Cambridge Railroad
The Cambridge Railroad (also known as the Cambridge Horse Railroad) was the first
The company was chartered and incorporated May 25, 1853, and started construction September 1, 1855. The horsecar line opened between West Cedar Street (just east of
The line beat a rival company[
From its incorporation, the Cambridge Railroad was leased to the Union Railway for 50 years, later passing under control of the West End Street Railway in 1887 and the Boston Elevated Railway in 1897. The main line from Harvard square to Boston was electrified February 16, 1889,[8]: 200 with most of the other former Cambridge Railroad lines following by the early 1890s. The mostly-underground Red Line subway opened March 23, 1912 and provided a much faster route from Harvard Square to downtown Boston, but streetcars remained in service for local traffic. Streetcar service from Cambridge to Boston (using part of the original Cambridge Railroad route on Massachusetts Avenue) last ran September 11, 1949;[8]: 209 the former Cambridge Railroad streetcar route from Harvard north to Porter Square remained in use until September 5, 1958.[8]: 214
See also
- Dorchester Railroad, opened spring 1857
References
- ^ "Miscellaneous Items". New England Farmer. March 29, 1856. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b George Glover Crocker (1900). From the Stage Coach to the Railroad Train and the Street Car. W.B. Clarke. p. 25 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "The Passing of the Horse Car". Street Railway Supplement of the Commercial & Financial Chronicle. William B. Dana. November 16, 1901. pp. 2–3 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "Streetcar Barns" (PDF). Cambridge Historical Commission. 2000.
- ^ "Miscellaneous Items". New England Farmer. May 2, 1857. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 9780738590431– via Google Books.
- ^ "Cambridge Railroad Company - 1859 Massachusetts". Scripophily.com. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ a b c Humphrey, Thomas. "Origin and Development of the Fixed-Route Local Bus Transportation Network in the Cities and Towns of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority District" (PDF). Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- Railroad History Database
- William D. Middleton, The Time of the Trolley, 1967, pages 15–16