A Railroad Station called Carlisle, at the intersection of Acton and Carlisle Roads

From Arnold Wilder’s “History of the Railroads in Westford.”
Prepared by Marilyn Day

“THE FRAMINGHAM AND LOWELL RAILROAD

This line was chartered to build a line from a connection with the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad at Framingham, through Sudbury, Concord, Acton, Westford, and Chelmsford to Lowell, and was completed in 1872. Through merger, it soon became part of the Old Colony System, which in turn was absorbed by the growing New Haven System and would itself become a part of the Penn Central Railroad, as a condition of merger of the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad systems. The southeastern corner of Westford, through which it passes, along Acton Road (Route 27), is relatively short, but a station called Carlisle, at the intersection of Acton and Carlisle Roads, served the southern part of town during the many years that local passenger trains operated. Local farmers transported milk to this station, occasional cars of grain were unloaded, and for a considerable time, Nashoba Post Office was located in the station, presided over by Billy Butterworth, who served as Agent, Postmaster and a clearing house for local gossip.”

Frank Jarvis, who lived on Griffin Road, stated on page 181 in June Kennedy’s Westford Recollections of Days Gone By, “On the New Haven there were six to eight passenger trains a day, believe it or not, running between Framingham and Lowell.”

Arnold Wilder, from page 458 of Westford Recollection of Days Gone By, mentioned Harry Nesmith. “…He had a dairy and was taking milk to Carlisle station to be put on the train to go to Lowell… This man, Harry Nesmith, delivered to the station the full jugs [40-quarts] of milk, which had to be marked and ticketed. He would then gather up the mail for all these people on the route and come over the hill… He was a self-appointed RFD man.”Marilyn 

Nashoba Post Office in the Carlisle Railroad Station
on Acton Road near the intersection of Carlisle Road  (Walker 1889 map)

Nashoba Post Office was located in the Carlisle train station. It was discontinued on 31 March 1925 and mail was sent to S. Chelmsford. John T. Butterworth and his son, William L. Butterworth, were agents here.

 

Carlisle Station
(June Kennedy collection)

 

Carlisle Station was located at 175 Carlisle Road and faced the railroad tracks along Acton Road. You can see the back corner of 178 Carlisle Road to the left of the depot. 

 

The following is from Ronald D. Karr’s  book, Lost Railroads of New England, p. 144: 

“Chelmsford, MA            South Chelmsford, MA

Abandoned:1982     Railroad: CR Length: 2.4 Opened 1871

This segment once formed part of the main line of the Framingham & Lowell, RR. In 1879 it became part of the Old Colony RR system and in 1893 a branch of the New Haven. Passenger service ceased in 1933, but throughout the NH period it was used for through freight trains out of northern New England via the B&M at Lowell. These became less frequent once the PC took over the NH in 1969. In 1976, this segment was not included in the former PC lines taken over by Conrail, but Conrail was paid by the state to operate the line for a few more years. When the subsidy ended, the line was abandoned. Some of the track remains in place. The state owns the right of way and plans to convert it into a bike trail.”  

Today this 2.4 mile stretch of rail line through Westford is, in fact, a section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

The depot closed and at some point, it was bought and moved to the easterly side of Carlisle Road where it became #176 Carlisle Road. It was converted into a residence containing two apartments. On 13 June 1983, when occupied by Dennis McCabe, owner, and Mario Quintal, it was destroyed by fire. Careless smoking was the blame.