Union Station is a historic former railroad station located in downtown

Palmer, Massachusetts Palmer is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,448 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Palmer adopted a home rule charter in 2004 with a counc ...

. The building, which was designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, opened in June 1884 to consolidate two separate stations nearby. The grounds of the station were originally designed by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

. It is located at the junction of the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...

(later part of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

, and now the

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Boston Subdivision), the

New London Northern Railroad The New London Northern Railroad was a part of the Central Vermont Railway from New London, Connecticut, north to Brattleboro, Vermont. After a long period with the Canadian National Railway, it is now operated by the New England Central Railroa ...

(later the

Central Vermont Railway The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Connect ...

, now the

New England Central Railroad The New England Central Railroad is a regional railroad in the New England region of the United States. It began operations in 1995, as the successor of the Central Vermont Railway (CV). The company was originally a subsidiary of holding comp ...

), and the Ware River Railroad (later under the New York Central, and now operated by the

Massachusetts Central Railroad The Massachusetts Central Railroad is a short line railroad in western Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1975 to provide railroad transportation services on portions of the Boston & Maine Wheelwright Branch in and around their ...

History

Three railroads

The Western Railroad opened from

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

to Springfield, Massachusetts in 1839, and on to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

in 1841. In 1867, it joined with the

Boston and Worcester Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. P ...

to form the

. The B&A had a station, similar in design to the extant station at West Brookfield, located on the north side of its tracks near the modern station site. The New London, Willimantic, and Palmer Railroad opened to Palmer in September 1850. It was extended to Amherst in May 1853 by the NLW&P-leased Amherst and Belchertown Railroad. After several reorganizations, they were combined as the

in 1864, which itself was leased by the Vermont Central Railroad in 1871 then the

in 1873. The NLN station was located on the southwestern side of its tracks, opposite the modern station location. The Ware River Railroad opened from Palmer to Gilbertville in 1870; it was operated by the New London Northern (with which it shared a

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

north of Palmer) in 1871 and the Vermont Central Railroad until April 1873 when it was bought by the B&A. The line was completed to Winchendon that November.

Union Station

In August 1881, the B&A and the NLN hired architect H. H. Richardson to design a

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 ...

for both railroads to use. The design was complicated by the narrow angle at which the railroads intersected. W.N. Flynt & Company started work in May 1883 and the station opened in June 1884. It was built of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

from Flynt's quarry (which had its own branch off the NLN in Monson) and trimmed with brownstone from Longmeadow. The station, including a small baggage room which is no longer extant, cost $53,616. Its grounds were designed by

; little of this landscaping remains.

End of passenger service

The Central Vermont became part of the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

in 1899, which in turn was nationalized by the Canadian government in 1922. Passenger service on the line ended on September 27, 1947. A

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...

was operated on the Ware River until 1948. The B&A was acquired by the

in 1900. Local service was operated until April 24, 1960, after which only Palmer, Springfield, Pittsfield, and Albany remained stops west of

. A single round trip continued to serve Palmer under the NYC and

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

until April 30, 1971;

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

declined to continue the route when it took over operations the next day. Amtrak ''Bay State'', Inland Route, ''

Montrealer (train) The ''Montrealer'' was an overnight passenger train between Washington, D.C., United States, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The train was operated from 1924 to 1966, and again under Amtrak from 1972 to 1995, excepting two years in the 1980s. The ...

'', '' Vermonter'', and ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago– ...

'' service since then have not stopped at Palmer.

Revival

The three lines continue to see freight service. The Central Vermont was sold to RailTex in 1995 and operated as the

. RailTex was merged into

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it ...

in 2000, which in turn was acquired by the

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

company in 2012. The B&A is now the

Boston Subdivision, while parts of the Ware River railroad are operated by the

. The station building housed a flea market for many years, and a section of canopy was removed in the 1980s. It was bought by new private owners in 1987, and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1988. The freight house was torn down by Conrail in 1989. The Steaming Tender Restaurant, which caters to

railfans A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rail ...

observing busy rail traffic, opened in 2004. Restored rail service to Palmer has been proposed. Early proposals for East-West Rail indicate a new passenger station in Palmer; however, it is currently undetermined if the former station site would be restored for the new Boston-to-Pittsfield service. The Central Corridor Rail Line would run on the NECR, while increased Boston-Springfield frequencies on CSX have been proposed by the state.

References

External links

Boston & Albany Railroad Station, Palmer, Hampden County, MA
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Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Union Station on Google Maps Street ViewSteaming Tender Restaurant
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts, state=collapsed Former railway stations in Massachusetts Railway stations in Hampden County, Massachusetts Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts Henry Hobson Richardson buildings Railway stations in the United States opened in 1884 National Register of Historic Places in Hampden County, Massachusetts Grand Trunk Railway stations in New England