Lowell, MA: Boston & Lowell Depot and Trolley, Quilt & Mill Museums

Boston & Lowell: (Satellite)

North Wall of Station: (Satellite)

National Streetcar Museum: (Satellite)

Boston & Main j#410 Switcher Locomotive: (Satellite)

New England Quilt Museum: (Satellite)

Boott Cotton Mills Museum: (Satellite)

Tsongas Industrial History Center: (Satellite)

Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology (LoCSST): (Satellite, I think this has the Suffolk Mill Turbine Exhibit.)

National Historical Park Visitor Center: (Satellite)

Lowell was "the cradle of the industrial revolution in America."

Jamie Patrick Lewis posted

Rob Brackett commented on Jamie's post

The switcher on the left was the Boston & Maine #410. And it is setting on one of the tracks that used to serve the station.

Street View, Nov 2020

Brian LaPlant posted two photos with the comment:

This is the first picture I've ever seen of the original Boston & Lowell passenger station that stood on the corner of Merrimack St and Dutton Street.  The scene looks very different today.

I pulled the picture from this group

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27774663185452833&set=g.112210553739 [This is Jamie's post above.]

Joe Orfant: There are numerous (better) images of this depot which is the second, not the first on this site. [He was asked to share, but he didn't.]

Brian LaPlant: This must be the first station that was located on Middlesex St.

https://www.worthpoint.com/.../real-photo-boston-lowell...

1

2

James V. Roy commented on Brian's post
a sketch form after the 1904 fire

Brian LaPlant commented on his post
I never realized that this is the north wall to the old station, it's the lone survivor, assuming it was restored by the National Park Service.

Geoffrey Feldman: Brian LaPlant My understanding is that It's not the original wall. It was built to depict the wall, on the original site.

James V. Roy commented on Brian's post
As mentioned previously this was not the B&L's first station in town. The first built around 1835 was further south, on Lowell St.

This map is normally quite accurate, but it doesn't go back far enough in history to catch the Boston & Lowell.

rail.guide

So I got a topo map to see the B&L spur that went up to the depot.

1893/1925 Lowell Quad @ 62,500

The spur that came north to the depot also served a lot of industry in the hydropower area. Some of that industrial spur is still left. I presume it is used by the National Park Services trolley service.

1950/58 Lowell Quad @ 24,000

One of the trolley ride stops is the Suffolk Mill Turbine Exhibit. If I ever travel to the Northeast, this town would be the reason why.

Photo from NPS