Category: Public Transit

Whelp, welcome to the boonies! Wachusett Station is among the newest stations on the Commuter Rail, having opened in 2016. This is also the highest point on the entire system, clocking in at about 650 to 675 feet above sea level. Damn! Originally, I was planning to do this one as a Christmas special, but I could just never get the timing right. So, I made my way out here on Independence Day to check it out! So, here we go.

The station is at the end of the Fitchburg Line, and is the furthest out one can get on the northside Commuter Rail lines (54 miles!), with only one station being further out than this on the entire Commuter Rail. As for what the station has, it’s just a park and ride. There’s a high-level platform with yellow signage, wastebaskets, benches, and whatnot. There’s also a busway for MART buses, which is nice. Furthermore, there plenty of parking to go around, though I’m not sure how well-utilized it is. Annoyingly, trains have to DEADHEAD TO THE YARD from here after terminating, and have to deadhead back before heading to Boston. This is also very annoying because it’s an easy way to end up running late. Eww. Now, in terms of what’s nearby? There isn’t much. The only things nearby are a gas station with a Dunks, and a….dispensary?! Yeah, there really isn’t a lot here. In terms of scenery though, it looks like a cool place to railfan Norfolk Southern!

The good: It’s a parking sink for the surrounding areas and towns like Westminster, Gardner, Princeton, and Ashburnham! It’s also a full-length high level platform! Neat!

The bad: The trains have to deadhead to the yard! Also, there’s not a lot out here overall…

Nearby points of interest: There’s a dispensary, for you stoners reading this! There’s also a gas station housing a Dunks in walking distance.

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Fitchburg)
MART (11, Wachusett Commuter, Wachusett Mountain Shuttle*)
*is seasonal

Overall, it’s an alright station. It’s not bad, it’s pretty nice actually. But, it’s relatively average and barebones as far as park and rides go. Also, terminal ops are annoying here.

Rating: 6.5/10

Don’t call me Shirley! But nah, in all seriousness, welcome to the outer fringes of the Fitchburg Line, where seemingly anything goes when it comes to scenery and whatnot. So, let’s take a look at Shirley!

So, getting off the train, they let us off in the middle of the street because that’s where the door was. The total length of the platform, including the street? About 100 feet or so. Yeah, it really isn’t long. There’s also a slab of concrete for boarding and alighting outbound trains. On the platform, you have a bench, a wheelchair lift (making this accessible technically, contrary to the system map!), and a small shelter. The map is outdated here, but for the Fitchburg Line it’s pretty accurate. The shelter, on the other hand, is pretty sad, with windows not having glass. Parking is also small but good enough given the relatively low ridership of the station. The station’s also pretty close to the town center (or, at least, the closest thing that can be considered “the town center”), and there’s even some semblance of cycling infra – with painted bicycle lanes. While it could be better, I have to give credit for effort being put in here. Good for you, Town of Shirley! Though, for cycling infra, I’d have to say that physical separation is better. Maybe a physically separated bike lane from around here to Ayer and Leominster? Either way, this station definitely has the vibes, but overall it’s meh.

The good: It’s got charm! The town’s also pretty nice, and if there’s activity, it’s a pretty nice place to railfan! The town center is also pretty damn close as well. It’s also accessible by way of a wheelchair lift.

The bad: Commuter Rail headways out here is pretty sad! 2 hours, even on weekdays! At least, offpeak. Furthermore, the train is your only form of transit as well. Also, the shelter is kinda sad, as charming as it may be, as it lacks any windows. Did I also mention that ADA compliance relies on a wheelchair lift? Yeah…

Nearby points of interest: Shirley seems like a cool town!

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Fitchburg)

Overall, it’s an okay station. However, I would definitely not place it among my favorites or the best on the system for various reasons. Sorry! I’m not even sure I can give it more than a 5.

Rating: 4.5/10

So, West Concord was an 8.5/10. That was good! What about its very revolutionary sibling, Concord? Well….

So, the walk from West Concord was pretty pleasant save for a dicey crossing of the Concord Turnpike (MA Rte. 2). The town center was pretty nice, as an area. There’s local restaurants, a Cumby’s, a Dunkies, and even a train station! Let’s look at it.

Oh god. Oh dear god. This is bad. So, you have two low level inaccessible platforms. They’re both in rather shitty condition. The inbound platform has the red dot matrix signage and a freakin’ BUS SHELTER for shelter. YEAH. YOU GET A RINKY DINKY-ASS LITTLE BUS SHELTER TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE RAIN AND SNOW HERE. You also have a few benches and a bit of parking as well. Yay? I wonder how Paul Revere would feel about this station. 1 if by land, 2 if by sea? I think 1 if a good station, 2 if absolute dogshit, and for this one I’d have to put out two lanterns to signify it’s a STEAMING SACK OF SHIT. The redcoats are coming? Yeah, they’re coming, to warn everyone this station is godawful! Especially when you have an 8.5/10 station IN THE SAME GODDAMN TOWN! FUCK. The station house looks cool at least?

