Wilmington station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Wilmington, Massachusetts served by the Lowell Line. It is located near the intersection of Main Street (Routes 38/129) and Church Street (Route 62) in Wilmington's town center. The station is accessible, with mini-high platforms serving both tracks.
Wilmington | ||||||||||||||
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 Wilmington station in April 2016, viewed from the Route 62 overpass | ||||||||||||||
| General information | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 405 Main Street (Route 38) Wilmington, Massachusetts | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42°32′49″N 71°10′29″W / 42.547°N 71.1747°W | |||||||||||||
| Line(s) | New Hampshire Route Main Line Wildcat Branch | |||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Connections |  LRTA: 12 | |||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||
| Parking | 191 spaces ($4.00 fee) | |||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 3 | |||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | c. 1836 | |||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | c. 1887; 2003[1] | |||||||||||||
| Passengers | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 584 (weekday average boardings)[2] | |||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||
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Station layout and history edit
The Boston and Lowell Railroad originally had no intermediate stations, but Wilmington petitioned for a stop as early as 1836.[1] An early station building was constructed either for the Andover and Wilmington Railroad in 1835 or 1836, or for the B&L and B&M a decade later.[3][1] It was replaced by a small wooden structure around 1887.[1] Both structures are still extant; the earlier structure was moved east on Church Street in the 1890s and reused as a house.[3][1] The newer structure remains next to the tracks; it was converted to a pizza restaurant by 1977.[4][1]
The platforms are staggered; the southbound platform is entirely to the north of the Route 62 overpass, while over half of the northbound platform is south of the bridge. A pedestrian crossing between the two platforms is located just north of the bridge; until a path from an adjacent apartment complex opened in 2015, this was the only access to the southbound platform.
The station formerly had a single small side platform and no MBTA parking lot. In 1998, the MBTA began planning a $5.2 million renovation which included longer accessible platforms and a 227-space parking lot.[5] The project was completed in 2003 at a total cost of $13 million.[1][6]
The Wildcat Branch, used by Amtrak Downeaster trains and some Haverhill Line express trains, connects with the Lowell Line at Wilmington station. The single-track branch splits from the northbound track just north of the platform. Southbound trains coming from the Wildcat Branch cannot reach the southbound platform; instead, they use the northbound platform. An interlocking south of the station allows these trains to switch onto the southbound track.[7]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 272–273. ISBN 9780942147087.
- ^ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
- ^ a b Neilson, Larz F. (October 24, 2010). "The oldest depot in town is not next to the tracks". Wilmington Town Crier.
- ^ Henry, Alan P. (August 10, 1977). "There's no depot like an old depot". Boston Globe. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Devlin, Sean (July 15, 1998). "MBTA takes over train station project plans" (PDF). Wilmington Town Crier. p. 1.
- ^ "Planned Accessibility Projects - Along the Commuter Rail". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on August 10, 2004.
- ^ Held, Patrick R. (2010). "Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts" (PDF). Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013.
External links edit
Media related to Wilmington station (MBTA) at Wikimedia Commons
| External videos | |
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 Trains at Wilmington station, 1946 (at 20:16) |