Union Station (Northampton, Massachusetts)

Union Station is a historic building in Northampton, Massachusetts, that served as a train station from 1897 until 1987. Built at the close of the nineteenth century, the structure incorporates many features of the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. The buff brick masses of the station are trimmed with red Longmeadow brownstone and hooded by red tile roofs. Steep dormers protrude from the roofline. The interior once featured Italian marble floors, oak woodwork, and a large fireplace.^[3]

Northampton, MA
The historic Union Station building and current station platform
General information
Location	125A Pleasant Street Northampton, Massachusetts United States
Coordinates	42°19′8.3″N 72°37′36.3″W
Owned by	MassDOT (current station)[1] Harmonic Rock Realty LLC (original building)
Line(s)	Connecticut River Line
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Train operators	Amtrak
Connections	Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: 39E, B43, B48, G73E, R41, R42, R44
Construction
Parking	Short-term parking
Bicycle facilities	Bike share (ValleyBike Share)
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: NHT
Website	www.amtrak.com/stations/nht
History
Opened	1897 (1897) (original station) December 29, 2014 (2014-12-29) (new platform)
Passengers
FY 2023	34,912[2] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Holyoke toward New Haven Valley Flyer Greenfield Terminus Holyoke toward Washington, D.C. Vermonter Greenfield toward St. Albans
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Springfield toward Washington, D.C. Montrealer 1972–1987 Brattleboro toward Montreal Preceding station Boston and Maine Railroad Following station Terminus Central Mass Branch Hadley toward Boston Mount Tom toward Springfield Springfield - White River Junction Hatfield toward White River Junction Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station Easthampton toward New Haven Canal Line Whately toward Shelburne Falls Florence toward Williamsburgh Williamsburgh Branch Terminus
Location

The building, which is privately owned, was converted in 2013 into a 200-seat banquet facility, a sports bar, and a facility known as the Tunnel Bar that runs underneath the building.^[4]

On December 29, 2014, Amtrak's Vermonter began stopping at a new passenger rail boarding platform located just to the south of the Union Station building.^[5] A pilot program added two daily round trips of the Valley Flyer in August 2019.

Railway history

Former service

The former Connecticut River Railroad depot, ca. 1880s

Union Station, ca. 1900

The Connecticut River Railroad opened to passenger service between Springfield and Northampton in late 1845; trains reached Deerfield in August 1846, Greenfield in December 1847, and the junction with the Central Vermont Railway in January 1849. When the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad reached Brattleboro in 1850, the Connecticut River Railroad began running through service from Springfield to Brattleboro.^[6] Over the next century, the line was host to a mix of local and long-distance passenger and freight service. It became part of the route for numerous New York-Montreal trains as early as the 1860s, and was acquired by the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1893.^[6] Northampton's Union Station was built in 1896-97 during a project to eliminate grade crossings through downtown Northampton. The station unified two separate stations, serving the Connecticut River mainline, the Central Massachusetts Railroad, the New Haven and Northampton Railroad, and the NH&N's Williamstown Branch.^[7] The station opened on Sunday morning December 5, 1897, in time for the departure of the 9:25 a.m. train for Springfield. It was reported that upwards of 2,000 people visited the station on its opening day.^[8]

The station was heavily damaged by fire in the early morning hours of October 31, 1928. The fire, which was visible for miles up and down the valley, is said to have attracted a large crowd of late Halloween revelers. Service quickly resumed and the station was rebuilt.^[9]

Long-distance passenger service over the line ended in October 1966, with local service between Springfield and Brattleboro lasting several more months.^[6] In 1972, Amtrak began running the Montrealer, which ran along the line at night, stopping at Northampton but not Holyoke or Greenfield.^[10] The Montrealer was discontinued in 1987 due to poor track conditions on the line.

