Connecticut River Railroad

Connecticut River Railroad
Overview
Dates of operation	1845–1893
Successor	standard gauge

The Connecticut River Railroad was a railroad located along the

Boston and Maine Railroad in 1893.^[1]

History

The Connecticut River Railroad (CRRR) was formed in 1845 by the merger of the Northampton and Springfield Railroad (chartered in 1842) with the Greenfield and Northampton Railroad.

The CRRR first line opened between Springfield and Northampton in 1845 and by the following summer was extended to

Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad (which later became part of the Fitchburg Railroad

). This allowed the CRRR to provide rail service between Springfield, Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont.

For over 40 years, the CRRR operated on its own and acquired a vast network of rail lines north of Brattleboro to

Ashuelot Railroad, which had been acquired in 1877, and the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad in northern Vermont, acquired in 1887. The days of independence came to an end when the Boston and Maine Railroad leased the CRRR in 1893. With a main line from Springfield, Massachusetts, north along the Connecticut River to the village of White River Junction, Vermont, the B&M became a major route between Montreal and New York City. The line was host to a mix of local and long-distance passenger and freight service. It became part of the route for crack New York–Montreal trains as early as the 1860s, and was acquired by the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1893.^[1]

Three branch lines were built off the CRRR, all of them in Massachusetts. The

Chicopee Falls (1845), Easthampton (1872), and Deerfield (1906) branches were built and served the railroad until two of the three were abandoned by the Guilford Rail System (now Pan Am Railways). The Chicopee Falls line was abandoned in 1983, and the Easthampton line was abandoned in 1984. The Deerfield Branch is still in service, connecting the Connecticut River Line to large switching yards on the old Fitchburg

line.