Chicopee – Chicopee Falls railway line

Chicopee MA – Chicopee Falls MA
Route length:	3.63 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Dual track :	-
Society:	most recently Guilford Transportation
Legend from Springfield 0.00 Chicopee MA (formerly Cabotville) to East Northfield Interstate 391 Holyoke Tram (Chicopee Street) 1 Chicopee Center MA 3 Oak Street 3.63 Chicopee Falls MA

The Chicopee – Chicopee Falls railroad is a disused, standard-gauge railroad in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is 3.63 kilometers long and is located in the urban area of Chicopee .

history

In 1844, construction began on the Springfield – East Northfield railway , which was to run northward from Springfield along the Connecticut River . In Chicopee Falls east of Cabotville, some industrial companies had settled on the Chicopee River , which were striving for a rail connection. Since a swiveling of the main line over Chicopee Falls was out of the question, a branch line was built that turns off it in Cabotville and runs along the Chicopee River to Chicopee Falls. It was opened on September 8, 1846 by the Connecticut River Railroad . The Cabotville train station was then renamed Cabot Junction , later Chicopee Junction and finally, after Cabotville was incorporated, Chicopee . The route was not only used for freight, but also served by trains that ran to Springfield.

From January 1, 1893, the Boston and Maine Railroad ran operations on the line after leasing the Connecticut River Railroad. In the early 1910s, JP Morgan planned the Hampden Railroad , which would also receive a branch line that would open at Chicopee Center station. However, this branch line was never built. At the beginning of the 20th century, numerous streetcar routes had been built in and around Chicopee, which also led to the neighboring cities of Springfield and Holyoke . Since they drove more frequently than the trains and on a direct route to the center of Springfield, the Boston & Maine in 1918 the passenger service to Chicopee Falls.

In 1983, Guilford Transportation took over Boston & Maine and began to thin out the network. In 1984 it closed the section from Chicopee Center to Chicopee Falls and in 1994 the rest of the route followed, so that the entire route is now out of service.

Route description

The line branches off at the former station Chicopee from the Springfield – East Northfield railway line and initially leads northeast to the south bank of the Chicopee River. It runs the entire length of this river. To the east of the crossing under Chicopee Street was the Chicopee Center station, where the planned connection to the Hampden Railroad was to branch off to the northeast. The route to Chicopee Falls continues eastwards and follows the winding river course. At the level of Oak Street there was a stop where goods connections branched off. The terminus of the line was in the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Main Street / Church Street in the center of Chicopee Falls.

passenger traffic

In 1869, five pairs of trains every weekday from Springfield to Chicopee Falls were sufficient to handle the number of passengers. The number of trains kept increasing and in 1893, after being taken over by Boston & Maine, twelve pairs of trains ran on the line on weekdays. Passenger traffic ceased on Sundays. After the opening of the tram routes, the offer was drastically reduced and in 1916 only two pairs of trains ran Monday to Friday and one pair of trains on Saturdays. In 1918, passenger traffic ended on the route.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Site plan of the planned Hampden Railroad with the branch to Chicopee Center
2. ↑ see timetables of the route from the years mentioned.

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

• B&M Corporate History, 1914, pages 240–241 (PDF; 6.2 MB) (English)