Alrighty, alrighty, the full name of this station and town is “Manchester by the Sea”, however for simplicity’s sake, I’m gonna just call it Manchester. However, with that said, if the coveted Lowell Line extension to New Hampshire happens, I’ll probably use the full name in the title of this entry. With that said, here’s a very foggy and dreary station – Manchester By The Sea. (it was foggy and dreary when I was here)
So, Manchester is much a copy-paste of the various stations in Beverly – mini high setup, barren mini-highs with nothing, red dot matrix signage, outbound platform having much of nothing on it, and a decent amount of parking. However, this time, the outbound platform DOES have shelter – albeit not on the mini-high. And, for some reason, it’s LARGER than the inbound! Meanwhile, the inbound shelter is just a shed. There is also plenty of parking to go around, and the station is in the town center adjacent to a drawbridge. In terms of nearby stuff in the town center, there’s a grocery store, the local community center, and a waterfront park. Neat! But, the station’s still pretty sad overall. Sorry!
The good: It’s in Manchester’s town center! Yay? It also has shelter!
The bad: WHY DOES THE OUTBOUND SIDE GET A LARGER SHELTER? WHY IS THE PLATFORM SO DAMN BARREN FOR A MAJOR-ISH TOURIST DESTINATION?! RAISE THE DAMN PLATFORM! WAHT THE HELL?! The lack of buses here is annoying but that’s hardly an issue.
Nearby points of interest: Manchester is a bustling seaside town during the summer months!
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Rockport)
Overall, yeah this station sucks. The only saving grace vs. Montserrat is that it’s in the town center and that the outbound platform has shelter. But it suffers many of the same issues as the Beverly stations. Sorry!
Rating: 3.5/10
