Western Route
Reading station
Looking at the old B&M station building from across the street
Reading station
I just can't get over the fact that the MBTA has been maintaining this platform for a non-existent track for nearly as long as I've been alive...
Reading station
They put signals blocking where the outbound track should be!
Reading station
Back side of the station, with the "Swissbakers" cafe
North Wilmington station
Can you see a station here?
North Wilmington station
This is it. That's all there is: a single-track low-level platform with a bus shelter and a sign. No surprise this "station" serves fewer than 60 people a day. A nearby free town-owned parking lot has 20 spaces, and was all but empty the day I visited.
North Wilmington station
Obvious where the second track used to be, isn't it?
North Wilmington station
Pretty obvious how you'd make this station accessible, and not at all clear why you'd bother.
North Wilmington station
I wonder if this used to be a station ticket office or something similar.
Ballardvale station
Back to the more normal ocean of parking, there are 120 paid stalls here to serve about 200 daily passengers. There's a fair amount of residential and commercial development around here, but it's not very dense. Looking north from Andover St.
Ballardvale station
This station is just "WTF?" after "WTF?" Here, it's obvious where the platform was, before they lifted the outbound track and dumped yards of hot-mix onto the trackbed. Why would you do that? If you wanted to save money on track maintenance, why wouldn't you lift the other track?
Ballardvale station
Looking south across the Andover St. (near) and Tewksbury St. (far) grade crossings. I found myself totally turned around here during my visit and somehow thought that I was looking north.
Ballardvale station
And there is literally the north end of the outbound track. About a mile north of North Wilmington "station", the Wildcat Branch joins from the southwest, forming the through track here; and half a mile north of that, a single crossover allows the Western Route to shift over. This is a legacy of the B&M's scheme to route all passenger traffic to the New Hampshire Main Line via the Wildcat, ultimately giving rise to the Haymarket–North extension of the Orange Line in the 1970s along the newly redundant western three tracks of this once-busy route.
Ballardvale station
Very nonstandard passenger shelter, entirely off the platform (was MBTA engineering trying to reserve space for the second track to be restored?)
Ballardvale station
But this is the real WTF moment here: We're at the north end of the (extended) low-level platform, AND THERE'S A 300-FOOT GAP TO THE MINI-HIGH?
Ballardvale station
And they built a standard steel-and-concrete mini-high, aligned with the old track that hasn't been here for fifty years, and then added a wooden extension platform?! This wasn't the B&M that did this, all of the mini-highs are MBTA structures — the B&M didn't care about wheelchair access.
Ballardvale station
I think the wood, however weathered, is still in better condition than the concrete is!
Ballardvale station
The second track literally starts back up 350 feet north of the end of the platform — you'd see it if those piles of ties weren't in the way — but it's another mile before the first crossover allows trains to move over there.
Andover station
Another single-track low-level platform. Although passenger trans can get to the eastern track here, the western track is the only one with platforms, and the next crossover isn't until beyond Lawrence station, so both the Downeaster and the regular commuter trains are stuck single-tracking through Andover and Lawrence.
Andover station
A very modern-looking all-metal trackside passenger shelter
Andover station
Looking north up the line towards Lawrence; the platform could use some work, and because of the abutting building would be a bit challenging to raise.
Andover station
I couldn't find where the legal parking was, so Ididn't walk all the way down to the end of the platform to inspect the mini-high. (Turns out the 150-space surface lot was just up the street.)
Andover station
Retaining wall on the eastern (freight) track at the south end of the station
Andover station
There's the surface parking lot. With only 150 stalls, there must be a lot of walk-up passengers (or bus riders — MVRTA routes 21 and 32 serve the station) to make up the pre-COVID ridership of nearly 400 per day.
Wood Worsted Mill
This building was one of the largest mill buildings in the world, when the American Woolen Company built it in the first decade of the 1900s. Now redeveloped, its imposing façade fronts Merrimack St. in Lawrence for an entire block, more than a quarter mile long. At far left, the intersection of Merrimack and South Union Sts.
