The Taunton Branch Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to be established in

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 ...

, United States. It was chartered by the state in 1835 as a branch of the

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transportation in the United States, fir ...

(which opened in 1835) running between

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

and

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...

. The railroad provided a rapid overland connection between the seat of Bristol County and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Origins

The Taunton Branch Railroad opened for business in 1836. The overall length of the railroad was about 11.5 miles. Thomas B. Wales served as the company's first president. In 1840 the Taunton Branch Railroad was extended to

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

by the

New Bedford and Taunton Railroad The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad was originally incorporated at the Old Colony Railroad Corporation in 1836 as an extension of the Taunton Branch Railroad between Taunton and New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. The name was changed to ...

, providing Taunton with a direct link to the

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

port city. The railroad opened up new markets for Taunton's notable ironmaking industry, and would lead to the rapid development of new businesses in the coming decades. In 1845 another branch, known as the Fall River Branch Railroad, was built between Myricks and the emerging textile town of Fall River. However, in 1846, Fall River trains bypassed Taunton and the Boston & Providence main line with the opening of their own connection, renamed the Fall River Railroad through

Middleborough Middleborough is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,405 as of 2023. The census-designated place of Middleborough Center corresponds to the main village and commercial center of the town. It is the seco ...

and Bridgewater to 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, ...

at South Braintree.

Expansion

In 1856, the Middleboro and Taunton Railroad was opened between Weir Village and 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 ...

at Middleborough. In 1870, an extension of the original Taunton Branch Railroad was opened between

and

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

, known as the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad, and leased by the adjoining

Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad The Agricultural Branch Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court, Legislature of Massachusetts on April 26, 1847, to provide a rail connection between Framingham, Massachusetts, Framingham ...

(BC&F). In 1871, the Taunton Railroad built a new connection to Attleboro, providing a shortcut to Providence. On February 2, 1874, the Taunton Branch Railroad was merged into the

New Bedford Railroad The New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated on July 1, 1873, as a merger between the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad, the Taunton Branch Railroad, and the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad. The main line ran ...

. The following year, the BC&F began leasing the New Beford's line. The two companies merged in 1876 to become the

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was formed on June 1, 1876, when the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad. The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Rail ...

. In 1879 the

leased the combined company, merging it into itself in 1883.

Today

The southern portion of the original Taunton Branch Railroad northeast of downtown Taunton is part of the

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

freight network, along with the original extensions to New Bedford and Fall River. The CSX lines connect to an extension with Attleboro that was built in 1871 as a shortcut between Taunton and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. Much of the original northern portion of the Taunton Branch Railroad has been abandoned, with the northernmost section between Mansfield Center and the Mansfield Municipal Airport having been converted to a

bike path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses '' shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or ...

. In 2019 the state awarded $265,000 for construction of an extension of the trail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taunton Branch Railroad Taunton, Massachusetts Companies affiliated with the Old Colony Railroad Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Defunct Massachusetts railroads Railway companies established in 1835 Railway companies disestablished in 1874 Old Colony Railroad lines American companies established in 1835 American companies disestablished in 1874

Origins

Expansion

Today

See also

References