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, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.

From 1845 to 1893, the OC network grew extensively largely through a series of mergers and acquisitions with other established railroads, until it was itself acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad under lease agreement on March 1, 1893, for its entire network. After this date, all trains, lines, and stations became known as the "Old Colony Division" of the huge "New Haven" system. During this period, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad enjoyed a virtual monopoly on all passenger and freight rail service in southern New England.

Passenger service on the New Haven's Old Colony Division ended in 1959, except for the main line between Boston and Providence and other ex-Boston and Providence Railroad lines. Several lines have been restored to passenger service: the Plymouth/Kingston Line and Middleborough/Lakeville Line in 1997, and the Greenbush Line in 2007. The South Coast Rail project extended the Middleborough/Lakeville line in 2025 as the Fall River/New Bedford Line.

Other parts of the former OC system continue to be used for freight service by CSX Transportation and other short line railroads, including the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad which operates on Cape Cod and in southeastern Massachusetts. Parts of the former OC on Cape Cod are also still used to operate the Cape Cod Central Railroad tourist train from Hyannis to Buzzards Bay during the summer and fall months. Another tourist railroad, the Old Colony and Newport Scenic Railway operates on part of the former OC from Newport on Aquidneck Island.

Several abandoned portions of the OC have been converted into multi-use rail trails. These include the East Bay Bike Path in Rhode Island, as well as others in Lowell, Mansfield, Fairhaven, and the Cape Cod Rail Trail on Cape Cod.

History

Old Colony Railroad (1844–1854)

By the early 1840s, the city of Boston had six major rail lines connecting it with other places including Lowell, Maine, Fitchburg, and Salem to the north, Worcester to the west and Providence, Rhode Island to the southwest. The southeastern part of Massachusetts had yet to be served by a rail link to Boston.

On March 16, 1844, the Old Colony Railroad Corporation was formed to provide a rail connection between Boston and Plymouth. Construction of the line began in South Boston in June 1844 and the line opened to Plymouth on November 10, 1845. The extension from South Boston to the newly completed Kneeland Street Station in Boston opened on June 19, 1847. Kneeland Street also served as the headquarters for the OC until the 1893 consolidation.

There had previously been an Old Colony Railroad formed in 1838 for a line between Taunton and New Bedford, but the name was changed to the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad in 1839 before service began in 1840. This line would later become part of OC in 1879.

John Sever of Kingston, Massachusetts, served as the first president of the Old Colony Railroad Corporation from 1844-1845. Nathan Carruth served as the second president of the corporation from 1845 to 1848. Carruth was a successful businessman and enthusiastic supporter of the expansion of railroads in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England. With the opening of the Old Colony line through Dorchester in 1845, Carruth became actively involved in the development of the area. He built an estate on the east side of Dorchester Avenue called Beechmont/Beaumont which would become one of the first railroad suburbs in America.

All OC locomotives were named until 1884, after which they were simply numbered. Among the early engines were the ''Mayflower'', ''Governor Carver'', ''Governor Bradford'', and ''Miles Standish''. The new railroad company also built the ''Samoset Hotel'' near the end of its line in Plymouth.
In 1847, the OC completed a short connector line from its main line at Whitman to the Fall River Railroad line at Bridgewater Junction. On April 1, 1849, OC signed a lease of the South Shore Railroad for a period of five years. By 1851, traffic on the line had increased enough to warrant the opening of a second track running between Boston and South Braintree.

Old Colony and Fall River Railroad (1854–1863)

The OC and Fall River Railroad merged with a joint stock vote on June 20, 1854, forming the ''Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Company'', which provided a two-pronged line from Boston to Plymouth and Boston to Fall River, splitting at South Braintree. Alexander Holmes from Kingston served as company president during this period, from 1854 to 1866.

The Fall River Railroad had been formed on August 8, 1845, with the consolidation of three companies; the Fall River Branch Railroad, the Randolph and Bridgewater Railroad and the Middleborough Railroad. The Fall River Railroad was led by Richard Borden, a prominent Fall River mill owner who wanted a direct route to Boston that did not require the use of the Boston and Providence Railroad lines. The line from South Braintree to Myricks in the town of Berkley opened on December 16, 1846, as an extension of the Fall River Branch Railroad – which had been completed in 1845.

