Norwood Central station

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Norwood Central
Norwood Central MBTA station, Norwood MA.jpg
Norwood Central station in June 2010
Location164 Broadway, Norwood, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°11′20″N 71°12′00″W / 42.18875°N 71.19990°W / 42.18875; -71.19990Coordinates: 42°11′20″N 71°12′00″W / 42.18875°N 71.19990°W / 42.18875; -71.19990
Line(s)Franklin Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Construction
Parking781 spaces ($4.00 fee)
Bicycle facilities27 spaces
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Fare zone3
History
Openedc. 1852
Rebuilt1899, c. 1990
Previous namesDedham Middle (until 1872)
Passengers
20181,041 (weekday average boardings)[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA.svg MBTA Following station
Windsor Gardens
toward Forge Park/495
 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
Morrills
toward Providence
 Wrentham Branch

Norwood Central station 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.

Station design[]

Norwood Central station is located near downtown Norwood, about 0.4 miles (0.6 km) south of Norwood Common. The two-track Franklin Branch, used by the Franklin Line service, runs approximately north–south through Norwood. Just south of the station, the East Walpole Industrial Track diverges from the mainline, which becomes a single track. The station has two low-level side platforms, with accessible mini-high platforms at their southern ends.[2] Two parking lots – a large lot east of the tracks, and a smaller lot on the west side – together have 781 spaces.[3][4] With 1,041 daily riders in 2018, it is the busiest station on the line outside Boston.[1]

The former station building, located on the west side of the tracks, is owned by the MBTA but has been converted for commercial use. It is a one-story yellow brick building, 28 by 66 feet (8.5 m × 20.1 m), with a bay window on the track side.[5][6] A raised band of brick encircles the building just below the windows. The hipped slate roof connects with a wooden canopy along the platform. The ridges of the roof are edged with copper rails. Unusually, the downspouts are built into the station brickwork rather than affixed externally.[5][7]

History[]

Early history[]

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 was added around 1852.[8] A small wooden station building on the west side of the tracks was constructed in 1865.[7][5][9] Dedham Middle became the outer terminus for some short turn service in 1867.[8] The station was renamed Norwood Central in 1872 when Norwood separated from Dedham.[5]

The railroad went through several mergers, eventually becoming part of the New York and New England Railroad in 1875.[8] The railroad opened its new car shops that year across the tracks from Norwood Central station, replacing a fire-destroyed facility at Readville. It was expanded in 1880 for additional use as a locomotive shop.[10] Double track was extended from Islington through Norwood to Walpole in 1873–1881.[8]

1890s changes[]

Norwood Central station in 1906

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 .[5]

The railroad's main car shops were relocated to the new Readville Shops in 1903, though Norwood Shops remained in use for locomotives.[10][11][12] Norwood Shops was closed around 1930; the buildings were sold off to other industrial users.[10][13][14] The single daily round trip on the Wrentham Branch was discontinued on July 17, 1938, as part of a massive station closure.[15] Freight service on the line lasted for several more decades; it was gradually abandoned, except for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) between Norwood and East Walpole, which remains in service as the East Walpole Industrial Track.[16]: 366  The outer portion of the Midland Division was reduced to single track in 1940–41, leaving Norwood Central as the south end of double track on the line.[8]

MBTA era[]

The newly formed Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began subsidizing suburban commuter rail service on the Franklin Branch on April 24, 1966. The New Haven merged into Penn Central in 1969.[17] On January 27, 1973, the MBTA purchased most of the Penn Central commuter lines, including the Franklin Branch and Norwood Central station.[17] The MBTA gradually increased service on the Franklin Line. In 1977, the agency began an $11 million track and station reconstruction project on the line, partially funded by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, which included improvements to the platforms at Norwood Central.[8][18]

When Boston–Foxboro service for Foxboro Stadium events was moved to the Franklin Line from 1986 to 1988, Norwood Central was an intermediate stop.[19][20] The service returned to the Franklin Line in 1995, again with Norwood Central as a stop.[21][22] Norwood Central was dropped from these special event trains beginning with the 2011 season.[23][24]

A 1988 MBTA historical survey remarked that the station building "is considered architecturally significant and is a very good, intact example of late 19th-century railroad station architecture", and determined that it was eligible for addition to the National Register of Historic Places.[7] An MBTA project around 1990 included renovation of the station building and accessible mini-high platforms.[25] The MBTA rented the restored station building for commercial use in 1991.[26][27] The remaining buildings of Norwood Shops were demolished in the 1990s for an expanded station parking lot.[5] Solar panels were installed over part of this parking lot in 2018 – one of the first three of a planned 37 such installations at MBTA parking lots.[28]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  2. ^ Held, Patrick R. (2010). "Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts" (PDF). Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery. p. 41. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2013.
  3. ^ Godwin, Ariel (April 27, 2011). "Inventory of Park-and-Ride Lots at MBTA Facilities". Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization.
  4. ^ "Norwood Central". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f 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.
  6. ^ "164-170 Broadway". Norwood GIS. Town of Norwood. 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Carolan, Jane (1988). "Historic Structure Inventory Form". MBTA Historical Property Survey, Phase II. McGinley Hart & Associates – via Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 43–46. ISBN 9780685412947.
  9. ^ "Norwood, Massachusetts". O.H. Bailey & Co. 1882.
  10. ^ a b c Fanning, Patricia J. (2002). Norwood: A History. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 32–34, 110. ISBN 9781439630556.
  11. ^ "Strike Breakers Quit". Boston Globe. June 4, 1904. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Norwood, one of the newest and most progressive towns in Massachusetts. Ambrose Bros., Printers. 1906. p. 14 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "New Haven Budget Forecast Cheerful". Boston Globe. February 19, 1936. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Repair Schedule Has Been Met". Boston Globe. January 11, 1930. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Train service alibi for lateness today". Boston Globe. July 18, 1938. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  16. ^ Karr, Ronald Dale (2017). The Rail Lines of Southern New England (2 ed.). Branch Line Press. pp. 355–366. ISBN 9780942147124.
  17. ^ a b Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  18. ^ 1977 Annual Report. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1977. p. 15 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ "MBTA provides Patriots' train". Boston Globe. September 3, 1986. p. 62 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "MBTA to run trains to Patriots' games". Boston Globe. September 2, 1988. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "How to get to the game". Boston Globe. December 4, 1994. p. 63 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "How to get to the game". Boston Globe. September 10, 1995. p. 93 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "New England Patriots 2010 / 2011 Football Trains to Gillette Stadium". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010.
  24. ^ "New England Patriots 2011/2012 Football Trains to Gillette Stadium". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011.
  25. ^ "Notice to Bidders". Boston Globe. April 28, 1989. p. 60 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  26. ^ "Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Invitation for Bids". Boston Globe. March 5, 1991. p. 69 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Pick of the Weekly". Boston Globe. September 20, 1992. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ DiFazio, Joe (November 17, 2018). "MBTA turns to solar arrays at South Shore train stations". Patriot Ledger. Retrieved January 21, 2021.

External links[]

Media related to Norwood Central station at Wikimedia Commons

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