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Ayer station
Ayer station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located off Main Street (Route 2A/111) in the Ayer Main Street Historic District of Ayer, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not accessible. There is a shelter on the inbound platform.
Ayer has been a major railroad interchange since the Fitchburg Railroad opened through South Groton in 1845, followed by the Stony Brook Railroad, Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and Peterborough and Shirley Railroad in 1848. The original depot was replaced with a union station with a large trainshed in 1848. Land speculation and industrial development spurred by the railroad access expanded the tiny farm village into the independent town of Ayer.
A new station was constructed in 1896. By 1900, the town was served by five lines all controlled by the Boston and Maine Railroad, with service to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell plus New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. Passenger service ended on all of the lines except the Fitchburg mainline between 1931 and 1961. After a brief disruption in early 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began subsidizing commuter rail service to Ayer as part of what would become the Fitchburg Line. The station and part of the line was closed in 1975, but reopened in 1980. CSX Transportation also runs freight trains through the town to various destinations.
Planning began in 2003 for a parking structure to serve park-and-ride commuters at the station. After delays caused by disagreements with a property owner, the property to ensure a public access route to the station was acquired by the town in June 2016, allowing the parking expansion to proceed. The garage opened in 2019, with improvements to the station entrance constructed in 2020–21.
Ayer station is located in downtown Ayer, just south of Main Street (Route 2A/111) adjacent to the Ayer Main Street Historic District. The two-track Fitchburg Route mainline runs east-west, with two side platforms for the Fitchburg Line service bracketing the tracks. The platforms are low-level; the station is not accessible. A bus loop is located near the west end of the platforms, while a 180-space parking garage is about 600 feet (180 m) to the north.
Ayer is a node for CSX Transportation freight service, with the Fitchburg Route serving as part of its main line. A wye on the south side of the station connects the Fitchburg Route to the Worcester Branch. There are layups for freight trains east and west of the station, and a freight yard (known as Hill Yard) about a quarter mile to the south on the Worcester Branch.
The "Wall Track", a freight siding, runs along the north side of the north (outbound) platform; reaching the inbound platform from the town center requires crossing all three tracks. West of the station, the single-track Greenville Branch splits from the Wall Track and curves to the north; it serves a paper plant at Vose near West Groton.
The Fitchburg Railroad main line opened on an east-west alignment through the tiny village of South Groton in Groton, Massachusetts in December 1845. Following a town vote the previous year, Groton station was established at Flannigan's Crossing (Groton-Harvard Road). The station was located on the southwest corner of the grade crossing, with a freight house just to its west and a woodshed (to supply early wood-burning locomotives) across the tracks.
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Ayer station
Ayer station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located off Main Street (Route 2A/111) in the Ayer Main Street Historic District of Ayer, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not accessible. There is a shelter on the inbound platform.
Ayer has been a major railroad interchange since the Fitchburg Railroad opened through South Groton in 1845, followed by the Stony Brook Railroad, Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and Peterborough and Shirley Railroad in 1848. The original depot was replaced with a union station with a large trainshed in 1848. Land speculation and industrial development spurred by the railroad access expanded the tiny farm village into the independent town of Ayer.
A new station was constructed in 1896. By 1900, the town was served by five lines all controlled by the Boston and Maine Railroad, with service to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell plus New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. Passenger service ended on all of the lines except the Fitchburg mainline between 1931 and 1961. After a brief disruption in early 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began subsidizing commuter rail service to Ayer as part of what would become the Fitchburg Line. The station and part of the line was closed in 1975, but reopened in 1980. CSX Transportation also runs freight trains through the town to various destinations.
Planning began in 2003 for a parking structure to serve park-and-ride commuters at the station. After delays caused by disagreements with a property owner, the property to ensure a public access route to the station was acquired by the town in June 2016, allowing the parking expansion to proceed. The garage opened in 2019, with improvements to the station entrance constructed in 2020–21.
Ayer station is located in downtown Ayer, just south of Main Street (Route 2A/111) adjacent to the Ayer Main Street Historic District. The two-track Fitchburg Route mainline runs east-west, with two side platforms for the Fitchburg Line service bracketing the tracks. The platforms are low-level; the station is not accessible. A bus loop is located near the west end of the platforms, while a 180-space parking garage is about 600 feet (180 m) to the north.
Ayer is a node for CSX Transportation freight service, with the Fitchburg Route serving as part of its main line. A wye on the south side of the station connects the Fitchburg Route to the Worcester Branch. There are layups for freight trains east and west of the station, and a freight yard (known as Hill Yard) about a quarter mile to the south on the Worcester Branch.
The "Wall Track", a freight siding, runs along the north side of the north (outbound) platform; reaching the inbound platform from the town center requires crossing all three tracks. West of the station, the single-track Greenville Branch splits from the Wall Track and curves to the north; it serves a paper plant at Vose near West Groton.
The Fitchburg Railroad main line opened on an east-west alignment through the tiny village of South Groton in Groton, Massachusetts in December 1845. Following a town vote the previous year, Groton station was established at Flannigan's Crossing (Groton-Harvard Road). The station was located on the southwest corner of the grade crossing, with a freight house just to its west and a woodshed (to supply early wood-burning locomotives) across the tracks.
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