Wilmington Commuter Rail Station

BEST place on the Lowell line to catch the commuter rail if only because they take the PayByPhone app so I can be «cash free».

Compared to other commuter rail stations on the Lowell line, the Wilmington station is not the worse and it’s definitely not the best. It’s sort of in the muddling middle. It at least has a sizable parking lot, not as big as Anderson-​Woburn, but at least it’s a parking lot. Other commuter rail stations don’t even have that. Even though it is the year 2015 parking is still paid by folding dollar bills and inserting them into a slot on a chalkboard-​size board or if you’re lucky enough to have a sack full of coins you can have fun putting them into a slot. On a weekday, the parking lot is full by 8am and there’s a mad scramble for spots. The parking lot will empty quickly starting around 5pm. There’s some frantic people who run to their cars so they can be one of the first out of the lot. The extra seconds they save running like they’re being chased by zombies is really worth it.
There’s some kind of breakfast/​lunch place in an old station building on the far end of the parking lot. Given the track record of businesses in that building, it will likely be out of business in a year. I don’t know why Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks doesn’t move in to the building, it would practically print money especially with all of the morning commuters.
Both the inbound and outbound platforms offer no protect from the elements. I lost feeling in my hands and face one time waiting for a train in the middle of February. If taking the inbound train on the weekend, go all the way down to the end of the platform to board. There are a few inbound trains every day via the Haverhill line. Those trains show up on the outbound side even though they are going inbound. It seems like every week there’s a few people who realize this fact at the last second and run from the inbound platform to the outbound platform. I only go to Wilmington because it’s the closest commuter rail station when visiting family.