Hamilton-Wenham-Asbury Grove railway line
| Hamilton-Wenham MA-Asbury Grove MA | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 1.71 km | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | most recently Boston & Maine | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Hamilton-Wenham-Asbury Grove railway is a railway line in the urban area of Hamilton in Essex County in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is 1.71 kilometers long. The standard gauge line is closed.
history
To connect the Methodist camp meeting area Asbury Grove in the city of Hamilton, a branch line was to be built from the main Boston – Portsmouth line of the Eastern Railroad . The Asbury Grove Railroad Company received a concession on April 9, 1870 to build this route . The company was formally set up on May 9 of that year, but merged with Eastern Railroad on October 6, even before construction work had started. These were carried out in 1871 and the line went into operation in August of that year. There was no scheduled passenger or freight traffic, but special trains ran regularly to connect the tent camp in the summer season. From 1884 on, the Boston and Maine Railroad , which Eastern had leased and finally bought in 1890, was in charge of operations.
After a tram line was opened in Hamilton at the end of the 19th century, which tied the campground and the train station, the railway line became superfluous. In July 1901 it was shut down and the tracks were removed except for a 160-meter-long stump that served as a siding for the Hamilton-Wenham station and was only dismantled after 1914.
Route description
The line branches off from the main line Boston-Portsmouth at the former Hamilton-Wenham train station (also Hamilton and Wenham ), which has now been reduced to a simple stopping point, and heads northwest along Asbury Street. The route is largely built over.
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