Fitchburg Railroad

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Route network of the FR

The Fitchburg Railroad (FR) is a former railroad company based in Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York and Vermont ( United States ). It built and operated a main line from Boston to Troy and some branch lines and existed as an independent company from 1842 to 1919.

history

Construction of the network

The industrial city of Fitchburg was still without a railway connection until 1840. To change this, the Fitchburg Railroad was founded on March 3, 1842 . In May 1843 it acquired land next to and in extension of the Charlestown Branch Railroad (CBR). This short route branched off the Boston and Lowell Railroad since 1840 and led to Charlestown, a suburb of Boston. On May 20, 1843, construction of the line began, initially as an extension of the CBR. It opened between Charlestown and Waltham on December 20 of the same year. The CBR ran the business until May 1, 1844.

The further construction proceeded quickly. The railway reached Concord on June 17, 1844 , Acton on October 1, Shirley on December 30, 1844 and finally Fitchburg on March 5, 1845. Meanwhile, the railway company also built the planned track parallel to the CBR and opened it in August 1844. Since the CBR could no longer be operated economically on its own, the FR leased this small railway on September 1, 1845 and finally acquired it on January 31, 1846.

On April 16, 1846, the Lancaster and Sterling Railroad was founded, but shortly thereafter merged with the FR, which opened the branch line from South Acton to Hudson in 1850.

In 1848 the FR extended its route from the previous terminus in Boston-Charlestown west of the Warren Bridge over a new bridge over the Charles River to a new terminus on Causeway Street. In total, the standard-gauge line had a length of 80 kilometers.

Further development

From the opening of the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad in 1846 to the takeover by Boston & Lowell in 1870, the Fitchburg Railroad ran this railway. Furthermore, she ran from 1847 to 1849 the operation on the extension line from Fitchburg to Baldwinsville , which had been built by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad (V&M). In 1874 the FR leased the V&M, which in the meantime led to Greenfield (Massachusetts) and had a branch to Turner's Falls (Massachusetts) .

East portal of the Hoosac tunnel around 1908

In addition, the FR acquired further branches:

On July 1, 1900, the Boston and Maine Railroad leased the FR and incorporated it into its network as the Fitchburg Division . The final merger took place on December 1, 1919 retrospectively to January 1 of the same year.

Many of the branch lines have now been closed, the main line from Boston via Fitchburg in the state of New York is now operated by Pan Am Southern .

Route network

Before July 1, 1900, when management was transferred to Boston & Maine, Fitchburg operated the following routes:

route opened Management / concession
taken over by 		Operated by
Fitchburg RR since
Boston-Fitchburg 1839-1848 Charlestown Branch Railroad May 1, 1844
Peterboro & Shirley Branch 1848-1850 Peterborough and Shirley Railroad January 1, 1848
Watertown Loop 1849-1851 Watertown Branch Railroad,
Waltham and Watertown Branch Railroad		 1849
Marlboro Branch 1850-1855 Lancaster and Sterling Railroad,
Marlborough and Feltonville Branch Railroad		 July 1850
Greenfield – Troy 1852-1875 Troy and Boston Railroad January 1, 1868
White Creek – Hoosick Junction 1852 Troy and Boston Railroad January 1, 1868
Fitchburg-Greenfield 1847-1850 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad January 1, 1874
Turners Falls Branch 1868 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad January 1, 1874
Worcester Branch 1871-1874 Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad March 7, 1885
Ashburnham Branch 1874 Ashburnham Railroad April 22, 1885
Cheshire Branch 1847-1849 Cheshire Railroad October 1, 1890
Monadnock Branch 1870-1871 Cheshire Railroad October 1, 1890
Brookline Branch 1892-1895 Brookline Railroad,
Brookline and Pepperell Railroad,
Brookline and Milford Railroad		 September 7, 1892
North Pownal – Rotterdam Junction 1879 Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway October 1, 1892
Saratoga Springs Branch 1882 Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway October 1, 1892
Schuylerville Branch 1882 Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway October 1, 1892

The Somerville – Harvard Square railway , which had also operated the Fitchburg, was opened in 1849 and closed in 1855. The railway company also ran from September 1, 1846 to August 31, 1857, operations on the West Cambridge – Lexington line , but then handed over management to the owner of the line, the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad . From September 1847 to December 31, 1848, it led operations on the Fitchburg – Athol line of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad , before this company also operated its own route. The Fitchburg took over this route again on January 1, 1874 (see table). Also on January 1, 1874, Fitchburg had also taken over management of the Millers Falls – Brattleboro ( Brattleboro Branch ) railway from Vermont & Massachusetts, but sold this route on May 1, 1880 to the New London Northern Railroad .

Sources and further information

literature
  • George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads 2nd Ed. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5
  • William D. Middleton, George M. Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl (Eds.): Encyclopedia of North American Railroads. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN / Indianapolis IN 2007. ISBN 978-0-253-34916-3
Web links

Web links

Commons : Fitchburg Railroad  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files