Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway
The Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway is a former Regional tramway operation in New Hampshire and Massachusetts ( United States ). It existed from 1897 to 1926.
history
Construction of the route network and leasing of further routes
As early as August 7, 1889, the Exeter Street Railway Company was founded to build an electric intercity tram from Court Square (Front Street / Water Street junction) in Exeter via Hampton to Hampton Beach. Initially, however, insufficient funds were available to make the project a reality. It was not until early 1897 that Wallace D. Lovell and other investors acquired the railway company. They also founded the Rockingham Electric Company to provide electricity to the neighboring communities. Construction began on May 19, 1897, and scheduled operations between Exeter and the railroad depot in Hampton Village began on July 6 of the same year. Three days later the trains went to the casino in Hampton Beach.
The following year, plans began for a line to the Massachusetts state line at Smithtown . Since the concession of the Exeter Street Railway provided only routes in the urban area of Exeter and Hampton, Lovell founded the Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway Company on June 13, 1898 , which should manage the planned route from the city limits of Hamptons to Smithtown. In the meantime, however, the station has been connected to the tram in Exeter. For this purpose, the railway company built a large loop from Court Square through Front Street, Kossuth Street, Garfield Street, Lincoln Street, Linda Street, Main Street and Water Street back to Court Square.
Construction work on the line to Smithtown began in November, but was interrupted over the winter and only continued in the spring of 1899, when plans for an extension of this line to Amesbury were already in place. For this extension, the Amesbury and Hampton Street Railway Company was founded in Massachusetts on March 20, 1899 . Meanwhile, on February 15, 1899, Lovell founded the Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway Company (EH&A), which merged with the Exeter Street Railway, the Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway and the Rockingham Electric Company on June 30 of the same year. For legal reasons, it was not possible to merge with Amesbury & Hampton, which was founded in Massachusetts, and EH&A leased it on July 1st for 25 years. Three days later the line from Hampton Village to Market Square in Amesbury went into operation. Another depot was built in Amesbury. A connection to the Portsmouth Tramway was established on June 24, 1900 . A short branch line from Hampton Beach to the city limits of Hampton was opened at the same time as the line from Portsmouth. There was no need to change, the cars from Portsmouth drove through to the Hampton Beach Casino and used the EH&A route in the city of Hampton.
On July 1, 1901, EH&A leased several tram companies for 99 years each, namely the Portsmouth and Exeter Street Railway , the Seabrook and Hampton Beach Street Railway and the Haverhill, Plaistow and Newton Street Railway . In the same year the Dover, Somersworth and Rochester Street Railway was leased, which should be connected to the network in the long term. The Portsmouth & Exeter connected Portsmouth with Exeter from 1902 and used the EH&A route between the junction of Portsmouth Avenue / High Street and Exeter station. From 1901 Seabrook & Hampton Beach connected Smithtown and Hampton Beach via Seabrook Beach, and from May 15, 1902, there was also a rail connection to EH&A in Hampton Beach after a new bridge had been opened over the Hampton River . On July 1, 1902, the Haverhill and Plaistow Street Railway was also leased for 99 years. Together with Amesbury & Hampton and Haverhill, Plaistow & Newton, they built a tram line from Amesbury to Haverhill , which opened in 1902. Including the leased lines, EH & A's route network was 121.317 kilometers, the track length was 125.254 kilometers. All routes were single-track with swerve. As a holding company, the New Hampshire Traction Company was founded on November 19, 1901 , which administered all of the individual railway companies involved, as well as some others that were owned by Lovell. The EH&A network became the Eastern Division of this company. On August 24, 1905, the New Hampshire Electric Railways took over the New Hampshire Traction and ran the entire network.
Bankruptcy and a fresh start
EH & A's existing lease agreements were terminated on December 1, 1905, and the company went bankrupt on May 14, 1906. Allan Hollis became the bankruptcy administrator. EH & A's route network now consisted only of the Exeter – Hampton Beach Casino route, the Hampton Village – Smithtown route and the short Hampton Beach – Portsmouth Junction junction, a total of 33.347 kilometers. However, the sharing agreements for EH&A routes remained and the New Hampshire Electric Railways continued to operate. From January 1, 1907, the EH&A took over the management itself. After the depot in Hampton burned down on March 1, 1907 together with six cars in it, the company had to buy used cars from other tram operators in order to be able to maintain operations. On April 1, 1908, the railway company was reorganized under its old name and in the same year almost the entire route network was renovated.
Since the operation was not profitable, in 1918 the company asked the government for permission to close the routes. The government set May 1, 1919 as the shutdown date and operations ceased on that day for the time being. However, since the city of Hampton had an interest in the train continuing to operate, the tracks were not dismantled and the city bought the train on February 1, 1921 for $ 76,000. Not included was the short section from the casino in Hampton Beach to the northern bridgehead of the bridge over the Hampton River, which EH&A had owned, but was never operated by EH&A, but was only used by the lines from the south from the start. This section was sold to the Massachusetts Northeastern Street Railway , which in 1913 had taken over the Haverhill – Hampton Beach tram and thus the formerly leased parts of the EH&A network. After the necessary repairs, trams were back on the route network from October 1921.
Definitive end of operations
On May 17, 1925, the Portsmouth tram ceased operations, which also led to the closure of the EH&A section of Hampton Beach – Portsmouth Junction. In 1925, the city of Hampton applied to be allowed to operate buses over the winter. This was approved and on November 4, 1925 the last trams ran. Although the plan was to return to the rails in the spring, bus operations were retained and the tram was finally shut down on May 29, 1926 and then dismantled.
business
When the Exeter – Hampton Beach line opened in 1897, a car ran every 30 minutes in the summer and every hour during the rest of the year.
After the commissioning of the rest of the network until 1902, the Haverhill – Seabrook – Hampton Beach, Exeter – Hampton Beach and Hampton Village – Smithtown lines and the Portsmouth to Hampton Beach line of the Portsmouth tram, a line from Salisbury and Newburyport to Hampton , ran in the summer Beach, which belonged to the Haverhill and Amesbury Street Railway and ran from Seabrook Beach to Hampton Beach on the EH&A network, and the Portsmouth-Exeter line. In winter the lines Haverhill-Amesbury, Amesbury-Smithtown-Hampton Village-Exeter and Hampton Village-Portsmouth Junction-Hampton Beach, as well as the line from Salisbury / Newburyport to Hampton Beach and the line Portsmouth-Exeter were operated. Traffic was still between Smithtown and Seabrook Beach.
After the operational spin-off from New Hampshire Electric Railways, the EH&A railcars drove from Exeter to Hampton Beach in the summer and to Smithtown in the winter, with a shuttle car serving the other section. The shuttle, which runs between Hampton Village and Hampton Beach in winter, drove through Portsmouth Junction, where the line from Portsmouth ended and a connection was established.
literature
- OR Cummings: Trolleys to Hampton Beach. Mass. Northeastern St. Ry. Vol. 3 - Amesbury Division. New England Electric Railway Historical Society, 1966.