East Brookfield – North Brookfield Railway

East Brookfield MA-North Brookfield MA

Route length:

6.4 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Dual track :

-

Society:

most recently Penn Central

Legend

		from Worcester
	0.0	East Brookfield MA
		to Albany
	6.4	North Brookfield MA

The East Brookfield – North Brookfield (also North Brookfield Branch ) railway is a railway line in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is around six kilometers long and connects the two places East Brookfield and North Brookfield . The standard gauge line is closed.

history

The main line Worcester – Albany of the Boston and Albany Railroad , opened in 1839, did not touch the city of North Brookfield, but ran a few kilometers south through East Brookfield. Local investors founded the North Brookfield Railroad Company in 1875 and built a branch line from the main line to central North Brookfield. It went into operation in January 1876. When it opened, Boston & Albany leased the train. The lease was subsequently repeatedly extended without Boston & Albany trying to acquire the line.

Passenger traffic ceased on December 31, 1935. In 1968 Penn Central took over the lease contract for the railway line and in 1972 ceased freight traffic, whereupon the owner closed the line.

Route description

The line branches off the main line at East Brookfield Station, which it leaves in a westerly direction. A connecting curve towards Springfield did not exist. The route turns north shortly after the train station. It runs parallel to East Brookfield Road and ends at the intersection of School Street and Elm Street. The station building of the former terminus is still standing and used privately.

passenger traffic

Shortly after the line opened in 1881, six pairs of trains followed trains on the main line that ran the line in 12-15 minutes. All passenger trains only shuttled on the branch line and passengers had to change trains in East Brookfield. On Sundays the traffic was quiet on the route. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of trains was increased slightly. In 1910 there were seven pairs of trains running on weekdays and in 1916 there were nine. After the end of the First World War, passenger traffic on railroads across the country rapidly declined and trains were also canceled on the route to North Brookfield, so that in 1920 there were still seven pairs of trains running.

The timetable from 1933 also included seven pairs of trains on workdays, and passenger traffic was discontinued at the end of 1935.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

↑ see timetables 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

[1] see timetables from the years mentioned.