The train station at Cordage Park in North Plymouth was always destined to fail. Because of the way the rail line was designed and built, it never had a chance. This is because the southbound line splits before it reaches the last two stations, Kingston and Plymouth. Trains are forced to take one fork or the other and it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a train to stop at one station, back up, and then go on to the other.
As pointed out in Mark Pothier’s article, the Kingston station has easier access and better parking, so that station always got the majority of riders and of daily train trips when both were open. That left Plymouth with only a couple of morning and evening trains per day. If you started your day at Plymouth and worked late in Boston you would likely end up coming home on a Kingston train. So the Plymouth station was never much used. It was just a bad design.
Rather than endlessly lamenting a situation that is unlikely to change, we should look at how else the right-of-way could be used. An obvious answer is to extend the bike and walking path from downtown Plymouth up through Cordage to Howland’s Lane at Rocky Nook in Kingston, or even further to Bradford Avenue. This can be done without interfering with the active train line. From there, bike riders could switch to local streets to access points north. Or perhaps the bike path could be extended across Route 3 and directly to the Kingston station.
The extended bike and walking path would serve downtown Plymouth, Cordage Park, Gray’s Beach, Rocky Nook and potentially beyond. It would be far better than our abandoned rail station that’s going nowhere fast.
– Steve Mattern
Instead of trains at Cordage, let’s expand bike and walking access
