Early history

The Fitchburg Railroad opened through North Leominster in 1845.^[2] Leominster – later North Leominster – was opened by 1858.^[3] It was just north of the Main Street crossing, near the modern station location.^[4]

Trains ran to North Leominster for over a century under the Fitchburg Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad until the latter cut all service on the line past West Concord on January 18, 1965 due to insufficient subsidies from the newly formed Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.^[5] The station building was reused as a foreign car agency by 1968, but later demolished.^[6]

Service restoration

On January 13, 1980, the MBTA restored service on 37 miles of the Fitchburg Line from West Concord to Gardner, including the stop at North Leominster.^[7] Short asphalt platforms were built behind a strip mall at the location of the former depot, with pedestrian access from Main Street but only 30 parking spaces.^[8]

In July 2003, the MBTA Board approved spending $950,000 in MBTA funds for a $3 million new station.^[9] On October 4, 2004, the new station was opened about 600 feet (180 m) southeast of the old station. It was built with short high-level platforms for handicapped accessibility, and a 150-space parking lot was built off Nashua Street adjacent to the station.^[8][10] The former station platforms are still extant.

However, the lot quickly proved to be too small, as North Leominster serves park-and-ride commuters from as far as Orange and Athol.^[8] (Fitchburg, the other major park-and-ride on the outer end of the Fitchburg Line, does not have convenient access to Route 2 and I-190 as North Leominster does.)^[11]

Garage

Beginning in 2007, the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority and Montachusett Regional Planning Commission began planning for an expansion of parking capacity. Construction began in March 2012 on a three-story garage which will provide 340 parking spaces.^[11] The $7.7 million project, which was funded by the FTA through earmarks and formula funding, includes a covered busway and charging stations for electric cars.^[8] Originally to be completed in August 2013, the garage was delayed due to high summer heat which prevented pouring concrete.^[12] The garage was dedicated on November 1, 2013, but it was not yet completed.^[13] After five months of delays caused by the contractor's financial problems, the garage opened on May 20, 2014.^[14][15][16]

Construction of full-length high-level accessible platforms was considered as part of the project, but the platforms would have cost an additional $18 million and created clearance issues with passing Pan Am freight trains.^[8] The freight trains, which are slightly wider than standard passenger cars, frequently impact the mini-high platforms and would cause severe damage to full-length platforms.

On September 11, 2023, flash floods in Leominster washed out an embankment at the former North Leominster station site. Service between Shirley and Wachusett was replaced with buses until September 19.^[17][18][19]

Other stations

Besides the Fitchburg Line station, Leominster also once had two other train stations. The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad opened in 1850 between the eponymous cities, with a station stop in Leominster Center as well as West Leominster (at Hamilton Avenue).^[2][4] Through service from Worcester to Fitchburg ended in 1926, and the last passenger service through Leominster Center ended in 1931. The line is now used for freight service from the south but is abandoned north of Mechanic Street in downtown Leominster.^[2] The 1878 Leominster Center station still stands at 24 Columbia Street.^[20]