The good: It’s in the town center, kinda! Yeah, that’s about it. Free parking too, maybe?

The bad: EVERYTHING ELSE. WHY ARE ALL THE AMENITIES SHIT, THEY’RE ALL BUNCHED NEXT TO A BUS SHELTER ON THE INBOUND PLATFORM, WHY IS THERE A BUS SHELTER?! WHY, JUST WHY?! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

Nearby points of interest: I got lunch at a nearby place. Wasn’t the best of food in terms of quality though. The area looks interesting though!

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Fitchburg)

Overall, just, no. Just no. This one pissed me off after West Concord. WHY?!

Rating: 3/10

Ah, another Fitchburg Line station! I haven’t done one of these in a while, to put it lightly. Well, I recently got around to heading out there, and visited a few stations. Here’s West Concord.

First off, you have a mini-high where the trains are board. Woah, immediately that’s an improvement from most of the line, where the platforms are rinky-dinky shitty low-level platforms. YAY! And, there’s shelter! Lining the platforms are benches, wastebaskets, and on the inbound side, a red dot matrix sign. There’s also Helvetica bold signage as expected. There is also parking. Furthermore, there’s history, a bubbler- er, sorry, a water fountain (forgot this isn’t Rhode Island!), and even a nice station house. There’s also a bike path that runs all the way to Sudbury and Lowell from here. Neat! This station’s actually pretty good! Would be nice for railfanning if there wasn’t a quiet zone though…

The good: There’s so much going for this station! There’s plenty to do around the walkshed, there’s a bike path, the station has a mini-high and is actually pretty decent overall for usability, there’s a bubbler and a small park! It’s just really nice for a small intermediate stop.

The bad: A bus connection would be nice! As would full-length high platforms and any small quality of life updates.

Nearby points of interest: It’s a small village with some shopping and restaurants. There’s also a bike path and green spaces.

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Fitchburg)

Overall, it’s pretty good all things considered, and is probably among the best non-terminal stations on the Commuter Rail. And, at that, certainly probably the best on the Fitchburg Line.

Rating: 8.5/10

Alrighty, another bus route! This time, we’ll be taking a look at the MBTA’s bus route 8, which runs from Kenmore to UMASS Boston and Harbor Point. So, let’s look at it.

The route begins at Kenmore’s busway and runs south down Brookline Avenue pretty much immediately, passing Fenway Park and Lansdowne Station. Quickly after, we enter the Longwood Medical Area, passing close to Fenway Station on the D branch (but not directly serving it, as we don’t turn down Park Drive) and pass The Fenway. Wait, THE Fenway?! I thought it was just a park, not a wholeass street! Yeah, that’s right, One Fenway is a street. Of course, this isn’t to be confused with the park. But, that begs the question, what came first, the street or the park?

*does research*

Huh, looks like the park was named after the street. Okay, then! Anyways, we pass some Simmons University facilities, turn down Longwood Avenue past the Longwood Galleria as we go through the Medical Area. On my ride up to Kenmore, it was HELL. We turned onto Avenue Louis Pasteur. Now, I don’t know who the fuck Louis Pasteur is, but he needs to have a better-designed street named after him. Or, maybe he was an urban planner with a big ego (moreso than Robert Moses?) and he needs to design a better street himself. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to bunch a shitton of random buses here?! Who let this happen?! Why the fuck is this even a good idea?!?! And the fucking LONGWOOD MEDICAL AREA, OF ALL PLACES!!! I’D EXPECT THIS SHIT DOWNTOWN NEAR HAYMARKET OR STATE STREET, OR EVEN COPLEY! NOT THE LONGWOOD FUCKING MEDICAL AREA!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! Anyways, I digress. We trudge on down Ruggles Street, interchanging with Huntington Avenue with an E branch connection at Museum of Fine Arts, and soon enough we were at Ruggles. However, unusual, we ran THROUGH Ruggles, stopping at both the upper and the lower busways. Woah! We proceeded and the real pain began.

We deviated into Nubian Square for even more bus connections, turned up Washington St., and eventually turned down a street to turn right again. Passing by some more apartments and, eventually, the Boston Medical Center, this section was a massive slog. It was SLOW. I mean, it was rush-hour traffic in the South End, I can’t say I’m surprised we ended up 30 minutes late. It’s almost as if median-running bus lanes might have helped a little. I must also reiterate, the 1 also runs through here a bit, as does the 10!!! Of course, after trudging on, we turned into Newmarket Square, passing the Fairmount Line, deviating into the South Bay Center, and we went EVEN FURTHER!!!! But it didn’t feel as painful. We just went down Mass. Ave. for the rest of its length, went onto Columbia Road, and eventually made it to JFK/UMASS’s busway. FINALLY!!!

