Beverly – Rockport Railway
| Beverly MA-Rockport MA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Rockport Railway Station
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| Route length: | 27.36 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | Beverly - just before Gloucester (approx. 21 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | MBTA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Beverly Rockport is a railway line in Essex County in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is around 17 miles long and connects the cities of Beverly , Manchester-by-the-Sea , Gloucester and Rockport .
The standard-gauge line is operated today by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) exclusively for passenger traffic. Freight traffic no longer takes place.
history
After the Eastern Railroad had built the main line from Boston to Portsmouth in the 1830s, a branch line to the Cape Ann Peninsula was planned to connect the towns and beach settlements there. In March 1845, the government granted the concession for the construction of such a line, which would branch off the main line in Beverly and lead via Manchester to Gloucester. Construction began immediately and in August 1847 the first trains ran to Manchester-by-the-Sea. On December 1, 1847, the line to Gloucester was officially opened.
The town of Rockport on the eastern tip of the peninsula has now also requested a rail connection. Since the Eastern Railroad had no interest, local entrepreneurs founded the Rockport Railroad Company on May 16, 1853 and received the concession for the route extension. However, they couldn't raise enough money to start building the track. This company was re-established in 1860 and the six-kilometer extension, which opened in November 1861, was finally built. The operation was led by the Eastern Railroad, which also provided the vehicles. In 1868 she finally acquired the Rockport Railroad after the economy had shown itself. From 1884 on, the Boston and Maine Railroad , which Eastern had leased and which was finally bought up in 1890, was in charge of operations.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a turning loop was built in Rockport south of the station, which the trains used. The line was double-tracked from Beverly to Gloucester, which was completed in 1911. Steam trains ran on the route until 1954, after the first diesel locomotives had already been used the year before. From 1955, passenger traffic was handled by Budd Rail Diesel Cars . Since these trains could run as push- pull trains, the turning loop in Rockport was shut down around 1962 and the station was converted into a terminus .
Since 1976, the route has been owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which operates passenger services. The freight traffic continued to operate the Boston & Maine, which was taken over in 1983 by the Guilford Transportation . In November 1984 a bridge burned down in Beverly, which brought all traffic on the route to a standstill. The last only sparse freight traffic was not resumed as a result. Passenger traffic was idle for several months and could only be resumed in the course of 1985.
Route description
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The line branches off from the main Boston – Portsmouth line in Beverly, north of the train station, and runs eastwards parallel to the coast, but almost continuously at a distance of a few hundred meters from the beach. She first drives through the urban area of Beverly, in which with Montserrat , Prides Crossing and Beverly Farms there are three other stops that are equipped with side platforms. The Prides Crossing stop is only served during rush hour traffic in the direction of thrust, i.e. early in the direction of Beverly, in the afternoon in the direction of Rockport. At several points along the route in Beverly and Gloucester, tram lines used to cross the railroad.
Beyond the city limits, the route briefly touches Manchester Bay , where a West Manchester stop was located during the heyday of the railway , which was only served for beach visitors in summer. In Manchester-by-the-Sea, the train first crosses the port entrance on a lift bridge before reaching the city's train station. Today two simple side platforms serve the flow of passengers here. A double track change that is not used in regular services enables trains to turn around. The freight facilities of the station are dismantled.
The route now continues in a north-easterly direction. On Magnolia Avenue near the eastern outskirts of Manchester was a train station that also had freight facilities. The trains run through here today. Shortly afterwards Gloucester is reached, where there is initially a stop in West Gloucester . To the east of this, the railway line crosses the Annisquam River , a fjord-like inlet that separates the Cape Ann Peninsula from the mainland. The double-track line ends after the bridge and shortly afterwards Gloucester stop in the city center is reached. To the east of the station, extensive freight facilities used to be attached, but these have given way to a parking lot. The route now turns north and leads to Rockport, where it ends bluntly before Railroad Avenue. The terminus consists of a double-track system with side platforms for passenger traffic and a few sidings. The former turning loop in Rockport was south of the station and led around a small pond, the Loop Pond .
passenger traffic
At the height of rail traffic at the beginning of the 20th century, in addition to the 16 pairs of trains, numerous excursion trains ran on weekdays in the summer, some of which took through coaches to New York City.
Little has changed in train density since then. In 2011, 13 pairs of trains run on weekdays and seven on weekends. All trains continue via Beverly to Boston.
Sources and further reading
- literature
- Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2
- Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. (2nd edition) SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010. ISBN 1-874745-12-9
- Web links
- Operating company: MBTA (English)
- Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society (English)
- List of stations (with miles) and staff from 1923 (English)
- Individual evidence
- ↑ Current timetable of the route (PDF, English; 83 kB) ( Memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )