page_title: Plimptonville station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Plimptonville station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Early divided back postcard of Plimptonville station
context_page_description: Plimptonville is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Walpole, Massachusetts. It is located near the Neponset River next to a small dirt parking lot between Plimpton Street and the tracks. It is a flag stop on the Franklin Line, and receives the least service of any MBTA station, with just one round trip per day, consisting of an inbound morning train and an outbound evening train at the height of rush hour. Ridership on that round trip averaged just 12 passengers daily by a 2018 count. Plimptonville has one of the smallest station facilities on the MBTA Commuter Rail system: an approximately 10-foot-wide low-level asphalt platform next to the single track, with a small gravel parking lot.
context_section_description: The Norfolk County Railroad was built through East Walpole beginning in 1846; it opened on April 23, 1849. Three stops were located in Walpole: West Walpole, Walpole, and Plimptonville (also called Plymptons) adjacent to the Plimpton Iron Works near East Walpole. After several reorganizations and mergers, the line became part of the New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) in 1873.
  The station was renamed to Tiltons (also listed as Tilton and Tiltonville) by the 1870s after the mill village changed names. A small wooden station building was located on the northwest side of the tracks. The NY&NE was leased by the New Haven Railroad in 1898. By the early 20th century, the name had reverted to Plimptonville. The station's most famous user was Joseph N. Welch, who lived in Walpole while working at a Boston law firm and served as special counsel to the Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings.
  The 1964-formed MBTA began subsidizing service on the route on April 24, 1966; it became the Franklin Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. The station has become less important under public ownership due to its lack of parking, rural location, and proximity to the well-used Walpole station. Additionally, the station is in the middle of a single-track section of the line, severely limiting the number of trains that can stop. The MBTA closed the stop on February 1, 1981 due to budget cuts, but soon reopened it due to protests by riders. The single round-trip serves a small but dedicated contingent of riders. A planned project to double-track the line through the station was announced in November 2019.
  An unrelated station, also named Plympton, was located on the Old Colony Railroad's main line at Lake Street in Plympton, Massachusetts.
caption: Plimptonville station on an early postcard
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