On May 19, 1847, the first "boat train" left the OC's Kneeland Street Station in Boston bound for Fall River, where passengers would board a steamship for New York City. Over the years, the ''Old Colony Steamboat Express'' train would become the most famous line of the Old Colony Railroad, with the finest and most up-to-date engines, cars and attention to detail.

In 1863 the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad acquired the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad Company, which it had been leasing since 1848.

Old Colony and Newport Railway (1863–1872)

The ''Old Colony and Newport Railway'' was formed in July 1863 when the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad merged with the Newport and Fall River Railroad, which had been incorporated in 1846 to build a road from Newport, Rhode Island to the Massachusetts state line at Fall River. However, the road from Fall River to the Rhode Island state line was not authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1860. The newly formed and renamed ''Old Colony and Newport Railway Company'' completed the final section of the line from Fall River to Newport which finally opened for service on February 5, 1864.

In 1865, the Old Colony and Newport Railway Company acquired the Dighton and Somerset Railroad. It completed a new, more direct route between Fall River and Boston via South Braintree on September 24, 1866. Part of the new route was over the Easton Branch Railroad between Stoughton and North Easton. In 1871 the Old Colony purchased the Easton Branch.

A portion of the old Granite Railway line was acquired in 1870 and later extended to form a loop through West Quincy off the original Plymouth line. In 1872, the Old Colony & Newport Railway Corporation built the Shawmut Railroad as a connection between the Dorchester and Milton Branch and the main line to Boston.

Old Colony Railroad (1872–1893)

The Old Colony and Newport Railway merged with the Cape Cod Railroad on May 1, 1872, and the two companies were consolidated on October 1, forming a new ''Old Colony Railroad Company'' under the leadership of Onslow Stearns, who served as president of the company from 1866 to 1877.

The 1872 merger formed a system with three main branches; Boston to Plymouth, South Braintree to Fall River and Newport, and a third splitting from the Newport branch at Middleborough to Hyannis. At this point, the newly acquired lines became known as the Cape Cod Division, with a new superintendent's office located at Hyannis.

The Cape Cod Railroad Company had been established in 1846 as the Cape Cod Branch Railroad with a line off the Fall River Railroad from Middleborough to Sandwich opening in 1848. Among the proponents of the Cape Cod Branch Railroad was Richard Borden of Fall River, who saw the new line as an opportunity to bring more traffic and business through his hometown.In 1853, the extension of the line to Hyannis was started, reaching West Barnstable on December 22, 1853. On February 22, 1854, the Cape Cod Branch Railroad was renamed the Cape Cod Railroad Company. In the spring of 1854, construction continued, with the railroad reaching Barnstable village on May 8, Yarmouth Port on May 19, and finally Hyannis on July 8, 1854. Connecting steamboat service to Nantucket commenced from Hyannis in late September and would continue until 1872, when the railroad branch to Woods Hole was opened.

The Cape Cod Central Railroad was incorporated in 1861 as a branch from the Cape Cod Railroad, running from Yarmouth east and northeast to Orleans, and opening in 1865. The Cape Cod Central was purchased by the Cape Cod Railroad April 21, 1868, and the two railroads were consolidated on July 28, 1868.

The newly formed Old Colony Railroad extended the line to Provincetown, at the very tip of Cape Cod, opening on July 23, 1873.

In 1874, Old Colony founded the Martha's Vineyard Railroad, built across on sand of the island of Martha's Vineyard, running from the Oak Bluffs steamer wharf to Mattakeeset Lodge in Katama, Edgartown. The locomotive ''Active'' (later renamed the ''South Beach'') was the sole operating train. This branch existed until 1896.

The Old Colony Railroad acquired the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad in 1874 and the South Shore Railroad in 1877, which it had once leased until 1854. A year later in 1878 it acquired the Duxbury and Cohasset Railroad which gave the Old Colony a connection with its original 1845 main line at Kingston. Beginning in 1874, the Old Colony operated the "South Shore, Duxbury and Cohasset and Plymouth Express" between Boston and Plymouth on this line.

