Norwood Central station

Norwood Central is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Norwood, Massachusetts. It serves the Franklin Line, and is located slightly south of downtown Norwood. It is a major park-and-ride location for Boston's southwest suburbs; with 1,041 daily riders it is the busiest station on the line outside Boston.[1] Norwood Central has two side platforms, each with a mini-high section making the station accessible.

Norwood Central
Norwood Central station in June 2010
Location164 Broadway, Norwood, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°11′20″N 71°12′00″W
Owned byMBTA
Line(s)Franklin Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Construction
Parking782 spaces ($4.00 fee)
16 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities27 spaces
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Fare zone3
History
Opened1852
Rebuilt1899
Passengers
20181,041 (weekday average boardings)[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Windsor Gardens
toward Forge Park/495 or Foxboro
 Franklin Line Norwood Depot
toward South Station
Former services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Plimptonville
toward Blackstone
 Midland Line Norwood Depot
toward Boston

History
Norwood Central station in 1906

The Norfolk County Railroad opened from Dedham to Walpole on April 23, 1849. South Dedham was originally the only station in what is now Norwood (then part of Dedham). Dedham Middle station, a small wooden building, was added around 1852.[2] It was renamed Norwood Central in 1872 when Norwood separated from Dedham.[3]

A new one-story brick station building was constructed by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1899. It was similar to no-longer-extant stations built around the same time at Forest Hills, Atlantic, Quincy, and Warren.[3] Unusually, the downspouts are built into the brickwork rather than affixed internally.[3]

Norwood Central is still served by the MBTA Commuter Rail Franklin Line, but the station building is now occupied by businesses.[3] An MBTA project around 1990 included reonvation of the station building and acccessible mini-high platforms.[4]

When Boston–Foxboro service for Gillette Stadium events was moved to the Franklin Line in 1994, Norwood Central and Dedham Corporate Center stations were intermediate stops.[5][6] Norwood Central was dropped from these trains beginning with the 2011 season.[7][8]

Solar panels were installed over part of the east parking lot in 2018 – one of the first three of a planned 37 such installations at MBTA parking lots.[9]

References
  1. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  2. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 43–45. ISBN 9780685412947.
  3. Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN 9780942147087.
  4. "Notice to Bidders". Boston Globe. April 28, 1989. p. 60 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  6. "T Patriots train!". Boston Globe. August 15, 1997. p. 86 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "New England Patriots 2010 / 2011 Football Trains to Gillette Stadium". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010.
  8. "New England Patriots 2011/2012 Football Trains to Gillette Stadium". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011.
  9. DiFazio, Joe (November 17, 2018). "MBTA turns to solar arrays at South Shore train stations". Patriot Ledger. Retrieved January 21, 2021.

Media related to Norwood Central station at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.