Abandoned station in MA

I remember seeing a picture of an abandoned station of nerail a few months back. It was definitely south of Boston and might have been on the "Cape Cod" line. The station was fairly new and it was amazing to see such a modern day platform with abandoned tracks running through it.

Could anyone give me some information as to why the station was updated and then just scrapped?

More pictures would be sweet too!

Some stations along the route of the Cape Codder in SE Mass received mini high level platforms and modern lighting. I believe this was a state-sponsored project to add commuter rail service along the route and I think I read that CTC was going to be installed as well, numerous signals were put in but remain "turned away" from rail view. If this is indeed the area you're thinking of, the line is not abandoned and sees regular freight moves and some stations still have pax service, albeit excursion trains.

Did the station look like this?

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=50700
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=50702

If so, that's the Buzzards Bay station, which was definetly a former Amtrak stop. Some stations along that line are very similar in appearance. Can't think of any other Amtrak station in Mass that is abandoned on 'abandoned-looking' tracks, except perhaps the Northampton "platform" on the Pan-Am "Conn River Line", but that was nothing more than a platform and service stopped in the mid 1980s there.

I heard thet the Falmouth station on Cape Cod was also improved by the state, then the tracks were torn up as far as North Falmouth where the spur to Otis branches off, since there is no Freight service south of there, and passenger/excursion trains have not gone on the Woods Hole branch since the CC&H went belly-up in the 1980's. I don't know for sure since I haven't been in that area for a while.

Although there is a CCC RR excursion planned in November that will go down the Woods Hole branch which you can read about here http://www.capetrain.com/train-railfan.php

Jon

The station I was talking about was most definitely NOT Buzzard's Bay.

The station I saw was clearly grown over to the point that you could barely see the tracks at all, if they even existed.

I just thought it was a weird sight to see a "modern" station on such an over grown line.

What exactly do you mean by "modern" station? High level platforms? What did the building look like?

If it wasn't on the Cape Cod line, it wasn't a former Amtrak station. The only other stations in Massachusetts that were once used by Amtrak and now aren't are Northampton, which as Mr. Jay notes was just an asphalt platform next to the former B&M/NH station (an early 20th century building which is now a restaurant), and the former modular station at Pittsfield (North Adams Junction), which was on the very busy B&A freight line. I'm not counting relocations of a few hundred feet due to new construction or renovations, as at Worcester.

There's an abandoned spur that branches off from the modern station at Canton junction. It's just a spur, but it does sit right next to the station for the MBTA Canton line.

theseaandalifesaver wrote:I remember seeing a picture of an abandoned station of nerail a few months back. It was definitely south of Boston and might have been on the "Cape Cod" line. The station was fairly new and it was amazing to see such a modern day platform with abandoned tracks running through it.

Could anyone give me some information as to why the station was updated and then just scrapped?

More pictures would be sweet too!

Dude a little more info goes a long way, theres alot of stations in Mass!

Not an Amtrak topic. Off we go to New England.

Perhaps you are speaking of the Falmouth Station? It was rehabbed with a short High-level back in the 80's, only to see sporatic scenic railroad service, and ultimately the tracks torn up and a bike trail put in. But yes, a few more details will certainly narrow down the location.

I'm also thinking the original poster was referring to Falmouth. Railpace and some of the other fan mags had shots of the rails being lifted for a bike path. Branch was cut back to the Air Force base instead of Falmouth (having been previously cut back from original terminus at Woods Hole).

Rail service was operated for a few years in the 80s by the Cape tourist railroad. (I transferred once from Amtrak at Buzzard's Bay to a Falmouth train and also recall riding down from Boston by taking the Red Line to the end and then picking up the excursion train).

Here's a photo taken of Falmouth MA station taken and
posted in February 2003.

http://tinyurl.com/yzg7y54

Dick

I've found myself searching for this picture of the overgrown Falmouth platform today. I've seen it before but now cannot find it. Google searching is fruitless. Anyone got a lead?

A Wikipedia user I know had an old picture of theirs stored up. here's how it looked in 2011.

Falmouth Depot Station modernization just recently completed $1,300,000 by MassDOT, with double track clear out as well, only by the Station itself though. Town of Falmouth stated it was only done for a possible future historical display of RR equipment, not for any return of Rail service. Perhaps MassDOT has something else in mind for the future as this area is now a transportation hub with the main Steamship parking lot next door & Bus station operating out of the Depot as well.

Any chance the poster meant the abandoned Pawtucket - Central Falls station ?
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawtucket ... A_station)"