Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa (if you celebrate – I do not know anyone that celebrates it), and happy holidays overall! Hopefully you (the reader) are enjoying your Wednesday. Today’s entry, is a special gift. Welcome to Ayer!
Ayer, in particular, has a reputation among Boston-area railfans – and, in a way, is a rite of passage. It’s a major freight rail hub, and is the most likely place to see freight trains in MBTA territory. That is not to say you can’t see them elsewhere – you absolutely can! I’ve personally seen CSX running on the Northeast Corridor, the outer Haverhill Line, and the Franklin Line. I digress though. The station itself is pretty modest, if not ADA accessible – as there are two low level platforms, a grade crossing between them, a red dot matrix sign on the inbound platform, seating on both sides, a nice-ish shelter, a bus shelter (both on the inbound side, naturally), and even a modest amount of parking. The station is also pretty much in Ayer’s town center, which is nice. There’s also a parking garage operated and managed by MART a little ways away. As for bus connections, however, there really aren’t any. Wait, what’s that? A horse racing down the track? What?! HOLY FUCKING SHIT, A NORFOLK SOUTHERN LOCOMOTIVE TRIO COUPLING TO A CRAPTON OF AUTORACKS?! Of course, I wasn’t the only one here, as a number of railfans had the same idea on the day I was out here. But, that wasn’t even the only catch! Later, I’d also see a CSX train taking the wye to head south towards Devens and Harvard. Unfortunately, it ended up becoming disabled, and I guess it broke the signaling system and switches (forcing the Keolis conductor on my train to Boston to hand-throw it), but hey, it was still cool to see!
The good: It’s located in downtown Ayer! The walkshed is actually pretty good, and at face value, Ayer is the kind of place where you could easily take the train out, get lunch, do a little bit of shopping, and take the train back. There’s also plenty of parking for park & ride users, as well – even if it’s not a lot (given Littleton is better-suited for this, being at the junction of MA-2 and I-495). It’s also a freakin’ cool place to railfan freight trains too, for what it’s worth.
The bad: Really, the worst, is that it’s inaccessible, and freight trains could easily block the crossing. I genuinely don’t have anything else bad to say about it, surprisingly. Actually, I do have ONE thing to say. The outbound platform is a little barren!
Nearby points of interest: Ayer’s town center looks like it has some cool places! Furthermore, there’s a rail trail!
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Fitchburg)
Overall, it’s actually not that bad, as far as inaccessible Commuter Rail stations. I mean, yeah, it could (& should) be better. But, given far worse stations exist on this very same line, I think this is deserving of an okay score.
Rating: 6/10
