Dedham Branch
Dedham Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dedham | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Commuter rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 1893-1964 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 1966-1967 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1835 (Boston and Providence Railroad) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | April 21, 1967[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 11.7 miles[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Character | Surface-level | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Dedham Branch was a spur line of the Boston and Providence Railroad (later acquired by the Old Colony Railroad, and then by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad), opened in 1835, which ran from the junction with the main line (now the Providence/Stoughton Line and part of the Franklin/Foxboro Line) at Readville through to central Dedham; it was the first railroad branch line in Massachusetts.[3] In 1966, it became part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, but was abandoned the next year.[1]
History
Pre-MBTA
The
Starting in May 1849,
In June 1850, a new B&P branch opened from
In April 1888, the B&P was leased by the Old Colony Railroad, which was, in turn, leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) in March 1893, but commuter service continued. Starting in 1926, service to Dedham was provided by trains running in a loop via the B&P mainline and Dedham Branch outbound and the West Roxbury branch inbound, or vice versa.[4] This ended in 1938, and, at some point between then and April 1940, all service on the Dedham Branch was discontinued; however, service via the original Dedham Branch resumed later in 1940 when the portion of the former West Roxbury Branch between West Roxbury and Dedham was abandoned (the remainder of the West Roxbury Branch continued to see service from Needham Branch and West Medway Branch trains).[3]
The River Street grade crossing was replaced with a railroad bridge in 1893.[5]
MBTA era
The
The NYNH&H was merged into Penn Central at the end of 1968.[1][3] The B&P, legally still separate from the NYNH&H, was merged into Penn Central in 1971; in June 1970, however, Penn Central had filed for bankruptcy (at the time, this was the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, and led directly to the formation of Amtrak).[3] To maintain control over commuter-rail rights-of-way in the event of a possible liquidation of Penn Central, the MBTA purchased, in January 1973, all the rail lines used at the time by its commuter rail services, as well as several freight-only lines (including the Dedham Branch) and abandoned rights-of-way; although some of these lines have since seen commuter-rail service restored by the MBTA, the Dedham Branch remains inactive.[1][3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Belcher, Jonathan (27 December 2014). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ "SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND RAILROADS (2) – SL 198" (PDF). Jim Fergusson's Railway and Tramway Station Lists. 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780685412947.
- ISBN 0942147022.
- ^ "New Bridge Open". Boston Globe. November 27, 1893. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Media related to Dedham Branch at Wikimedia Commons