Western Route
Wyoming Hill station
This time it's a relatively small (30 spaces) city-owned parking lot to start with, appropriate for a station with a significant mount of housing nearby as well as local bus service.
Wyoming Hill station
However, the platform edges are ... lacking.
Wyoming Hill station
Looking up the line towards Oak Grove
Wyoming Hill station
The full length of the platforms — no mini-highs, just shelters here.
Wyoming Hill station
Shelter on the outbound platform
Wyoming Hill station
A more substantial shelter in addition to the standard canopy on the inbound platform, where most of the 115 daily passengers will likely be waiting. (The counts do show about two dozen daily outbound passengers.)
Wyoming Hill station
Like many of the municipally-owned lots along this line, parking is only enforced on weekday mornings. What effect the T's flattening of the schedule willl have on parking utilization remains to be seen.
Wyoming Hill station
Although it's a completely inaccessible station, there's still an HP/V stall and ramp for someone who wants to park at the station but not take a train (maybe to patronize local businesses?).
Melrose/Cedar Park station
A somewhat larger (82 spaces) but still city-owned commuter parking lot; this one is in a predominantly residential neighborhhod, and daily boardings roughly match up with the parking.
Melrose/Cedar Park station
Again, two low-level platforms, no tactile edging and no mini-highs: a completely inaccessible station.
Melrose/Cedar Park station
The inbound track is barricaded for construction work on the Lynn Fells Parkway overpass, which sits just north of the station. Unusual style of shelter roof (usually these leave the rafters exposed).
Melrose/Cedar Park station
Unusual granite platform-edge treatment rather than the usual timber — perhaps leftover curbing from a street-paving project?
Melrose Highlands station
I'm not taking the commuter rail, I'm just taking pictures of the commuter rail, is that still OK with you?
Melrose Highlands station
Plenty of parking spaces available even if you're not allowed to use them...
Melrose Highlands station
Full-length low platforms with mini-highs at the north end, as is expected
Melrose Highlands station
This mini-high seems oddly ... low.
Melrose Highlands station
Looking across at the construction of the other mini-high, on the inbound side
Melrose Highlands station
Looking north beyond the end of the mini-high at not-yet-activated signals
Melrose Highlands station
Remnants of a retaining wall from a much earlier incarnation of this station, north of the outbound mini-high
Melrose Highlands station
Looking back south towards the Franklin St. grade crossing
Melrose Highlands station
Some pre-assembled track sections and a manual half-crossover south of Franklin St. In the far distance, you can just see another barricade on the north side of the Lynn Fells Parkway overpass.
Melrose Highlands station
A relatively unusual crossing gate for the sidewalk on Franklin St.
Melrose Highlands station
Looking up the inbound platform; at left, a city-owned commuter lot with 77 stalls
Melrose Highlands station
This station gets more ridership than either of the other two stations in Melrose, and much more than can be attributed to park-and-ride; there must be substantial walk-up ridership as well as bus transfers.
Melrose Highlands station
Look how wavy that outbound platform is! That explains why the outbound mini-high seems so low: the low platform is raised there. Note also evidence of a former pedestrian grade crossing at center right; while the station lacks fencing now, there are no longer any grade crossings other than the sidewalk at Franklin St.
Greenwood station
This is an odd duck of a station. I'm parked in a residential cul-de-sac, which has its own walkway to the inbound platform (but no official parking); the "main" parking is on the other side of the fence adjacent to the outbound platform.
Greenwood station
Only 80 passengers a day use this station, so it's hardly surprising that it has one pedestrian grade crossing, has offset low-level platforms, and is completely inaccessible.
Greenwood station
Looking north towards the Forest St. grade crossing
Greenwood station
Looking south toward Greenwood St., from which the station takes its name. It's a largely single-family-residential neighborhood, with auto-oriented commercial development along Main St., which is also served by the #137 Reading–Malden Center bus.
Greenwood station
These six parking spaces are signed as being available to MBTA commuters. In addition, the town allows on-street commuter parking in 70 stalls on Main St. north of Forest St. for $2 a day.
Wakefield station
From the sidewalk on North Ave., looking across at the shelter and a commercial building crowding the inbound platform; in the background, Grayson Lofts at Wakefield Station is an under-construction 178-unit apartment complex in a former underwear factory, which will undoubtedly add more foot traffic to downtown Wakefield.
Wakefield station
A cute old B&M depot building with a real-estate brokerage in it; a bit more of a setback than the other structures fronting the inbound platform
Wakefield station
Three restaurants and a hair salon is more services than usual on an MBTA platform, even one that sees nearly 500 passengers a day already. The MBTA manages 116 stalls of angle parking along North St. near the station, which filled up before 8 AM in pre-COVID times.
Wakefield station
Looking north up North St. along the sidewalk, with stairs to the low-level platform.
Wakefield station
The condition of this platform could stand to be improved. Note, jowever, the absence of pedestrian grade crossings: the only barrier to building a full-length high platform on the outbound side is cost.
Wakefield station
Looking south along the outbound platform. If this platform were raised, it would be at about the height of the sidewalk on the other side of the fence, and fully accessible. The inbound platform, however, is significantly more challenging.
Reading station
The busiest station on the entire line, 840 passengers used the station daily in 2018 — far more than could park in the MBTA's 71-stall surface lot here on Woburn St.
Reading station
The town operates significantly more parking in vicinity of the station. Like in Melrose, the town lot is controlled during the morning commuter peak, but unlike Melrose, Reading's lots are also restricted to town residents. Perhaps if they allowed more density in their downtown, Reading would have less of a parking problem?
Reading station
This was my first "WTF?" moment of this tour. It's a two-track station, has apparently always been a two-track station, but the outbound track was lifted and never replaced?
Reading station
With, like, pedestrian grade crossings and everything
Reading station
And there's the second trackbed extending as far as the eye can see to the north of the station
Reading station
And, bizarrely, the MBTA has continued to maintain the outbound platform, which serves no trains because there is no track there!
Reading station
They haven't done that great a job maintaining the remaining track, though.
Reading station
Another mini-high that looks lower than it ought to
Reading station
This one seems to be wood superstructure on a steel frame bolted to drilled concrete pile foundation.
Reading station
Side view of the mini-high, which is located rather farther down the platform than you would expect or want (they're supposed to be at the distal end of every platform, so the same car serves every accessible platform.)
Reading station
A Twitter follower found a stock photo from 1969 showing that the outbound track had already been lifted by then — the photo showed a B&M fantrip operated by a pair of Budd RDCs stopped in front of the station building seen here at center.
Reading station
Reading's central business district is located about a quarter mile down Haven St. from here — the station is on the west edge of downtown.