Gardner is a former station stop on the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

Fitchburg Line The Fitchburg Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which runs from Boston's North Station to Wachusett station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was built across norther ...

, located in

Gardner, Massachusetts Gardner, officially the City of Gardner, is a city in Worcester County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,287 in the 2020 census. Gardner is home of such sites as the Blue Moon Diner, Dunn State Park, Ga ...

. Passenger service to Union Station ran from 1851 until 1960, and commuter service also briefly ran from 1980 to 1986. Restoration of passenger service was considered in the early 2000s, but was rejected due to low cost-effectiveness.

History

Gardner gained train service on the

Fitchburg Railroad The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...

(via the Vermont & Massachusetts) in 1851. Located at the intersection of the Fitchburg Railroad with the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (which began service to Worcester in 1871), Gardner once had a large

union station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

which was angled to serve both lines. The Fitchburg bought the BB&G in 1885, and was itself bought by the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

in 1900. The "Biggest Chair", a 12-foot-tall chair made by a local company, was placed in the station lawn around 1910. Passenger service to Worcester ended in March 1953, and service to Boston ended in 1960 when the B&M discontinued all trains west of Fitchburg, ending more than a century of rail service. Union Station was demolished soon after. On December 27, 1976, the MBTA bought the Boston and Maine Railroad's northside commuter rail assets, including the entire length of the Fitchburg Line. The closure of the

Lexington Branch Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

the next month represented the limit of the contraction of the northside lines; as a result of the

1970s energy crisis The 1970s energy crisis occurred when the Western world, particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, faced substantial petroleum shortages as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period wer ...

and especially the

1979 energy crisis The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four per ...

, a period of rapid expansion began in the end of the 1970s. On January 13, 1980, the MBTA extended commuter service on the Fitchburg Line from South Acton, with two round trips extended as far as Gardner. Trains did not stop at the former Union Station site, but instead at a narrow asphalt platform in the freight yard just to the west off Main Street. Service to Gardner ended seven years later on January 1, 1987, due to a dispute between the MBTA, Amtrak (who ran the trains), and Guilford Transportation (who owned the tracks between Fitchburg and Gardner). The MBTA contracted with Wilson Bus Lines to run Gardner-Fitchburg connecting service until June 1993, when the

Montachusett Regional Transit Authority The Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) is a public, nonprofit organization established under Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Laws to provide public transportation to the Montachusett Region. MART is one of Massachusetts' 15 ...

took over the route as a local service.

Proposed restoration

Restoring commuter rail service to Gardner has been considered since 1987. In 2000, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed a bill that directed the MBTA to "conduct a feasibility study regarding the reestablishment of the commuter rail line to the cities of Gardner and Athol on the existing Fitchburg/Gardner/Athol spur line" as one of many expansion and improvement projects. However, restoration of service was deemed impractical for several reasons. Gardner is 64 miles and Athol 81 miles by rail for North Station - outside normal commuting distances. The line between Fitchburg and Gardner would cost $104.2 million to double track, and speeds are limited due to the grades going through the

Mount Wachusett Mount Wachusett is a mountain in Massachusetts. It straddles towns of Princeton and Westminster, in Worcester County. It is the highest point in Massachusetts east of the Connecticut River. The mountain is named after a Native American term me ...

range. Because the

Route 2 The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads. International * AH2, As ...

expressway is faster along the corridor than rail service would be, the expansion was projected to attract just 50 riders per day. (Ridership at the former station was just 24 riders per day in 1983 - the lowest among regular stops on the system.) Instead, it was decided to extend the Fitchburg Line 4.5 miles to a new station at

Wachusett "Wachusett" (also spelled "Wachuset", "Watchusett", and "Watchuset") is a word derived from the Algonquian languages such as Nipmuc and Wompanoag, still spoken by the Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans of Massachusetts and is b ...

, which opened in September 2016 with a park-and-ride lot off Route 2 expected to attract 400 riders per day. The 1980s platform still exists; it became overgrown for a time but was later cleared off for freight yard access. Beginning in 2007, MART built a new bus garage on the site of the former freight house, which burned in 2002. An MBTA "T" roundel sign, which had remained for two decades after the end of service, was removed during construction. The new garage includes provisions for a platform should rail service ever return.

Bus connections

Even without rail service, Gardner serves as a hub for MART bus service. Two local routes, two interurban routes with local stops, and one intercity route operate from Gardner: *Gardner Route 1 *Gardner Route 2 *G-Link Gardner-Orange *G-Link Gardner-Winchendon *MWCC Commuter Rail/Intercity (runs to Fitchburg station to connect with commuter rail) MART also offers direct service from Gardner to Wachusett.

References

External links

{{Commons category
1980 image of station2007 image of abandoned platformMontachusett Regional Transit Authority
MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Worcester County, Massachusetts Railway stations closed in 1960 Railway stations closed in 1986 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1851 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1980 Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines Union stations in the United States Former MBTA stations in Massachusetts 1851 establishments in Massachusetts 1986 disestablishments in Massachusetts