South Deerfield – Turners Falls railway line

South Deerfield MA – Turners Falls MA
Route length:	14.48 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Dual track :	-
Society:	most recently Guilford Transportation
Legend from New Haven 0.00 South Deerfield MA to Shelburne Junction CVS Tram (Greenfield Rd) 6.68 Deerfield MA Springfield – East Northfield route Connection from the Deerfield Jct.-East Deerfield route approx. 10 Cheapside Fitchburg – Greenfield route Connecticut River approx. 13 Montague City MA CVS Tram (Avenue A) 14.48 Turners Falls MA

The railway line South Deerfield-Turners Falls is a railway line in Massachusetts ( United States ). It is around 14 kilometers long and connects the cities of Deerfield and Montague . The standard gauge line has been completely shut down since 1985.

history

When the main line of the New Haven and Northampton Railroad was to be extended north in the 1870s, the railway company planned to build a branch line to the industrial cities of Deerfield and Montague to compete with the Connecticut River Railroad , which was already going there . The "Turners Falls Branch" was opened in October 1882 and runs almost the entire length within sight of the parallel lines of the Connecticut River Railroad.

When the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad took over New Haven & Northampton on April 1, 1887 , management of the route to Turners Falls was also transferred to this company. In addition to goods traffic, there was also passenger traffic on the line, but this fell sharply when the Connecticut Valley Street Railway opened an electric tram from Deerfield to Turners Falls. As early as 1918 or 1919, passenger traffic on the railway line was therefore stopped.

Freight traffic did not develop particularly strongly either, in particular due to the competitive situation with the parallel routes that have meanwhile been transferred to the Boston and Maine Railroad . In 1925 the competitors joined forces and agreed to share the New Haven line between Cheapside, where a connecting track to Boston & Maine was built, and Turners Falls. In 1936 a flood destroyed a bridge on the parallel route of the Boston & Maine, whereby the New Haven route was used even more by the Boston & Maine.

Since the freight traffic on the New Haven was hardly worth mentioning, this company put the southern part of the route from South Deerfield to Cheapside in 1943 and dismantled it. The route was now only used by Boston & Maine, which it finally bought in 1947. Freight traffic was stopped in October 1981. Together with Boston & Maine, the unused line went into the possession of Guilford Transportation in 1983 , which, however, found no use for it and officially closed it in 1985.

Route description

The line branches north of the South Deerfield station from the New Haven – Shelburne Junction railway line and initially runs northwards, only about a hundred meters from the main Springfield – East Northfield line of the former Connecticut River Railroad. It passes under this stretch north of Deerfield, turns east and runs parallel to the Deerfield River , which flows into the Connecticut River here . Immediately after crossing under the main line was the Cheapside stop, where the connecting track to the Deerfield Junction – East Deerfield railway line, which ran parallel here, was located.

Shortly thereafter, the route turns north again, first crosses under the main Fitchburg – Greenfield route and then crosses the Connecticut River on an existing bridge. This bridge was the only noteworthy engineering structure on the route. Today it carries a cycle and hiking path that was built in this area on the railway line. The railway now continues through Montague City in an arch to the Turners Falls industrial area, where it ends near Montague City Hall.

passenger traffic

In 1893, three weekday train pairs ran on the route, ending in South Deerfield. There, trains on the main line had to be switched to. At the turn of the century, a pair of trains was canceled, but reintroduced shortly afterwards. The third train was finally canceled around 1909. By 1916, the offer had been reduced to a single pair of trains, which, however, now ran beyond South Deerfield to Westfield. Passenger traffic on the route ended by 1919 at the latest.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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