In 1875, the Old Colony Railroad began operating the Fall River, Warren and Providence Railroad, which had been formed in 1863 as a merger between the Warren and Fall River and Fall River and Warren Railroad Companies. The Old Colony would later acquire this line outright in 1892.

In 1879, the Old Colony Railroad greatly expanded its network into Central Massachusetts by leasing the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad for 999 years, then purchasing it outright in 1883. The acquisition of this line provided important connections for the Old Colony, such as with the Boston and Providence Railroad at Mansfield, the Boston and Albany Railroad at South Framingham and the Fitchburg Railroad at Fitchburg, among others. This deal also gave the Old Colony Railroad direct access to the important industrial port of New Bedford. Upon this acquisition, the lines of the former Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad became known as the Old Colony's "Northern Division", with headquarters in Fitchburg, while the older OCRR lines became known as the "Central Division" with headquarters in Boston.

In 1882 the Old Colony Railroad signed a 99-year lease on a line between Fall River and New Bedford through the towns of Dartmouth and Westport owned by the Fall River Railroad (1874) – not to be confused with its 1846 namesake.

In 1886 the Old Colony Railroad acquired the Lowell and Framingham Railroad, which before 1871 had been known as the Framingham and Lowell Railroad.

In 1887 the Old Colony Railroad acquired the Hanover Branch Railroad. On April 1, 1888, the Old Colony Railroad signed a 99-year lease agreement the Nantasket Beach Railroad with service to Hull.

Several days later, on April 7, 1888 the OCRR signed a 99-year lease on the Boston and Providence Railroad, one of New England's earliest railroads, which had been chartered in Massachusetts in 1831 and began service between Providence and Boston in 1835. This major agreement gave the Old Colony Railroad operating rights on the busy double-tracked main line between the two capital cities, along with other branches to Dedham and Stoughton. The deal also included use of the Boston and Providence Railroad's Park Square Station in Boston.

In 1891 the OCRR signed a 99-year lease of the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad. In December 1892, the OCRR signed a 99-year lease of the Plymouth and Middleborough Railroad properties. In 1896 the OCRR acquired the Fall River Railroad (1874), which it had been leasing since 1882.

The Old Colony Railroad was an early proponent of decorating the grounds of its train stations. By 1891, the railroad's landscaping division grew tens of thousands of plants annually at greenhouses and nurseries in Halifax.

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad control (1893–1969)

On March 1, 1893, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) – commonly known as the New Haven Railroad – leased the entire Old Colony system for 99 years, which by then included the leased Boston and Providence Railroad and everything substantially east of it, as well as long branches northwest to Fitchburg and Lowell. Along with the lease of the New England Railroad in 1898, the 1893 lease arrangement gave the NYNH&H a virtual monopoly on rail transport in southern New England. On September 22, 1895, the New Haven converted all former Old Colony lines from left-hand running to right-hand running.

On April 6, 1902, a new alignment was opened from Broadway to Crescent Avenue station, eliminating a grade crossing of Dorchester Avenue. The former right-of-way was later paved as Old Colony Avenue. With the opening of Boston's South Station in 1899, the Kneeland Street Station was taken over by the Boston and Albany Railroad as a local freight office. It was demolished in 1918 after being deemed unsafe.

By the 1930s, the New Haven's largest freight terminal and only steam locomotive shop were both on the ex-Old Colony system; more passengers entered Boston on Old Colony lines than entered New York on the New Haven. However, during its 1935–47 bankruptcy proceedings, the New Haven attempted to rid itself of unprofitable portions of the Old Colony. The New Haven's bankruptcy trustees rejected the Old Colony lease in June 1936, but were forced to continue operating it under court order. In the 88 stations case, the railroad abandoned 88 stations in Massachusetts and five in Rhode Island on a single day in 1938. The Supreme Court ruled in November 1939 (''Palmer v. Massachusetts'') that the railroad had not been given proper permission, and 32 of the stations were reopened in 1940. After several attempts to end Old Colony passenger service - including a 1939–41 plan to outright abandon the Boston-area lines - the New Haven continued to operate the service. Whether to incorporate the Old Colony into the New Haven, and whether the Old Colony should be required to continue passenger service, continued to be argued as part of the reorganization.

