Built between 1836 and 1840, the Newburyport Line was part of the Eastern Railroad’s main line from Boston to Portland, Maine, and is still often to referred to as the Eastern Main Line. After going bankrupt in 1875, the Eastern was leased to arch-rival Boston & Maine from 1884 onwards. After the MBTA took over responsibility for Boston’s commuter trains, service from Ipswich to Newburyport was discontinued in 1976 as Newburyport declined to renew its contract with the T for even the one round trip it had been getting for the previous decade. Service to Newburyport was finally restored in 1998.