The route continues on down Mt. Vernon St. towards Harbor Point and turns around in the middle of UMASS Boston’s campus. However, I was tired and wanted to attempt to get the 4:52 PM express home (spoiler: I missed it.), so I ran for the Red Line at JFK/UMASS. The route isn’t anything special, however.

The good: In a way, it’s two routes in one: Kenmore-Nubian via the LMA, and Nubian-JFK via the South Bay Center. So, let’s break it down. It largely covers areas not covered by the other Nubian bus routes, including the South End and the South Bay shopping mall, as well as going into UMASS Boston itself rather than turning around at JFK/UMASS. From Kenmore to Nubian, it also serves the Longwood Medical Area and Wentworth, some of which is shared with a variety of other bus routes. However…

The bad: The damn route can become slowed down VERY EASILY by traffic, especially during rush hour! It also gets an insane amount of ridership so, if any route is to become a rail line, I strongly would nominate this one (or at least nominate it for bendy buses and insane amounts of dedicated ROW!). Also, what the fuck is on Louis Pasteur’s avenue?! The headways are also haphazard on weekdays, being literally anywhere between 20 and 45 minutes! Weekend headways are more consistent, at every 45 minutes. Nice.

Nearby points of interest: Fenway Park, the LMA, Nubian Square, a couple of colleges, the Boston Medical Center, and the South Bay Center along with UMASS Boston primarily.

Overall, convert the damn route to a subway line! PLEASE, I’M BEGGING YOU. It’s not a bad route, but it’d make it A LOT BETTER! EVEN THROWING BUS LANES IN THE MEDIAN WOULD HELP A LOT!!!

Rating: 6.5/10

So, who IS Louis Pasteur, anyways? Is he, in fact, an urban planner or something? Is he Boston’s Robert Moses? Well……

*does research*

So apparently he’s not from Boston nor does he have ties to the city. He’s just some random French guy involved with the field of science. Well then…. I guess I absolve him of all accusations of shitty urban planning.

Ashland, when coming from Boston, is the first of four infill stations built in the early 21st century on the way to Worcester. It also seen a massive rebuild as of late. So, let’s look at it, shall we?

The station is your standard Worcester Line infill, bearing many a similarity to Westborough. It’s the closest station to the town’s downtown (Grafton is in no man’s land, Westborough is far from downtown, and Southborough is also pretty far), there’s a MWRTA bus connection, and an ample amount of parking. You also have a standard mini-high platform and a metal overpass. Woah. Downtown is a 1 mile walk away, neat! Benches are also found on the platform, and on the overpass as well. Yeah, I don’t have much specifically to say about this station other than that its mere location makes it the best of the bunch.

The good: It’s close to the town center, only a mile away (roughly)! Furthermore, it’s the most recently rebuilt out of all the stations as of writing this, so it has modern amenities like a departure board and whatnot.

The bad: The bus connection isn’t exactly frequent, being approximately every hour and a half. Furthermore, the station is only a mini-high. And, why isn’t this in the town center??? Granted, it’s only a mile out so it’s a lot better than certain other offenders, but it’s still annoying.

Nearby points of interest: The town center is close by, be it a 3 minute MWRTA ride or a 20 minute walk! There’s also a nearby apartment complex.

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Worcester)
MWRTA (5)

Overall, for the infills between Framingham and Worcester, this is probably the best one with location and transit connections. So, as such, this gets a higher score.

Rating: 8/10

Alrighty, so on the day I did this bus route, I was going out to the Dedham Mall to meet up with someone who was working on walking the perimeter of Boston. There were three routes I could’ve taken: the 34, the 34E, and the 35. I’ve already taken the 34E, so my options were the 34 and the 35, and it happened the 35 came first. So, here we go.

