West Medford station
West Medford | |||||||||||||||
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![]() An outbound train arrives at West Medford in 2012 | |||||||||||||||
General information | |||||||||||||||
Location | 481 High Street, Medford, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 42°25′18″N 71°08′00″W / 42.4218°N 71.13332°WCoordinates: 42°25′18″N 71°08′00″W / 42.4218°N 71.13332°W | ||||||||||||||
Line(s) | New Hampshire Main Line | ||||||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Connections | ![]() | ||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||
Parking | 30 spaces | ||||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||||
Fare zone | 1A | ||||||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||||||
2018 | 628 (weekday average boardings)[1] | ||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||
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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.[2] 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.[3][4]: 64 A new station building was constructed in 1854.[5]
The adjacent High Street grade crossing, and the Canal Street crossing 0.2 miles (0.32 km) 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.[6] The depot structure, built in 1886, was demolished in the 1960s.[7][8] The decorative weathervane from the roof of the station was acquired by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in the 1950s.[9]
In 2019, the MBTA listed West Medford as a "Tier I" accessibility priority.[10]
References
- ^ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
- ^ Dickinson, S.N. (1838). The Boston Almanac for the Year 1838. p. 49.
- ^ "Boston and Lowell Railroad". Boston Evening Transcript. October 6, 1853. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mann, Moses Whitcher (July 1909). A Pioneer Railroad and How it was Built. Medford Historical Register. Vol. 12. Medford Historical Society. pp. 49–67.
- ^ "Development of the business section of West Medford". Medford Historical Society Papers. Vol. 29. 1926.
- ^ "Medford". Boston Globe. September 29, 1932. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harrington, Joe (April 1, 1963). "West Medford Keepsake Survives Rock Hounds". Boston Globe. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "West Medford–Then and Now". Boston Globe. October 10, 1965. p. 260 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell (1999). Images of America: Medford. Arcadia Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 9780738538549 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Preview of 2019 Recommendations: Presentation to the FMCB" (PDF). Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 1, 2019. p. 12.
External links
Media related to West Medford station at Wikimedia Commons
- CS1: Julian–Gregorian uncertainty
- Coordinates not on Wikidata
- Pages with no open date in Infobox station
- Commons category link is the pagename
- Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines
- MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- Buildings and structures in Medford, Massachusetts
- Railway stations in Medford, Massachusetts