Montrealer service resumed in 1989 after Amtrak seized control of the line in Vermont from the Boston and Maine Railroad, but the train was rerouted over the Central Vermont Railway through Massachusetts and Connecticut to avoid the still-dilapidated Conn River Line which Amtrak did not control. A stop was added at Amherst to replace Northampton. The Montrealer was replaced by the daytime Vermonter in 1995, using the original route through Connecticut but still avoiding the Connecticut River Line in Massachusetts.^[6]

The former station building, associated 200-space parking lot, and the Tunnel Bar that operates under the building in the under-track passage, were purchased by the business entities Harmonic Rock LLC and Notch 8 Inc. in 2013 for $2.55 million. The current owners have added a new 200-seat banquet facility called Union Station Banquets and a bar called the Platform Sports Bar.^[4]

Restoration of service

The first Northbound Vermonter arriving in Northampton

In order to shorten travel times on the Vermonter and add additional local service to serve the populated Connecticut River Valley, the Conn River Line was rebuilt with $73 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money and $10 million in state funds.^[11]

The Vermonter was rerouted to the line on December 29, 2014, stopping at Northampton, and Greenfield.^[12] A temporary accessible platform was built at Northampton for the start of service, intended to be replaced by a permanent 400-foot (120 m)-long platform by the end of 2015.^[13] The permanent platform was planned to be bid in combination with an underpass connecting the Norwottuck Rail Trail (part of the Mass Central Rail Trail) with the Northampton Bikeway north of downtown.^[14] However, the underpass was bid separately in 2016.^[15] Construction on a smaller project, extended the existing platform to 146 feet (45 m), began in April 2019.^[16] The $1.6 million project was nearly complete by mid-June.^[17]

In 2016, over 17,000 passengers boarded or alighted at the station, significantly exceeding a 2009 projection of 10,000 annual riders.^[18] On August 30, 2019, Amtrak extended two daily Amtrak-operated Hartford Line round trips (branded as Valley Flyer) to Greenfield as a pilot program.^[19]

References

1. "Holyoke, MA (HLK)". Great American Stations. Amtrak. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
2. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: Commonwealth of Massachusetts" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
3. C. Dubie (April 15, 1975). Northampton, Union Station, Form B - Building (Report). Massachusetts Historical Commission.
4. Cain, Chad (November 17, 2013). "Union Station in Northampton to become banquet facility, sports bar; Tunnel Bar and The Deck to stay". Gazette Net. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
5. Contrada, Fred (December 29, 2014). "First passenger train in a generation stops at Northampton as new Amtrak service begins". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-12-29.
6. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0942147022.
7. Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 9780942147087.
8. "In the Union Depot: Andrew Sawin will be the Union Station Ticket Seller". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Northampton, Massachusetts. December 6, 1897. p. 1.
9. "Union Station Swept by Flames; Loss Estimated from $12,000 to $20,000". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Northampton, Massachusetts. November 1, 1928. p. 1.
10. Amtrak (October 26, 1986). "Amtrak National Train Timetables". Museum of Railway Timetables. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
11. Merzbach, Scott (February 16, 2014). "Pioneer Valley Business 2014: Development hopes ride on expanded rail". Gazette Net. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
12. Kinney, Jim (December 29, 2014). "Amtrak Vermonter makes first Knowledge Corridor run in Springfield, Northampton and Greenfield". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-12-29.
13. "MassDOT Offers Update on Amtrak Train Through Northampton". ABC40. June 18, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
14. Contrada, Fred (16 March 2015). "Next up: Underpass that will complete the Northampton section of the rail trail". MassLive. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
15. "Knowledge Corridor - Northampton Underpass Project". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
16. Aresco, Nick (April 10, 2019). "Expansion project for Northampton's train platform begins". WWLP. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
17. Dunau, Bera (June 11, 2019). "Train station expansion nearly finished in Northampton, parking management changes in works". Hampshire Gazette.
18. DiChello, Taylor (July 3, 2017). "Northampton Amtrak Vermonter stop third busiest station". WWLP. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
19. "AMTRAK AND MASSDOT ANNOUNCE START OF NEW VALLEY FLYER TRAIN SERVICE IN WESTERN AND NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS" (Press release). Amtrak. August 27, 2019.

External links

• Northampton, MA – Amtrak
• Northampton, MA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Union Station Banquets