Swampscott station

Train 2107 was trailed by CTC-1B #1636, built by Bombardier in 1989.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Swampscott station

Yet another view of the cute station building

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

This station, in addition to the enormous parking garage, also has a surface lot (which is apparently city-owned). This lot is located on the site of the temporary station which was constructed on the Danvers Branch leg of the wye after the original trestle over the Danvers River burned down, allowing for temporary shuttle buses to Beverly and Cape Ann to meet passengers without clogging Salem's narrow streets.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

The current station first opened in 1987, as a typical open-air commuter station, after the Danvers River bridge was reconstructed, and the giant parking garage opened in 2014.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

The wye here actually branced inside the tunnel, and this was where the old Danvers Branch exited. Nowadays, what remains of the Danvers Branch is only accessible from Beverly Depot.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

The old tunnel is currently used to store winter salt and sand, but in theory it ould be reactivated if service to Danvers ever gets seriously considered again.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Pedestrian ramp up to Bridge St. and downtown Salem

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

This was the first non-rapid-transit station to offer a secure bike locker for MBTA commuters.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

The old interlocking tower for the Danvers Branch wye was preserved as a part of the new station.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Signals protecting the entrance to the tunnel, even though the wye isn't there any more.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Another full-length high-level platform, yay! Unfortunately, it's only a single-track platform, because the 150-year-old Salem Tunnel has never been widened (and probably couldn't be today without a completely new deep-bore tunnel to avoid historic structures in downtown Salem).

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Apartments on the other side of the tracks but no convenient access from the station

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Looking towards Beverly from the end of the platform, with the North River at left

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Not quite getting how the track layout works here, but the Danvers Branch joins the mainline at the first signal, and then just beyond it, the line widens back out to double-track across the bridge to Beverly.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Looking across the Danvers Branch and the North River

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Looking back up the platform toward the giant parking garage; Danvers Branch at right and the mainline at left.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Salem station

Downtown Salem in the distance, on the other side of Bridge St.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

A rather large station for a city that had four stations, but this is the downtown station and would have been the busiest back in the day (and indeed it still is, with more than double the daily boardings of all the other Beverly stations combined).

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Apparently the common is called Odell Veterans Memorial Park. Railroad Ave. is on the right, Broadway is on the left, and beyond the park is Route 1A, Rantoul St. The dotwntown Beverly post office is at the corner of Broadway and Rantoul.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

The old station was big enough to convert into an actual sit-down restaurant.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Looking north along the outbound platform

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

On the inbound side, the classic wooden station canopy structure would make it difficult to raise this platform even if the pedestrian grade crossings didn't already.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

There is a downtown Beverly MBTA parking garage, but it's not directly at the station site, so there's a pedestrian pathway parallel to the tracks to the south end of the outbound platform.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

The station is really at the edge of the dense commercial part of downtown Beverly, where it bleeds into more auto-oriented development along Route 1A. Note the low-level platforms here are somewhat raised; if we were running low-floor DMUs, this platform might be accessible.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Another look at that nice old wooden canopy

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

North end of the restaurant

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

That 3:37 train to Boston is a bit, umm, OVERdue.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

But it did finally show, only 7 minutes late. Train 2158 to North Station is led by CTC-1B #1634 (a sister to the control car we saw heading north at Swampscott)...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

...and pushed by F40PH-2C #1071, built in 1988 by EMD.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Ummm, not liking the look of this platform...

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Nor this one.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

North of the station, a universal crossoverand a short siding allow for short turns.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Tactile edging, good. Plywood, bad. The big parking lot next to the inbound platform is a private lot, sticker parking only except restaurant patrons.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Beverly Depot station

Actually, the platform i was standing on looks even worse from this side.

Eastern RouteMBTANewburyport LineRockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

There seems no widely accepted explanation for why this neighborhod of Beverly is called "Montserrat", with the earliest documents showing it as the name of the railroad depot, suggesting that it was in local use well before that. I wasn't looking for an old depot building, but the current MBTA parking lot isn't hard to find.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

The usual ocean of parking...

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

Uh-oh. The outbound platform extends across the grade crossing.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

Family bikes down the station platform for some reason. (Actually, the empty parking lot is probably a good place to practice.)

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

More pedestrian grade crossings...

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

Shelter on the inbound platform

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

Now I'm confused. The mini-highs are in the same place. That means the coach next to the engine stops in the same place. So how is it that the outbound platform is longer than the inbound platform?!

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

Looks like there have at least been some attempts at repaits to this platform already.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

...but maybe not enough.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Montserrat station

...and it's still deteriorating. Probably a lot of this is the fault of the deicer.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Prides Crossing station

This former station still has three parking spaces reserved for commuters; seems unlikely that they will be needed again. Somehow this stop used to get 15 passengers a day, which must be primarily walk-ups or drop-offs for the three daily round-trips it used to see as a flag stop.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Prides Crossing station

Cute little building, now a candy stop. Note the inbound "platform", just a few feet wide, enough to board a single car, if the engineer stops accurately.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Prides Crossing station

Just to make it clear that the candy shop customers get priority over the train passengers...

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations

Prides Crossing station

I wanted to go in and get some of the confections on offer, but unfortunately they were closed at 4:25 on a Sunday.

Eastern RouteMBTARockport Linecommuter railtrain stations