So, after using a BlueBike to Forest Hills, I boarded the 35 from the upper busway, and eventually we started moving. From here, we turned down Washington St., following a number of other bus routes including the 34E, 36, 37, and 40. All of these routes would eventually diverge. Washington St. and Roslindale Square is not as dense as other parts of the city, but it’s still a major center of activity with shopping and even a Commuter Rail station. Neat! Eventually, continuing down Belgrade Ave., we continued following the 36 and 37 as well as the Needham Line, and eventually most of the bus emptied out along here. In a way, my experience proves a good point as to why the Needham Line should be converted to an Orange Line extension. Don’t get me wrong, I feel an all/nothing approach is probably better anyways, but a split approach (Newton Highlands-Hersey converted to Green Line, Forest Hills-West Roxbury converted to Orange Line, with West Roxbury-Hersey becoming a shuttle trolley) isn’t bad either. I digress. It’s mostly all lined with businesses until reaching the area near LaGrange St. and West Roxbury Station. We turned down and it became a quiet neighborhood, and going further from there, turning down Stimson St., it’s still residential. Eventually, however, we reached Washington St., quickly turned down for a bit, and deviated into the Dedham Mall for the end of the run.

The good: It supplements a few bus routes paralleling the Needham Line, and it gets a bit of ridership! Furthermore, it’s normal in that it shows up every 30-40 minutes (though in the aforementioned area, combined frequencies are higher).

The bad: The bus starts rather late on Sundays, though, and weekday service to the mall doesn’t start until 9 AM-ish…

Nearby points of interest: Centre St. and Belgrade Ave., and the Dedham Mall! Roslindale as well!

Overall, it’s a useful route for what it is, but the run I was on had little ridership to the Dedham Mall itself. But, I think the best fate is converting the Needham Line to an Orange Line extension, and this proves it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Bradford is a small neighborhood in the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Its station? Among the least-used on the Commuter Rail, it’s located less than half a mile south of the station in downtown Haverhill, on the opposite side of the Merrimack River. And, in contrast to downtown, it’s in a relatively quiet area. Let’s look at it.

It’s your standard accessible station affair, with a long low level platform with a mini-high. A pedestrian crossing exists to change sides, a red dot matrix board is on the inbound platform, and there’s ample lighting. If you’re willing to walk for 10 minutes, you’ll also reach downtown Haverhill. There were condos being constructed, but would they be affordable? I doubt it. On the contrary, there’s also a lot of single family housing nearby, a cafe, MeVa headquarters, and even the Haverhill Line’s layover yard is located here. If you walk, you can also get a nice view of the rail line over the river, which looks like a nice spot to railfan. Neat!

The good: It’s in a quiet neighborhood and provides relief for Haverhill Station. Furthermore, there’s parking and a lot of houses nearby, which is nice. It’s also pretty good for pedestrian access as well.

The bad: I guess being a mini-high stinks. Street-level signage could also be better.

Nearby points of interest: Downtown Haverhill. Yeah, sorry.

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Haverhill)

Overall, it’s a pretty nice station (certainly better than the last one I wrote about). However, it doesn’t really have a lot going for it that Haverhill itself doesn’t. Sorry!

Rating: 7/10

Welcome to the Haverhill Line’s least-used station. So, what does this station have? Well……ugh….

First off, North Wilmington is a flag stop on the Haverhill Line, just beyond Reading, but also before the Wildcat junction. This means if the line is bustituted, it’s in a limbo area where there’s no service. This is ironic, given there’s GTFS data for shuttle stops here. Or, there was, until recently. Moving on to the station itself, what’s unique about it? Well, a lot. And, not in a good way.

This is the only station where regular service requires use of boarding/alighting EXCLUSIVELY from the rear car. YES, I REPEAT, YOU HAVE TO BOARD/ALIGHT FROM THE REARMOST CAR OF THE TRAIN HERE. This is the only station I can think of where this is regular. I mean, I’ve seen it happen on the Fairmount Line too, but that’s offpeak-only! Not all-day! The station is also very inaccessible. Allegedly there were plans to install a mini-high here (or, convert it to one akin to Lynnterim), but that’s gone nowhere to my awareness. There’s also largely nothing around here. Boo. Yeah, this sucks. D: But, there is one saving grace: if the Lowell Line is being worked on (as was the case with Winchester Center) and Amtrak can’t use it, the Downeaster runs down here to reach Haverhill, rather than using the Wildcat Branch and Woburn Station. It also begets a nice (if desolate) railfanning spot.

The good: …transit-accessible RMV?

The bad: The station’s existence. Why does it exist? Just freakin’ use Wilmington. Granted, it’s useless if you want to get to Haverhill (assuming no schedule changes) or Malden, but if you’re going to Boston then it’s a hell of a lot better. Furthermore, trains are more frequent! Also, why the hell did they go through the trouble of INSTALLING A NEW STATION SIGN?! JUST- AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!! FHIDOASHFIDOPSAHFDIOPAH

Nearby points of interest: Just the RMV, maybe Dunkies.

Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Haverhill)

Overall….yk what, yeah, this shithole of a station DESERVES to be shuttered. I genuinely have nothing good to say about it. BANISH TO THE UNDERWORLD! If depression had a Commuter Rail station, this is it.

Rating: 0.5/10