West Barnstable Station

Story

West Barnstable is a railway station in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. The train station currently serves as a seasonal stop (on Saturdays) for the Cape Cod Central Railroad.The station building, which is owned by the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, is the headquarters on the Cape Cod Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). The Cape Cod Chapter of the NRHS signed a twenty-year lease on the building in 2012. They have been restoring it as a historical railway station and museum since 2001 when they became the custodian of the building.The station building, which is open to the public on Saturdays between May and October, also hosts numerous special events, including National Train Day in May, the West Barnstable village festival in August and the Cranberry Express in October.HistoryThe original passenger station in West Barnstable was opened in 1854 by the Cape Cod Railroad.This station was torn down and a new station was built, at the same location, by the New Haven Railroad in 1911 at a cost of $18,000. The original architecture style of the station was identical to the stations that the New Haven Railroad built in Buzzards Bay and Sagamore around the same time. The station remained in service until 1964 when the New Haven Railroad ran its last passenger train to Cape Cod. Between 1986 and 1996 it was an unmanned station stop for Amtrak's Cape Codder service.