Great Barrington station

Great Barrington station is a former railroad station in Great Barrington, Massachusetts along the Housatonic Railroad Berkshire Line.

Great Barrington
LocationCastle Street
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
United States
Coordinates42°11′38″N 73°21′54″W
Owned byHousatonic Railroad
Line(s)Berkshire Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
History
Opened1901
Closed1971
NRHP reference No.98000680[1]
Added to NRHPJune 11, 1998

History
Early-20th-century postcard of the station

The railroad was chartered in 1836 and began placing rails in Bridgeport Connecticut and on the line from North Canaan, Connecticut in Great Barrington in September 1842.[2] The station was built in 1901 to replace an earlier one on Railroad Avenue.[3] The line ran north to Stockbridge,[4] Lenox Railroad Station, Lee Station. In Pittsfield, it stopped at Pittsfield Depot, and later, at Union Station. Passenger service ended on April 30, 1971.[5] It has been a stop on the Berkshire Scenic Railway. [6][7][8] The station is a contributing property within the Taconic and West Avenues Historic District.[9][10]

In 2008 the railroad began considering the possibility of resuming commercial passenger service along the entire line from the Danbury Branch to Pittsfield, and in May 2010 began a formal study of the same. At the time, the estimated cost of upgrading the railroad to support passenger trains was estimated to be between $100 million and $150 million, not including the cost of the required equipment.[11] It decided it would not renew its agreement with Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum to continue operating passenger excursions over their railroad.

In July 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) authorized the purchase of 37 miles of the railroad's Berkshire Line from the Connecticut border in Sheffield through Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lee, and Lenox to Pittsfield, where it joins the CSXT Railroad main line. MassDOT's purchase is intended to extend rail services to New York City via Southeast Station, following track improvements for passenger and freight service between Massachusetts and Connecticut.[12][13]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "Great Barrington rail stations: Past, present and future". The Berkshire Edge. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  3. http://www.townofgb.org/pages/gbarringtonma_histdist/Historic%20Walking%20Tour.pdf
  4. "Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum - Stockbridge Station". berkshirescenicrailroad.org. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  5. Leveille, Gary (2011). Around Great Barrington. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7476-9.
  6. "Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum - History... and Future". berkshirescenicrailroad.org. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  7. "The Housatonic Railroad, Inc :-: 860-824-0850 :-". hrrc.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  8. http://berkshireplanning.org/images/uploads/documents/Passenger_Rail_Study_2014_-_Complete_Report.pdf
  9. "Town of Great Barrington, MA Historic Districts and Commission". ecode360.com. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  10. Waite, Thorton. "RAILROAD PROPERTIES ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLATES IN MASSACHUSETTS". salisburypoint.tnsing.com/history/1826_historic.../historic_places.doc.
  11. "Housatonic Railroad to start own study of reopening passenger line". Waterbury Republican-American. 12 June 2010. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  12. "MASSDOT BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVES PURCHASE OF BERKSHIRE RAIL LINE FROM HOUSATONIC RAILROAD COMPANY". The Official Website of The Massachusetts Department of Transportation. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  13. "MassDOT Berkshire Rail Line Purchase". 17 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

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