West Medford station explained

Style:MBTA
West Medford
Address:481 High Street
Borough:Medford, Massachusetts
Coordinates:42.4218°N -71.1333°W
Line:New Hampshire Main Line
Other: MBTA bus:
Platform:2 side platforms
Tracks:2
Parking:30 spaces
Passengers:628 (weekday average boardings)
Pass Year:2018
Accessible:No
Zone:1A
Other Services Header:Former services
Other Services Collapsible:yes
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Custom:
Shape:none
Line:none
Marker:rail
Zoom:12

West Medford station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Medford, Massachusetts. It serves the Lowell Line, and is located at West Medford Square.

History

When the original Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) was laid out in the 1830s, West Medford was mostly farmland. The route of the new railroad (one of the oldest railroads in North America) was built on land acquired from Peter Chardon Brooks, who sold a strip for the right-of-way plus a parcel for the station on High Street. Medford Gates station was open by 1838.[1] The name reflected the large gates built to warn passerby about the grade crossing. The Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) opened its Medford branch to Medford Square in 1847; the B&L station was renamed West Medford in the early 1850s.[2] [3] A new station building was constructed in 1854.[4]

The adjacent High Street grade crossing, and the Canal Street crossing southeast, are the only grade crossings on the line south of Wilmington. Elimination of the High Street crossing was considered in 1932, but not implemented.[5] The depot structure, built in 1886, was demolished in the 1960s.[6] [7] The decorative weathervane from the roof of the station was acquired by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in the 1950s.[8]

Until December 2020, a small number of Haverhill Line trains ran via the Wildcat Branch and the inner Lowell Line, making stops including West Medford.[9] [10] This routing was resumed in April 2021, with the trains no longer making the intermediate stops.[11] [12] Until May 2023, West Medford and were flag stops outside of weekday peak hours. Effective May 22, 2023, they were made regular scheduled stops at all times.[13] [14] [15]

In 2019, the MBTA listed West Medford as a "Tier I" accessibility priority.[16], the MBTA plans to pilot a freestanding temporary accessible platform design at Beverly Depot in March 2024. If successful, West Medford would be one of the first four stations to receive a temporary platform while a full reconstruction is planned.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book:
  2. News: Boston and Lowell Railroad . Boston Evening Transcript . October 6, 1853 . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  3. A Pioneer Railroad and How it was Built . Medford Historical Register . Moses Whitcher . Mann . July 1909 . 12 . 3 . Medford Historical Society . 49–67.
  4. Development of the business section of West Medford . Medford Historical Society Papers . 29 . 1926.
  5. News: Medford . Boston Globe . September 29, 1932 . 10 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: West Medford Keepsake Survives Rock Hounds . Joe . Harrington . Boston Globe . April 1, 1963 . 6 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: West Medford–Then and Now . Boston Globe . October 10, 1965 . 260 . Newspapers.com.
  8. Book: Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell . Images of America: Medford . Arcadia Publishing . 1999 . 9780738538549 . 104 . Google Books.
  9. News: Lowell Line: Fall/Winter Schedule . https://web.archive.org/web/20201130015122mp_/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/route_pdfs/2020-fall/2020-11-02-cr-lowell-accessible.pdf . November 30, 2020 . November 2, 2020 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  10. Web site: 2020/2021 Reduced Service Schedule: Lowell Line . December 14, 2020 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  11. Web site: Haverhill Line 2021 Spring Schedule . April 5, 2021 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . https://web.archive.org/web/20210405122058/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/route_pdfs/2021-spring/2021-04-05-spring-haverhill-accessible.pdf . April 5, 2021.
  12. Web site: Lowell Line 2021 Spring Schedule . April 5, 2021 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . https://web.archive.org/web/20210423161734/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/route_pdfs/2021-spring/2021-04-05-spring-lowell-accessible.pdf . April 23, 2021.
  13. Web site: Lowell Line Fall/Winter Schedule . October 17, 2022 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  14. Web site: Lowell Line Spring/Summer Schedule . May 22, 2023 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  15. Commuter Rail Spring/Summer Schedule to Take Effect May 22 . May 16, 2023 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  16. Web site: Preview of 2019 Recommendations: Presentation to the FMCB . Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI) . 12 . April 1, 2019 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  17. Web site: System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—November 2023 . November 27, 2023 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility . 8.