Gardner (MBTA station)

GARDNER

Abandoned platform at Gardner in May 2013
Location Main Street, Gardner, MA
Coordinates 42°34′03″N 71°59′05″W / 42.5675°N 71.9848°WCoordinates: 42°34′03″N 71°59′05″W / 42.5675°N 71.9848°W
Line(s)
Platforms 1 island platform (1980s station)
Tracks 7 (shared with freight; only 2 tracks served the platform)
Connections Montachusett Regional Transit Authority
History
Opened 1851 (original); January 13, 1980 (later)
Closed 1960 (original); December 31, 1986 (later)
Traffic
Passengers (1983) 24 daily[1]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
TerminusFitchburg Line

Gardner is a former station stop on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line, located in Gardner, Massachusetts. Passenger service to Union Station ran from 1851 until 1960, and commuter service also briefly ran from 1980 to 1986. Restoration of passenger service was recently considered, but was rejected due to low cost-effectiveness.

History

Union Station in 1910

Gardner gained train service on the Fitchburg Railroad (via the Vermont & Massachusetts) in 1851.[2] Located at the intersection of the Fitchburg Railroad with the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (which began service to Worcester in 1871), Gardner once had a large union station which was angled to serve both lines.[2][3] The Fitchburg bought the BB&G in 1885, and was itself bought by the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900.[2] The "Biggest Chair", a 12-foot-tall chair made by a local company, was placed in the station lawn around 1910. Passenger service to Worcester ended in March 1953, and service to Boston ended in 1960 when the B&M discontinued all trains west of Fitchburg, ending more than a century of rail service.[2] Union Station was demolished soon after.

On December 27, 1976, the MBTA bought the Boston and Maine Railroad's northside commuter rail assets, including the entire length of the Fitchburg Line.[4] The closure of the Lexington Branch the next month represented the limit of the contraction of the northside lines; as a results of the 1970s energy crisis and especially the 1979 energy crisis, a period of rapid expansion began in the end of the 1970s. On January 13, 1980, the MBTA extended commuter service on the Fitchburg Line from South Acton, with two round trips extended as far as Gardner.[2][4] Trains did not stop at the former Union Station site, but instead at a narrow asphalt platform in the freight yard just to the west off Main Street. Service to Gardner ended seven years later on January 1, 1987, due to a dispute between the MBTA, Amtrak (who ran the trains), and Guilford Transportation (who owned the tracks between Fitchburg and Gardner).[4] The MBTA contracted with Wilson Bus Lines to run Gardner-Fitchburg connecting service until June 1993, when the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority took over the route as a local service.[4]

Proposed restoration

Old platform (in background) next to the newer MART garage

Restoring commuter rail service to Gardner has been considered since 1987. In 2000, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed a bill that directed the MBTA to "conduct a feasibility study regarding the reestablishment of the commuter rail line to the cities of Gardner and Athol on the existing Fitchburg/Gardner/Athol spur line" as one of many expansion and improvement projects.[5] However, restoration of service was deemed impractical for several reasons. Gardner is 64 miles and Athol 81 miles by rail for North Station - outside normal commuting distances.[2] The line between Fitchburg and Gardner would cost $104.2 million to double track, and speeds are limited due to the grades going through the Mount Wachusett range. Because the Route 2 expressway is faster along the corridor than rail service would be, the expansion was projected to attract just 50 riders per day.[6] (Ridership at the former station was just 24 riders per day in 1983 - the lowest among regular stops on the system.)[1] Instead, it was decided to extend the Fitchburg Line 4.5 miles to a new station at Wachusett, which will provide a park-and-ride lot off Route 2 expected to attract 400 riders per day.[7]

The 1980s platform still exists, although it has become somewhat overgrown in recent years.[8] Beginning in 2007, MART built a new bus garage on the site of the former freight house, which burned in 2002.[9] An MBTA "T" roundel sign, which had remained for two decades after the end of service, was removed during construction. The new garage includes provisions for a platform should rail service ever return.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Humphrey, Thomas J. and Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. p. Inside front cover. ISBN 9780685412947.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 162–69, 186–87, 200. ISBN 0942147022.
  3. ↑ LaPointe, Gary (23 June 2012). "Stations Gone from Their Original Sites: Worcester County". Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Belcher, Jonathan (23 April 2012). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "An Act Providing for an Accelerated Transportation Development and Improvement Program for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority". Session Laws: 2000. Massachusetts State Legislature. 30 June 2000. Retrieved 17 July 2000. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ↑ Central Transportation Planning Staff (May 2003 (revised January 2004)). "Chapter 5C: Service Expansion" (PDF). 2004 Program for Mass Transportation. Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ↑ Montachusett Regional Planning Commission (24 August 2011). "Transit" (PDF). 2012 Regional Transportation Plan. Montachusett Metropolitan Planning Organization. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. ↑ Wehmeyer, Billy (12 July 2011). "NS 9765 Pan Am Railways GE C40-9 (Dash 9-40C) at Gardner, Massachusetts". RailPictures.Net. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Barnes, George (12 August 2007). "MART readies for new facility; Gardner groundbreaking". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

External links

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