Natick – Saxonville railway line
| Natick MA-Saxonville MA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 6.3 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | last CSXT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Natick Saxonville is a single-track, disused railway line in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is six kilometers long and connected the town of Natick with the village of Saxonville, a district of Framingham .
history
The Boston and Worcester Railroad opened the branch line from their main line to Saxonville in July 1846, where some factories had settled. In 1867 Boston & Worcester merged with other companies to form the Boston and Albany Railroad , which also took over the branch line to Saxonville and operated from then on. With the takeover of Boston & Albany in 1900 by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (later New York Central Railroad) initially only the owner changed, the management remained with Boston & Albany.
After two tram companies opened routes from Natick and Framingham to Saxonville, passenger traffic on the route declined. More passengers emigrated as more and more traffic shifted to the streets after the First World War. The railway company therefore stopped passenger traffic on the route to Saxonville in 1936. Freight traffic continued and was operated from 1968 by Penn Central and from 1976 by its successor Conrail . Around 1987 it closed the section between Cochituate and Saxonville. After the Conrail takeover in 1999, CSX Transportation operated freight traffic on the remaining section, but also shut it down in 2006. The towns of Framingham and Natick plan to build a cycling and walking path on the scenic route.
Route description
The line branches off to the west of Natick Station from the main Boston – Worcester line and runs in a north-westerly direction through Natick. The first stop was on Worcester Street in North Natick. From here the route runs through Cochituate State Park and along the western shore of Lake Cochituate . At the level of Commonwealth Road, the railway line crosses the city limits between Natick and Framingham, then passes under Interstate 90 and reaches the terminus in Saxonville on School Street.
passenger traffic
In 1869 two pairs of passenger trains from Boston to Saxonville ran on the route every day. In 1901, after the takeover by New York Central, two pairs of trains ran from Boston and an additional pair of trains only ran between Natick and Saxonville on weekdays. Passenger traffic ceased on Sundays. Shortly before the cessation of passenger traffic in 1934, there was only one train running on weekdays, mainly for commuters, which drove from Saxonville to Boston early and back again in the afternoon.
Sources and further reading
- Individual evidence
- ↑ 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