Kendal Green station
The outbound platform is short enough as it is (335 feet), but it's still better than the (nonexistent) inbound platform — a story which will repeat itself a few more times on this voyage.
Kendal Green station
Down past the end of the outbound platform, there's some broken, rusty rail sitting on the right-of-way, and clearly enough room to make this a standard full-length platform if this station served enough passengers to justify any investment at all, which it does not. A better plan would involve building new platforms eastward toward the Mass Central Rail Trail.
Hastings station
Always good advice, especially if this "station" has been closed and trains don't stop here any more.
Hastings station
Hmmm, not seeing a station on this side of the grade crossing, either. There is a tiny gravel parking lot, though.
Hastings "station"
So the story here is that Hastings is not in fact a station: it was a grade crossing where passengers could board and alight in the middle of the road while the train was stopped. It's only ¾ mile from Kendal Green, so hopefully the temporary suspension will be made permanent: this stop has no reason to exist.
Silver Hill station
Silver Hill, the other Weston station that has been closed, is a bit more 'real" than Hastings: it at least has a parking lot that holds a few vehicles, and there's a real station and platform down there in the open cut. Unfortunately, the surrounding land use is Weston-typical low-density single-family housing, so there's no prospect of ever having a reasonable walkshed.
Silver Hill station
Also like Kendal Green, there is only one platform here, and passengers have to walk across the outbound tracks to board the inbound train.
Silver Hill station
Merriam Street crosses the line on a wood-deck bridge; I'm guessing that the abutment on the left (south) side is original, and that the right-hand abutment is newer. On the plus side, the tracks being down in a trench here means that constructing a high-level platform here would be comparatively east, especially if it only needed to be a 300-foot platform for a single FLIRT DMU. On the minus side, there will never be enough foot traffic here to justify investing a dollar in new platforms, so this closure is probably permanent as well, unless the town wants to spend the money.
Silver Hill station
...which is a pity, because this is one of the oldest (relatively) unimproved railroad stations in the entire state. But there's nothing to be done unless Weston fixes its land use.
Lincoln station
We're now in Lincoln, and gueeeeessss whaaaaat?
Lincoln station
How did you guess? This, it turns out, is just the inbound platform; the outbound platform is actually across the street. Totally inaccessible, of course, although at least here they used rubberized grade-crossing protectors rather than just dumping hot-mix between the outbound rails.
Lincoln station
If you see a person on the tracks, perhaps they are trying to board an inbound train, since that's the only way to do that here. Except of course if one is mobility-impaired.
Lincoln station
Having crossed Lincoln Road, I'm standing in the town-owned commuter parking lot looking at the outbound platform. I guess it makes sense to have the outbound platform close to people's cars so they can head right home — but not nearly as much sense as it would make to have both platforms on the same side of the street, for which there is clearly adequate room.
Lincoln station
This platform is only 390 feet long, but there's clearly sufficient room parallel to the west end of the parknig lot to make it 500 feet at least. More would potentially be problematic, but building a high-level platform here is entirely trivial with no accessibility concerns (just ramp down into the parking lot).
Lincoln station
Looking the other way up the platform toward Lincoln Rd. Don't try to tell me there's no room for a proper inbound platform parallel to the outbound one. In fact, it looks like a center platform would be equally feasible, the tracks are so far apart here.
Concord station
Moving on to Concord, the station at Concord Center is surrounded by parking lots, but most of them belong to private businesses and are not available to train passengers. A small number of permit spaces in this lot are available to Concord residents for $400 a year or to nonresidents for $800 — there is a long waiting list.
Concord station
Like many of the other stations on the line, Concord is inaccessible, has exclusively low-level platforms, and passengers cross the tracks at grade. At least here there are actually platforms for both tracks. Looking southeast toward Sudbury Road in this view.
Concord station
I assume this is the, or at least an, original station building, albeit heavily modified for its current retail-store tenants. The mural was designed and painted by David Moore in 1997. The building being so close to the tracks here is actually a problem for high-level platforms, because there's not enough width for a platform and a ramp here.
Concord station
Now looking northwest up the inbound platform toward Belknap St. Beyond being inaccessible, this station is ... not in good shape.
West Concord station
West Concord was where the old Framingham & Lowell crossed the Fitchburg. These railroads were never under common ownership — the F&L was ultimately abandoned under Conrail ownership after having been a part of the Old Colony/New Haven system, and the Fitchburg became part of the B&M. There's more parking here than at Concord Center, including some daily spaces, and both residential and business districts are within easy walking distance as well.
West Concord station
West Concord is new enough to have two concrete-foundation mini-high platforms; according to Wikipedia, it was one of the first stations to be made accessible after the enactment of the ADA.
