Littleton/Route 495 is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Littleton, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. The station is located at the intersection of Grimes Lane and Foster Street near Route 2 and I-495 and serves as a park-and-ride station for both highways.
A previous station was open at King Street in West Littleton until 1975. Littleton/Route 495 station opened several miles away in 1980 as an inexpensive park-and-ride to gather commuters from the northwest Boston suburbs. In 2011, work began on the construction of a new station, with a full-length handicapped accessible platform and a pedestrian bridge to the parking lot, as part of a larger project to improve the Fitchburg Line. After about 16 months of construction, the new station and pedestrian bridge opened in June 2013.
History
Littleton station
The Fitchburg Railroad was extended westward from Cambridge between 1843 and 1845, reaching Littleton around November 1844. Residents at Littleton Common did not like the appearance of the railroad, so it was routed through what was called West Littleton or Harwood Junction instead. A large two-story station was placed there at the intersection of King Street and Taylor Street. The long building included separate rooms for passengers and freight, and a living area for the station master. In 1879, the Fitchburg replaced it with a Victorian-style depot building a few feet to the east. The old station was moved south on Taylor Street and served as an apartment building for some time thereafter.
Residents were not allowed to ride trains on Sundays until 1850, and for some time thereafter only for the purpose of attending religious services. Despite minor accidents in 1845 and 1849, and a crash of the Tunnel Express on October 7, 1880, which killed two passengers, the railroad became important to daily life in Littleton. Freight including building materials, apples, and milk were shipped from several locations, including the depot. Much of the cattle transported on the line between 1885 and 1930 passed through the quarantine station in Littleton. The railroad also delivered the daily mail, its primary source of profit. The station became a center of local commerce and industry, with both housing and businesses erected around Depot Square.
Several plans were made between 1900 and 1906 to construct a street railway, but no construction took place. The B&M secured a bus franchise in the town in 1926.
Service continued to the Littleton station for over 120 years, run by the Fitchburg Railroad until 1900 and thereafter by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). Fifteen cars on a B&M freight derailed at Littleton on May 27, 1956, injuring one resident and blocking the main line for days. The B&M began to sharply cut back passenger service in the early 1960s, but in 1964 the newly formed Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began to subsidize their northside commuter services. However, on January 18, 1965, funding cuts resulted in Fitchburg Line service being cut back to West Concord. After subsidy arrangements were made with several towns, service was partially extended back to Ayer – including the Littleton stop – on June 28, 1965.
The depot building was closed in 1970, leaving passengers to wait at the crossing. The building was occupied for a time by McElroy Manfucturing Corporation (a telegraph producer) then later that year by Learning Things (an educational product developer). In 1976, it was bought and restored to original condition by David Erikson, who operates Erikson's Antique Stoves from the building.
In December 1973, state subsidies for towns outside the MBTA funding district were halved, resulting in the MBTA needing to renegotiate subsidies from 14 municipalities. Littleton, with just 21 daily commuters, refused to pay its $12,300 bill in 1974; Ayer also failed to reach an agreement. On March 1, 1975, the line was cut back to South Acton, dropping the stops at Ayer, Littleton, and West Acton.