Wikipedia

Great Barrington station

Great Barrington station is a former railroad station in Great Barrington, Massachusetts along the Housatonic Railroad Berkshire Line.

Great Barrington
General information
LocationCastle Street
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
United States
Coordinates42°11′38″N 73°21′54″W / 42.19389°N 73.36500°W / 42.19389; -73.36500
Owned byHousatonic Railroad
Line(s)Berkshire Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
History
Opened1901
Closed1971
Services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Sheffield
toward Norwalk and South Norwalk
 Pittsfield Branch Housatonic
toward Pittsfield
NRHP reference No.98000680[1]
Added to NRHPJune 11, 1998

History

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Early-20th-century postcard of the station

The railroad was chartered in 1836 and began placing rails in Bridgeport Connecticut and on the line from North Canaan, Connecticut in Great Barrington in September 1842.[2] The station was built in 1901 to replace an earlier one on Railroad Avenue.[3] The line ran north to Stockbridge,[4] Lenox Railroad Station, Lee Station. In Pittsfield, it stopped at Pittsfield Depot, and later, at Union Station. Passenger service ended on April 30, 1971.[5] It has been a stop on the Berkshire Scenic Railway. [6][7][8] The station is a contributing property within the Taconic and West Avenues Historic District.[9][10]

In 2008 the railroad began considering the possibility of resuming commercial passenger service along the entire line from the Danbury Branch to Pittsfield, and in May 2010 began a formal study of the same. At the time, the estimated cost of upgrading the railroad to support passenger trains was estimated to be between $100 million and $150 million, not including the cost of the required equipment.[11] It decided it would not renew its agreement with Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum to continue operating passenger excursions over their railroad.

In July 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) authorized the purchase of 37 miles of the railroad's Berkshire Line from the Connecticut border in Sheffield through Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lee, and Lenox to Pittsfield, where it joins the CSXT Railroad main line. MassDOT's purchase is intended to extend rail services to New York City via Southeast Station, following track improvements for passenger and freight service between Massachusetts and Connecticut.[12][13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ "Great Barrington rail stations: Past, present and future". The Berkshire Edge. September 8, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum - Stockbridge Station". berkshirescenicrailroad.org. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  5. ^ Leveille, Gary (2011). Around Great Barrington. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7476-9.
  6. ^ "Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum - History... and Future". berkshirescenicrailroad.org. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  7. ^ "The Housatonic Railroad, Inc :-: 860-824-0850 :-". hrrc.com. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  8. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Town of Great Barrington, MA Historic Districts and Commission". ecode360.com. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Waite, Thorton. "RAILROAD PROPERTIES ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLATES IN MASSACHUSETTS". salisburypoint.tnsing.com/history/1826_historic.../historic_places.doc.
  11. ^ "Housatonic Railroad to start own study of reopening passenger line". Waterbury Republican-American. June 12, 2010. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  12. ^ "MASSDOT BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVES PURCHASE OF BERKSHIRE RAIL LINE FROM HOUSATONIC RAILROAD COMPANY". The Official Website of The Massachusetts Department of Transportation. July 17, 2014. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  13. ^ "MassDOT Berkshire Rail Line Purchase". July 17, 2014. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
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