West Concord station
The thirty-year-old mini-highs are starting to show their age.
West Concord station
It's hard to see how to build full-length high platforms here without seriously interrupting the pedestrian flow through the station.
West Concord station
Back side of the old station house, which was acquired and restored by the town of Concord after years in private hands.
West Concord station
The intersection of the Fitchburg and the F&L here had a diamond crossing, and the shared-use path in the distance here, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, will eventually cover the entire length of the F&L's route from Chelmsford to Framingham Center.
West Concord station
Even in early March there are walkers and bikers out on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
South Acton station
Moving on from West Concord, South Acton is one of the 5 entirely reconstructed or new-build stations on the outer end of the line. It has an ocean of parking and is a fully-accessible high-platform station. The current station opened in 2015.
South Acton station
As I said, an ocean of parking. Far off in the distance, you can just see the entrance from Central Street.
South Acton station
You can tell it's a new station because there are rental bike lockers in addition to the exposed bike racks. (I'd probably want one of those for my bike, too, if I lived here, but I also don't ride in the dark.)
South Acton station
Looking east toward Main St. (Rt. 27). The station is located at the former junction of a branch line to Maynard and Hudson, abandoned in 1958, which is now the Assabet River Rail Trail; a path at the far end of the outbound platform connects to the trailhead via Maple Street.
South Acton station
As befits a modern, high-traffic station, South Acton has elevators and stairs for vertical circulation, rather than a circuitous ramp system.
South Acton station
The walkway over the tracks is definitely quite a bit nicer than the late-1990s walkways on the Worcester Line.
South Acton station
Looking back at the outbound platform from the inbound side. There seems to be a fairly consistent preference for having the parking closer to the outbound platform on this line: Brandeis/Roberts, Silver Hill, Lincoln, Concord, West Concord, South Acton, Ayer, and Fitchburg all share that design feature.
South Acton station
Another look back toward the Main St. overpass; note that even this far out, the line is still signaled for bidirectional traffic.
Littleton/495 station
South of Foster Street, a full crossover allows trains to be turned. In the foreground, Littleton/495 station has only bike racks, rather than lockers, although it's about the same age as South Acton. There are other significant design differences as well, owing to the location of the headhouse far to the east of the actual platform.
Littleton/495 station
But some things don't change, and among them is "new commuter rail stations are not located near anything and are accompanied by an ocean of parking". This is only half the parking; another lot is located up the hill in the background.
Littleton/495 station
Although the station is called "Littleton/495", it's actually located in the east quadrant of the oblique cloverleaf interchange between I-495 and Route 2. In the distance: the station headhouse.
Littleton/495 station
Unlike South Acton, Littleton/495 is a center-platform station. I'm looking down the 400-foot-long straight ramp that connects the headhouse with the actual station platforms. Building the station this way allowed the MBTA to avoid having to put in an elevator; the platform location is determined by the ADA-allowable maximum ramp slope.
Littleton/495 station
Part of ADA requirements for ramps provides that there must be occasional flat sections where people can rest. Halfway up the ramp is a single bench, to allow ambulatory passengers to sit before hiking up the rest of the ramp.
Littleton/495 station
Another common theme of this excusion has been platforms absolutely covered in deicing salt. This is clearly a combination of dramatically reduced footfall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the suspension of weekend service, and the total suspension of service inbound of Littleton for a two-month construction acceleration program.
Littleton/495 station
Looking west along the outbound side of the center platform. Seems to be holding up pretty well, despite the excessive salt application. Inbound of here, Pan Am Railways maintains trackage rights, but as the clearances are limited to AAR Plate E, there is little if any traffic. (The state owns the entire route east of Ayer.)
Littleton/495 station
Looking back east, you can get a pretty good view of how the looooooong ramp system connects from the headhouse/parking lot across the outbound track to the center platform.
Littleton/495 station
And it is a full-length (800-foot) platform. I-495 north crosses in the far background.
Old Littleton station
This is the original B&M Littleton passenger station. Sold off after the end of intercity passenger service on the line, it's now Erickson's Antique Stove Repair.
Old Littleton station
These three rusted-out B&M boxcars and a caboose were abandoned on a siding at the old station and are no longer connected to the line — the tracks have been lifted and the switch removed.
Old Littleton station
The station is located at the intersection of King St., Harwood Ave., Sanderson Rd., Taylor St., and Harvard Rd. It's a very well-known location among the cycling community, because the "Harvard to Harvard" route from Harvard Square to the town of Harvard runs up Harwood Ave. to turn left across the King St. grade crossing.