Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 40, 2017

Ayer is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line, located off Main Street (Route 2A/111) in the Ayer Main Street Historic District in downtown Ayer, Massachusetts. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not handicapped accessible. There is a shelter on the inbound platform. Ayer has been a major railroad interchange since the Fitchburg Railroad opened through South Groton in 1845, followed by the Stony Brook Railroad, Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and Peterborough and Shirley Railroad in 1848. The original depot was replaced with a union station with a large trainshed in 1848. A new station was constructed in 1896. By 1900, the town was served by five lines all controlled by the Boston and Maine Railroad, with service to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell plus New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. Passenger service ended on all of the lines except the Fitchburg Line between 1931 and 1961. After a brief disruption in early 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began subsidizing commuter rail service to Ayer. The station and part of the line was closed in 1975, but reopened in 1980. Pan Am Railways also runs freight trains through the town to various destinations.