Newburyport station

Newburyport is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It is located between Parker Street and U.S. Route 1 south of downtown Newburyport, and serves the Newburyport/Rockport Line. The station is the terminus of the Newburyport Branch of the line, with three parking lots totalling over 800 spaces. The Clipper City Rail Trail, running along the former right-of-way, connects the station to the town center. Newburyport station is fully accessible.

Newburyport
Platform at Newburyport station, facing outbound; the 1998-built station building is at left
Location25 Boston Way
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°47′53″N 70°52′41″W
Owned byMBTA
Line(s)Eastern Route
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
Connections MVRTA: 54
Construction
Parking814 spaces ($4.00 fee)
24 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities22 spaces
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Fare zone8
History
Opened1840; October 28, 1998[1]
ClosedApril 2, 1976
Passengers
2018463 (weekday average boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Rowley
toward North Station
 Newburyport/​Rockport Line Terminus

History

Former station
An early woodcutting of the first (1840-built) station
The third (1892-built) Newburyport station in the early 20th century

The Eastern Railroad's original Newburyport station was located in downtown Newburyport, near Washington Street. Opened in 1840, it was a small wooden structure with a two-track trainshed.[3] It was replaced by a larger brick station just to the north in March 1854. The 1854 station was destroyed by fire on March 3, 1892; a large brick structure with a turret was constructed on the same spot.[1][3]

Service on the Boston and Maine Railroad's Eastern Route was cut back from Portsmouth, New Hampshire on January 4, 1965, as part of a general discontinuance of the railroad's interstate service. The only service past Hamilton/Wenham (after June 28, past Ipswich) was a single round trip to Newburyport with an intermediate stop at Rowley.[4]

On April 20, 1967, Newburyport began partially subsidizing the service; Rowley did not, and its station was abandoned.[4] The final day of Newburyport service was April 2, 1976, as the town declined to continue the subsidy; service was cut back to Ipswich.[5] That December, the MBTA bought the B&M's commuter rail assets, including the Eastern Route up to the New Hampshire state line.[4] Freight service continued until 1984, through the line was not officially abandoned until 1984.[6]

Modern station

After "one of the briefest abandonments on record", the line was rebuilt by the MBTA, and service to Newburyport and Rowley was reinstated on October 26, 1998.[6] A full-length high-level platform - the MBTA's standard for new construction on routes not constrained by the need to accommodate freight operations along the same route - was built for accessibility. Since Newburyport is the terminus, trains may pull into either of the island platform's two tracks. A four-track layover yard was constructed south of the Newburyport Turnpike.

The MBTA originally planned to rebuild the station at the former downtown site. However, at the city's insistence, the new station was located 1.0 mile (1.6 km) to the south, where parking and the layover yard could be easily built.[7] The station is "surrounded by nothing but swamps and warehouses" and isolated from downtown; a shuttle bus service was discontinued in 2004.[7]

As part of the $2.1 million restoration project, a brick waiting room was built west of the tracks, incorporating two arches from the Newburyport YMCA building, which had burned in 1987. The building was complete by 1998, but it and the small coffee shop inside did not open until February 11, 2002.[1] The coffee shop later closed; a Mexican restaurant opened in the space in 2016.[8]

References
  1. Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 197. ISBN 9780942147087.
  2. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  3. Currier, John J. (November 1906). History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905. pp. 399-403.
  4. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  5. "End of Commuting". Boston Globe. April 1, 1976. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Karr, Ronald Dale (2010). Lost Railroads of New England (Third ed.). Branch Line Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780942147117.
  7. Masis, Julie (August 16, 2014). "Late trains to Newburyport a stark experience". Boston Globe.
  8. "Metzy's Cantina to open today at train station". Newburyport Daily News. August 12, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2017.

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