Wood Worsted Mill
It's a really looooooong building.
Lawrence station
Also at the corner of South Union and Merrimack is the MVRTA's McGovern Transportation Center, named after state senator Patricia McGovern. When the 400-space parking garage was built, the existing commuter rail station was relocated a quarter-mile to the east for convenient access to the giant garage and local bus transfers.
Lawrence station
As with any newly constructed station, the relocated Lawrence station has a full-length high-level platform. What it does not have is a platform serving any of the other tracks, which would be a benefit to Amtrak service, although at present, Pan Am Railways is more than happy to keep passenger trains off both through tracks.
Lawrence station
I was wondering why there were people on the platform waiting, when there was no MBTA commuter rail service, but after I left the station, I found myself waiting at a grade crossing for the northbound Amtrak Downeaster, which does serve Lawrence on weekends.
Lawrence station
Looking west towards the South Union overpass and a small modern-style shelter on the platform.
Lawrence station
A closer look at that shelter and the tracks beyond. The old station platform still stands, abandoned, beyond the curve to the west of South Union St.
Lawrence station
There is a platform adjacent to one of the other tracks but it's low-level and much too short, so it cannot be used. (If it were up to me, I'd build an island platform where the missing track #3 used to be, allowing at least two tracks to be served, but I have no idea how you'd provide primary egress for that track without expensive elevator construction., which isn't cost-justified by the schedule.)
Lawrence station
There is still a pedestrian grade crossing at the east end of the current platform over to the short low platform on the other side, and it seems to be well maintained but I have no idea to what end.
Lawrence station
Off in the distance, a turnout allows outbound trains on the station siding to return to right-hand running; the remaining two stations are both two-track.
Wood Worsted Mill
Another look back at the old mill, as seen from the end of the Lawrence station platform,
Lawrence station
It's really not obvious why these stairs still exist or are open to the public.
Lawrence station
It's, like, a normal grade crossing... I guess so the taggers can cross over safely? (The business in that building doesn't seem to invite foot traffic from the station, at any rate.)
Sutton St. grade crossing
There's the northbound Downeaster, pulled by AMTK 123, a GE P42DC.
Bradford station & layover
Bradford is only a short distance from "Heverhill" station (both are within the city limits of Haverhill), but south of the Merrimack River there is much more open space, allowing the MBTA to have a large surface parking lot (303 spaces) in addition to the overnight layover facility for this line.
Bradford station & layover
There's a cute old ex-B&M station building just up the line from the current station.
Bradford station & layover
Two through tracks on the left serve the station; the diverging track on the right leads to the layover facility. This view is looking southwest back towards Lawrence. Trains departing the layover facility can run "wrong rail" up to downtown Haverhill and turn around to start their runs in the morning; the layover track does not have a platform.
Bradford station & layover
There are just two layover tracks. If they had put that grade crossing just a bit father north, they could have built full-length high-level platforms. Why they didn't build this as a center-platform station (there was certainly room for it) is a mystery.
Bradford station & layover
Looking across the grade crossing at both platform canopies, with mini-highs to the left and yard leads in the foreground.
Bradford station & layover
Looking across both tracks at the outbound mini-high. Why does the inbound track have a modern rubber grade-crossing treatment while the outbound track is just asphalt?
Bradford station & layover
Looking south along the inbound platform
Bradford station & layover
There's a walkway on the outbound side leading north up to Laurel Ave.
Bradford station & layover
There's that old B&M station building again, seen from the Laurel Ave. path; it's called "Steampunk Station" but I see nothing steampumk about a cafe at a (diesel) commuter train station.
Bradford station & layover
It says "temporarily closed" but I wonder how temporary it really is. The platform is quite a bit narrower here. (Again, why didn't they shift the inbound track to the west and just build a single, wide center platform here?)