for stations that I don't
understand why they ever got abandoned in the first place.
danielk...@my-deja.com
> Clematis Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Beaver Brook (in Waltham, east of the center)
> Riverview (Waltham, west of the center)
For the locations of the first two, and possibly the third, see
http://www.mapquest.com/cgi-bin/share?sbx0i1p6s0xemkls . For some
reason Mapquest still shows those stations.
(The best way I found of locating former passenger stations in New York
using maps was to look for freight-only stations on hand-drawn editions
of Hagstrom atlases. A freight-only station was often shown where
there used to be a passenger station, and now there's no station at
all.)
-Dan
David J. P. Long
>In article <3a530cc1....@news.mv.com>, djlong@wild_wizards.net
>(David J. P. Long) wrote:
>
>> Just north of Woburn (Mishawum) on the Lowell line, I saw an *old*
>> sign and platform - white lettering on and orange-ish background for
>> "Dickson Depot". I only saw it because we were going slow through
>> that area (northbound - saw the 'platform' on the right (east) side of
>> the tracks).
>
>Could this have been a freight depot rather than a passenger stop?
Well, there was just a patch of asphalt/concrete and it was literally
in the middle of nowhere. Not even abandoned buildings around that
*might* have been customers in decades gone by...
+----/|-------------------------------------+-------------------+
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| / | djl...@msn.com \ |
| ( ) http://www.wildwizards.net \ ICQ# 8976662 |
+--`--' ----------------------------------------+---------------+
DoctorD27
>Do you a building at all? How about just a covered area by the side of
>the tracks? That's all the Auburndale station is, and except for the
>lack of a clock it is adequate for my needs.
Would a new station of that type even be legal? Wouldn't it have to have
mini-high platforms at the very least to be ADA-compliant?
RTSPCC
It would have to have a mini-high, and in a case like Auburndale, you couldn't
just depend on a steep staircase to get down to platform level.
Robert Coe
wrote:
: sean...@aol.community (Sean The Great) wrote:
: >My questions are these: 1.) are there any noticeable abandoned commuter rail
: >stations (T era or even beforehand) which have any signs of being a station at
: >one point in the past; 2.) could it be that, since standards for old-time rail
: >stops were almost non-existent, I'm trying to find a needle in a haystack; 3.)
: >if rail service were ever to be restored to some of these outposts, how much
: >would it actually cost to build a new station using 2001 standards?
:
: sign and platform - white lettering on and orange-ish background for
: "Dickson Depot". I only saw it because we were going slow through
: that area (northbound - saw the 'platform' on the right (east) side of
: the tracks).
Nobody seems to have mentioned the abandoned or recycled stations on the
Massachusetts Central RR (later the Central Massachusetts branch of the B&M).
The station buildings in Weston, Wayland, and South Sudbury still exist,
although I believe the little shack at East Sudbury is now gone. (Whatever
building there may have been at Wayside Inn station is also gone.)
BTW, there's a building (a bank?) in Hudson that looks as though it was once a
station on this line, but it wan't. It was actually a station on the line that
ran between Maynard and Marlborough. You can tell that by exploring the place
where those two lines crossed, quite visible (the last time I looked) near the
intersection of Route 62 and Main Street in Hudson.
The building that was once the North Sudbury station on the NHRR line between
Framingham and Lowell still exists. Look in the "V" formed by the intersection
of Marlborough and Pantry Roads.
--
___ _ - Bob
/__) _ / / ) _ _
(_/__) (_)_(_) (___(_)_(/_____________________________________ b...@1776.COM
Robert K. Coe ** 14 Churchill St, Sudbury, MA 01776-2120 USA ** 978-443-3265
Robert Coe
: And sometimes new services fail because they are dumb ideas that no amount of
: propaganda could save. The route 80 provided more frequent service to Lechmere
: then than it does now (Davis took away a big chunk of Route 80 ridership and
: service was reduced) and for most people was simply a better way to get to
: Tufts. Service was restored at Belmont and Waverley around the same time as
: Tufts (well, 1974) and despite the lack of promotion generated enough
: ridership to survive.
Nothing significant has been done to the Waverly station (other than to paint
the walls a different color every four or five years), but the Belmont station
has been considerably upgraded, with new signs and asphalt platforms.
Both of those stops are historically important, since both adjoined the
parallel ROWs of the B&M and the Massachusetts Central. And although the
depressed route through Waverly Square was used only by the B&M, the Belmont
station area is wide enough to have accommodated both RRs. Does anyone know
whether it did and, if so, how the tracks were laid out?
Robert Coe
: Belmont and Waverley are such obvious places for stations that I don't
: understand why they ever got abandoned in the first place.
Both Belmont and Waverly have (and had) bus service to Harvard Square, and
commuter rail service in the last days of the B&M was famously unreliable.
It's no wonder that anyone going to Boston from those two locations would have
used the busses in preference to the trains. I suspect that few noticed when
the stations were abandoned.
Alexander R Svirsky
: Nobody seems to have mentioned the abandoned or recycled stations on the
: Massachusetts Central RR (later the Central Massachusetts branch of the B&M).
: The station buildings in Weston, Wayland, and South Sudbury still exist,
: although I believe the little shack at East Sudbury is now gone. (Whatever
: building there may have been at Wayside Inn station is also gone.)
: BTW, there's a building (a bank?) in Hudson that looks as though it was once a
: station on this line, but it wan't. It was actually a station on the line that
: ran between Maynard and Marlborough. You can tell that by exploring the place
: where those two lines crossed, quite visible (the last time I looked) near the
: intersection of Route 62 and Main Street in Hudson.
I remember a building in Hudson along the Mass. Central that looked like
an abandoned RR station, but the last time I saw it was in 1987 when
I walked a few miles of the ROW between Berlin and Hudson. The following
is a Terraserver link to the building I think might be the one I
remember. It's the one along the old ROW in the bottom center. Is this
an old RR station?
http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=1443&Y=23483&Z=19&W=0
YES092599
and Hanson stops. At the 2nd road crossing, there is a red house that once was
the Hanson station.
rob...@my-deja.com
once the North Hanson stop. Across the tracks from the current Hanson
stop is the original Hanson station building. Up in south Weymouth,
the original Weymouth station still stands, next to the Pond/Derby sts.
intersection. Then in North Abington, the original station still
stands, now as a restaurant/pub, on East St.
I believe these were all built by the Old Colony RR.
Also, supposedly the OC had a greenhouse complex in Halifax, near the
current station, that they used to grow plantings for the stations. I
don't remember exactly where the remnants are, but it's in that
neighborhood.
Regards,
Rob