page_title: Ayer station
section_title: Decline of service
hierarchical_section_title: Ayer station / History / Decline of service
caption_attribution_description: English: Interlocking tower at Ayer, Massachusetts. The tower sits at the junction of the Fitchburg Railroad (now the MBTA Fitchburg Line), the Peterborough &amp; Shirley Railroad, and the Worchester &amp; Nashua Railroad.
context_page_description: Ayer station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located off Main Street in the Ayer Main Street Historic District of Ayer, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not 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. Land speculation and industrial development spurred by the railroad access expanded the tiny farm village into the independent town of Ayer.
  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.
context_section_description: Although Camp Devens opening in 1917 briefly increased traffic, competition from interurban streetcars (including a line on Central Street built around 1905) then automobiles in the early 20th century forced the B&M to discontinue service on marginal branch lines, as well as redundant routes built during years of intense competition between railroads. Passenger service on the lightly used Brookline & Pepperell ended in 1931 and on the P&Sin 1933. The Stony Brook, with its flatter grades than the W&N, became the preferred route for passenger and freight service to the north, particularly after a wye was constructed at North Chelmsford in 1930 allowing direct service to New Hampshire. Through Worcester-Portland local service ended in 1928; the diamond crossing was removed, and part of Plow Shop Pond was filled in to create the southwest leg of the junction, thus finishing a wye  between the Fitchburg main and the line to Worcester. Passenger service ended on the northern part of the W&N in 1934, and part of the route to Nashua was outright abandoned within a decade. 
  In April 1946, the Stony Brook was connected directly to the Fitchburg at Stony Brook Junction, permitting the removal of its redundant rails between there and Ayer. Most local passenger service between Worcester and Lowell via Ayer ended in 1953. The State of Maine used the routing until October 29, 1960, and the B&M ran a single Budd RDC car between Worcester and Haverhill until 1961 by state order. When this service ended, Willows station was abandoned and soon demolished. 
  As rail service and industry declined, Ayer made an awkward transition from a rail-centered town to a car-centered town. Both depots were demolished around 1960; the former northern depot and surrounding land was sold to a local business owner on September 29, 1960. The provisions of the sale and later transactions included deed restrictions requiring the purchaser to provide an easement for public station access as well as a station facility for 100 years. Service along the Fitchburg main line was cut back to Fitchburg that same year, leaving Fitchburg Line commuter service between Fitchburg and Boston as the sole remaining passenger service through Ayer when the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was created in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter services.
caption: Ayer interlocking tower, which controlled access to the various rail lines running through Ayer
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