Increased passenger and freight traffic during World War II lifted the fortunes of the New Haven. The reorganization continued; the railroad was ultimately required to continue Old Colony passenger service unless losses exceeded $850,000 in a single calendar year. The New Haven emerged from bankruptcy on September 11, 1947, and fully acquired the Old Colony a week later; the B&P was kept as a separate New Haven-owned company. ''Palmer v. Massachusetts'' had been just one of eight Supreme Court cases generated by the reorganization. Losses on the Old Colony reached the critical value in October 1948; after threatening to discontinue all service, the New Haven cut back to a 26-train peak-only schedule on the Boston Group in March 1949.

Under the 1951–1954 presidency of Frederic C. Dumaine Jr., the New Haven increased passenger service, using new Budd Rail Diesel Cars to reduce costs. Boston service reached 86 trains in April 1954. As losses mounted, Boston-area railroads made major cuts in the late 1950s. All service to Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford (which used the B&P rather than the Old Colony mainline) ended in 1958. All remaining year-round Old Colony Division service ended on June 30, 1959, after the completion of the Southeast Expressway, though limited seasonal service continued for several more years. The NYNH&H merged into Penn Central in 1969, which in turn merged into Conrail in 1976.

History since 1969

Since the early 1970s, Amtrak has provided passenger service from South Station in Boston over the former Boston and Providence lines of the Old Colony Railroad. Since December 2000, Amtrak has also used this line for the Acela Express high-speed passenger rail service to Washington, D.C. Between 1986 and 1996 Amtrak also operated regular passenger service between New York City and Hyannis on Cape Cod during the summer months.

With the establishment of Conrail, freight service continued over various portions of the former Old Colony network after 1976. Beginning in 1982, the Bay Colony Railroad provided freight service on various lines which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had purchased from Conrail, including lines on Cape Cod and in Middlesex County. Since 1999, CSX has provided freight service over several portions of the former Old Colony Railroad network, including lines in Taunton, Fall River, New Bedford and Leominster. Since 2008, the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad has taken over operation of the state-owned freight lines on Cape Cod from the Bay Colony Railroad.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in 1964 to subsidize remaining commuter rail operations. Service was continued on the ex-B&P lines – now the Providence/Stoughton Line and portions of the Needham Line. The MBTA Commuter Rail system has been expanded since the 1980s. Service was restored on the Plymouth/Kingston Line (now the Kingston Line) and Middleborough/Lakeville Line (now the Fall River/New Bedford Line) – collectively known as the Old Colony Lines – in 1997, and on the Greenbush Line in 2007. Seasonal CapeFlyer excursion service between Boston and Hyannis, operated by the MBTA, began in 2013. The Fall River/New Bedford Line opened as an extension of the Middleborough/Lakeville Line in 2025.

Two portions of the former Old Colony network are used for tourist trains: the Cape Cod Central Railroad on Cape Cod, and the Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad on Aquidneck Island. Between 1986 and 2016, the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum operated in Fall River. The museum had four train cars and exhibits.

Presidents of the Old Colony Railroad

*John Sever (June 1844 to December 1845)
* Nathan Carruth (December 1845 to January 1848)
*Elias Hasket Derby (January 1848 to April 1850)
*Francis B. Crowninshield (April 1850 to June 1854)
*Alexander Holmes (June 1854 to July 1866)
* Onslow Stearns (July 1866 to November 1877)
*Charles F. Choate (November 1877 to April 1907)

Lines and branches

The following is a description of the Old Colony Railroad lines and branches at about the time of the 1893 lease to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and shortly thereafter.

References

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Archives and records

Old Colony Railroad Company records
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School

{{NYNH&H

Defunct Massachusetts railroads
Defunct Rhode Island railroads
Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad