The Cape Cod Central Railroad is a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

located on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It operates on a rail line known as the Cape Main Line, which is owned by the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Sessio ...

. The line was previously owned and operated by the

Cape Cod Railroad The Cape Cod Railroad (also currently referred to as the Cape Main Line) is a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, running from Pilgrim Junction in Middleborough across the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, where it splits towards Hyannis in on ...

, the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

, and later the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

, each of which operated passenger trains on the line from 1854 to 1959. Although its

namesake A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may ...

is the former

Cape Cod Central Railroad (1861–1868) The Cape Cod Central Railroad was a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, more specifically in central Cape Cod. It was incorporated in 1861 to extend the Cape Cod Railroad from Yarmouth to Orleans through the towns of Dennis, Harwich and B ...

, the two companies are unrelated.

Services

Founded in 1999, it operates a variety of excursion trains from downtown Hyannis to the

Cape Cod Canal The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately canal traverses the nec ...

during spring, summer, and fall. Recently, it has expanded its service in a limited capacity to offer rides that travel the reverse of the normal route. It also offers special trains that travel to Wareham. Most of their trips are made during the Scallop Festival or during the summer when the Family Supper Train and Scenic Train depart together from Buzzards Bay. It offers daily sightseeing trains known as the Shoreline Excursion, a Family Supper train, Brunch and Lunch trains, and an Elegant Dinner train that was rated one of the top three in the nation by the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

. Past offerings have also included special Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas trains. On November 21, 2009, the railroad ran dinner service on the Falmouth Line via North Falmouth. This Railroad should not be confused with, although is affiliated with, the

Massachusetts Coastal Railroad The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is a Class III railroad serving south-eastern Massachusetts. The railroad maintains track from Hyannis to Framingham, operating over 135 miles of track between Hyannis and Fall River/New Bedford. The railroa ...

- the freight railroad that transports trash off of the Cape. Since 2006, the Cape Cod Central Railroad has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Cape Rail Inc., which also owns and operates the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad. In October 2012, Chicago-based

Iowa Pacific Holdings Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...

acquired control of Cape Rail Inc., and its subsidiaries, Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, LLC, and Cape Cod Central Railroad.

Station list

Despite the four stations above all being served by the Cape Cod Central Railroad, most trains do not visit or even pass by all four stations. Trains typically either depart from Buzzards Bay station and turn around upon reaching Cape Cod Bay (usually near either Sandwich or Barnstable), or depart from Hyannis, stop at West Barnstable (on Saturdays), and turn around upon reaching Sagamore. There are some exceptions, as some trains departing from Hyannis travel to Buzzards Bay and sometimes all the way into Rochester, but these trains usually do not stop at any stations after departure. Despite not having formal stations, select trains also stop at the

Pairpoint Glass Pairpoint Glass Company is an American Glass production, glass manufacturer based in Sagamore, Massachusetts. It is currently the oldest operating glass company in the United States.John Zientek"The Revival of Pairpoint, America's Oldest Operatin ...

facility in Sagamore, and select dinner trains also depart from Falmouth.

References

External links

*
''Cape Cod Central Railroad''
(YouTube), Great Scenic Railway Journeys {{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Cod Central Railroad Heritage railroads in Massachusetts Barnstable, Massachusetts Bourne, Massachusetts Sandwich, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts 1999 establishments in Massachusetts

Services

Station list

See also

References

External links