Shirley (MBTA station)

SHIRLEY

Looking inbound at the platform and 1993-built shelter
Location Ayer Road & Phoenix Street
Shirley, MA 01464
Coordinates 42°32′42″N 71°38′53″W / 42.54505°N 71.64815°W / 42.54505; -71.64815Coordinates: 42°32′42″N 71°38′53″W / 42.54505°N 71.64815°W / 42.54505; -71.64815
Line(s)
  Fitchburg Line
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 2
Construction
Parking 25 spaces (free)
Bicycle facilities yes
Other information
Fare zone 8
History
Opened December 30, 1844[1]
May 1981[2]
Closed January 18, 1965[2]
Rebuilt 1993 (shelter)[3]
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 315 (weekday inbound average)[4]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
toward Wachusett
Fitchburg Line

Shirley is a passenger rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line, located in the village center of Shirley, Massachusetts. The station consists of a short low-level platform with an asphalt patch for passengers to cross the tracks, plus a small wooden shelter on the inbound side. Shirley station is not handicapped accessible.

History

Shirley station on a postcard from the early 1900s

The Fitchburg Railroad opened to Shirley on December 30, 1844.[1] Service - later operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad - lasted until the newly formed Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began to subsidize service in 1965. The section of the line from West Concord to Fitchburg was outside the MBTA's funding district, and service was cut back to West Concord on January 18, 1965.[2] The mid-sized station building was torn down around this time.

The line was re-extended as far as Ayer (one stop inbound of Shirley) later in 1965 and cut back to South Acton in 1975. Service was extended out to Gardner in January 1980, but the stops at Shirley and West Acton were not restored. Shirley reopened in May 1980, with a small plexiglass bus stop shelter on the inbound side.[2][3] The bus shelter was replaced by a hip-roofed wooden structure - its style based on the original Shirley station - in 1993.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Humphrey, Thomas J. & Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 87. ISBN 9780685412947.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Belcher, Jonathan (23 March 2013). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 228. ISBN 9780942147087.
  4. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14 ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
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