Winchester Highlands
A two-story house next to an elevated railway line. The upper level of the house serves as a railway station.
Winchester Highlands station around 1915
General information
LocationCross Street, Winchester, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°28′04″N 71°07′54″W / 42.46772°N 71.13154°W / 42.46772; -71.13154
Line(s)New Hampshire Main Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
History
OpenedBefore 1864
ClosedJune 1978[1]
Rebuilt1877, 1943
Previous namesNorth Winchester
Passengers
197213 daily boardings
Former services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Wilmington
toward Lowell
 Lowell Line
limited service
 Winchester Center
toward North Station
Preceding station Boston and Maine Railroad Following station
Montvale
toward Concord, NH
 Boston – Concord, NH Winchester
toward Boston

Winchester Highlands station was an MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line station located at Cross Street in the northern part of Winchester, Massachusetts. It originally opened in the mid-19th century under the Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) as a flag stop called North Winchester. In 1877, a local real estate developer constructed a new station building, which was renamed Winchester Highlands. The B&L became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1887. Service to the station gradually decreased in the 20th century, and the depot was replaced by a wooden shelter around 1943. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began subsidizing service on the line in 1965. Winchester Highlands and two other stations with low ridership were closed by the MBTA in June 1978.

History

Boston and Lowell Railroad

The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened between its namesake cities in 1835. Most intermediate stations were added by 1850, though some were added later when demand arose.[2][3] North Winchester station, a flag stop with a smaller wooden shelter, was opened by 1864. North Winchester was a tiny village with just 14 houses at that time, and the station was not always listed in timetables.[4][5][6] The shelter was on the west side of the tracks just south of Cross Street.[7]

In the 1870s, residents of Winchester Highlands petitioned the B&L for a new station building, but the railroad was not willing to bear the cost. Aaron C. Bell, a local real estate developer, constructed a two-story house on the west side of the tracks north of Cross Street. The upper level served as the station (as the tracks were on an embankment); the lower level housed the station agent and his family.[8][4] The station was built on land belonging to Eli Cooper, who had been the engineer of the first train to run on the B&L. It was believed to be the only privately owned railroad station on the line.[4]

Bell affixed a gilded wooden bell emblem engraved with the 1877 construction date to the station.[4][9] It was dedicated on December 31, 1877, at which time the station was renamed as Winchester Highlands.[10] Despite the name change, the station was still commonly known as North Winchester into the 1880s.[11][12] A church prayer group (which later became the Second Congregational Church of Winchester) held meetings in the station from 1881 until their own chapel was completed in 1887.[8][13] The original shelter was extant until at least 1889.[7]

Boston and Maine Railroad

A derailed train with a crowd of people standing next to it
The aftermath of the 1923 derailment

The B&L became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1887 as its Southern Division.[3] Most local service was routed over the nearby Woburn Loop after its 1885 completion, so Winchester Highlands station only saw limited service. It was served by six daily round trips in 1917 (mostly peak-hour Stoneham Branch and Wilmington locals), with a slight reduction by 1929.[14][15] Twenty-four passengers were injured when a southbound train from Concord derailed near the station on May 23, 1923. The train's consist of newer steel cars, rather than older wooden cars, was credited with preventing deaths.[16][17]

The bell was torn off the building by a storm in January 1935. It was brought to the office of a local newspaper, and later presented to the Winchester Historical Society.[9][4] The bridge over Cross Street adjacent to the station was rebuilt in 1939.[18] The station building was replaced with a small shelter around 1943 to reduce the B&M tax bill.[19][20] The old building was demolished.[9][21] Stoneham Branch service ended on May 18, 1958, after which Winchester Highlands was served by Lowell trains.[3][22] Service continued to decline during the mid-20th century: 4 round trips in 1946, 2+1⁄2 in 1952 (two southbound trains and three northbound trains), and 1+1⁄2 in 1957.[23][24][25]

MBTA

The B&M sold the Winchester Highlands station lot, as well as the Winchester and Wedgemere station buildings, in 1964.[9] The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was created that year to subsidize suburban commuter rail service. Subsidies for a number of B&M lines, including the Southern Division service as far as Wilmington, began on January 18, 1965. Subsidies for all Lowell service began on June 28; it became the Lowell Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system.[1] In 1967, the MBTA proposed to modernize Winchester Highlands as a park and ride facility.[26]

Cross Street station had just 13 daily boardings in a 1972 count; all walked to the station, as no parking was available.[27] By that time, only a single inbound trip and two outbound trips were scheduled to stop at Winchester Highlands.[28] The B&M commuter rail assets were purchased by the MBTA on December 27, 1976.[1] The peak-hour-only stops at Winchester Highlands on the Lowell Line plus Clematis Brook and Beaver Brook on the South Acton Line were discontinued in June 1978 due to low ridership.[1] The shelter built in 1943 is no longer extant.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  2. ↑ Karr, Ronald Dale (2017). The Rail Lines of Southern New England (2 ed.). Branch Line Press. p. 283. ISBN 9780942147124.
  3. 1 2 3 Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 55–57. ISBN 9780685412947.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Old Relic Rescued". The Winchester Star. January 18, 1935. p. 4.
  5. ↑ "For Sale in Winchester [advertisement]". Boston Evening Transcript. June 19, 1872. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ ABC Pathfinder Railway Guide. New England Railway Publishing Company. August 1877. p. 56 – via Google Books.
  7. 1 2 "Part of Town of Winchester" (Map). Atlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. 1:3,000. George H. Walker & Co. 1889. pp. 134–135 – via Ward Maps.
  8. 1 2 Chapman, Henry Smith (1936). History of Winchester, Massachusetts. Town of Winchester. pp. 241–242.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Knight, Ellen (2021). "The Evolution of Winchester's Four Railroad Depots". Town of Winchester.
  10. ↑ "Scraps From Suburban Towns". Boston Globe. January 2, 1878. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Before the Railroad Commissioners". Boston Globe. August 17, 1883. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Killed a Man Without Knowing It". Boston Globe. March 6, 1884. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Winchester". Boston Globe. May 5, 1931. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Local Train Service. Boston and Maine Railroad. September 30, 1917. pp. 39–42 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  15. ↑ Time Tables. Boston and Maine Railroad. September 29, 1929. pp. 28–31 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  16. ↑ "Train Derailed at Winchester". Boston Globe. May 23, 1923. pp. 1, 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Wreck Causes Injuries to 24". Boston Globe. May 24, 1923. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Scott, Charles (November 1987). "Historic Structure Inventory Form". MBTA Historical Property Survey, Phase II – via Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System.
  19. ↑ "Winchester". Boston Globe. November 2, 1942. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "B.& M. Wants Shelters Instead of 13 Stations". Boston Globe. December 15, 1942. p. 34 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. 1 2 Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780942147087.
  22. ↑ Passenger Train Schedules, Boston and Maine Railroad, April 29, 1962 – via Wikimedia Commons
  23. ↑ "Table 52". Northern New England Travel Guide. Boston and Maine Railroad. April 28, 1946 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  24. ↑ Passenger Train Schedules, Boston and Maine Railroad, April 27, 1952, pp. 22–25 – via Wikimedia Commons
  25. ↑ Complete Rail Schedule, Boston and Maine Railroad, October 27, 1957, pp. 24–25 – via Wikimedia Commons
  26. ↑ Plotkin, A.S. (August 17, 1967). "MBTA May Trim Some Commuter Runs". Boston Globe. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Thomas K. Dyer, Inc. (December 1972). Plan for Acquisition and Use of Railroad Rights of Way. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 32.
  28. ↑ Timetable No. 20, Boston and Maine Railroad, July 1, 1974 – via Wikimedia Commons

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