RMS Segwun is the oldest operating steam driven vessel in North America, built in 1887 as Nipissing to cruise the Muskoka Lakes in the Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, a resort area with many lakes and rivers. Early in the 20th century, Muskoka was poorly served by roads. Vacationers were transported to lodges, or private cottages, via a fleet of steamships. Segwun is the oldest of only three ships in the world still carrying the status of Royal Mail Ship, and the only steamer.
The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.
The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, normally called the Stonington Line, was a major part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between New London, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. It is now part of Amtrak's high-speed Northeast Corridor.
The South Coast of Massachusetts is the region of southeastern Massachusetts consisting of the southern Bristol and Plymouth counties, bordering Buzzards Bay, and includes the cities of Fall River, New Bedford, the southeastern tip of East Taunton and nearby towns. The term is recent, dating to the 1990s, and sometimes confused with the South Shore.
Mount Temple was a passenger cargo steamship built in 1901 by Armstrong Whitworth & Company of Newcastle for Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd of Liverpool to operate as part of its Beaver Line. The ship was shortly afterwards acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was one of the first vessels to respond to the distress signals of RMS Titanic in 1912.
The Fall River Line was a combination steamboat and railroad connection between New York City and Boston that operated between 1847 and 1937. It consisted of a railroad journey between Boston and Fall River, Massachusetts, where passengers would then board steamboats for the journey through Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound to the line's own Hudson River dock in Manhattan. For many years, it was the preferred route to take for travel between the two major cities. The line was extremely popular, and its steamboats were some of the most advanced and luxurious of their day.
SS Keewatin is a passenger liner that once sailed between Port Arthur/Fort William on Lake Superior and Port McNicoll on Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. She carried passengers between these ports for the Canadian Pacific Railway's Great Lakes steamship service. Keewatin also carried packaged freight goods for the railway at these ports.
The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, commonly called the Ward Line, was a shipping company that operated from 1841 until liquidated in 1954. The line operated out of New York City's Piers 15, 16, and 17—land which later became the site of the South Street Seaport and also the Manhattan terminal of the IKEA-Red Hook ferry route. The company’s steamers linked New York City with Nassau, Havana, and Mexican Gulf ports. The company had a good reputation for safety until a series of disasters in the mid-1930s, including the SS Morro Castle disaster. Soon after, the company changed its name to the Cuba Mail Line. In 1947, the Ward Line name was restored when service was resumed after World War II, but rising fuel prices and competition from airlines caused the company to cease operation in 1954.
The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the Old Bay Line, was an American steamship line from 1840 to 1962 that provided overnight steamboat service on Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. Called a "packet" for the mail packets carried on government mail contracts, the term in the 19th century came to mean a steamer line operating on a regular, fixed daily schedule between two or more cities. When it closed in 1962 after 122 years of existence, it was the last surviving overnight steamship passenger service in the United States.
The Metropolitan Steamship Company was for 75 years one of the chief transportation links between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. It was closely associated with the Whitney family until its acquisition by Charles W. Morse in 1906. Even after being merged into Eastern Steamship Lines, it was maintained as a distinct service, the Metropolitan Line, until 1941.
Bristol was a large sidewheel steamboat launched in 1866 by William H. Webb of New York for the Merchants Steamship Company. One of Narragansett Bay's so-called "floating palaces", the luxuriously outfitted Bristol and her sister ship Providence, each of which could carry up to 1,200 passengers, were installed with the largest engines then built in the United States, and were considered to be amongst the finest American-built vessels of their era.
Providence was a large sidewheel steamer launched in 1866 by William H. Webb of New York for the Merchants Steamship Company. The first of Narragansett Bay's so-called "floating palaces", the luxuriously outfitted Providence and her sister ship Bristol, each of which could carry up to 1,200 passengers, were installed with the largest engines then built in the United States, and were considered to be amongst the finest American-built vessels of their era.
A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to container ships and other more specialized carriers in the latter half of the 20th century.
East Taunton station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in East Taunton, Massachusetts adjacent to the interchange between the Route 24 expressway and County Street. It is planned to open in late 2023 as part of the first phase of the South Coast Rail project.
The Dighton and Somerset Railroad, currently referred to as the Dean Street Industrial Track, is a railroad that ran between Fall River and Braintree, Massachusetts. It opened in 1866; from the 1890s to the 1930s and again in the late 1950s, it was the primary rail route from Boston to the South Coast. Passenger service ended in stages with the final regular service in 1958, though freight service on two short segments continues into the 21st century. MBTA Commuter Rail service is proposed to be extended onto the northern part of the line around 2030 as part of the South Coast Rail project.
Middleborough station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Middleborough, Massachusetts. It is expected to open in late 2023 as part of the South Coast Rail project, replacing Middleborough/Lakeville station for regular service. The station will have a single side platform located inside the wye between the Middleborough Main Line and the Middleboro Secondary.
Onondaga was a steam cargo ship built in 1905 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for Clyde Steamship Company with intention of operating on their East Coast and West Indies routes.
Mohawk was a steam passenger ship built in 1908 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for Clyde Steamship Company with intention of operating between New England and southern ports of the United States. In early January 1925 the ship caught fire off New Jersey coast and eventually was abandoned and scuttled by the crew without a loss of life.
Montgomery & Howard was a 19th-century American shipbuilding company started by Jabez K. Montgomery and A. L. Howard in 1867. The shipyard was on Marginal Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Some of the finest boats in the New England cost were designed and built by them. The company stayed in business until 1904. The sidewheel passenger steamer Old Colony was the last vessel that the firm built.
Overlakes Freight Corporation was shipping agent company founded in New York City on April 21, 1932, by William M. Nicholson. Overlakes Freight Corporation operated Liberty Ships during and for post World War II efforts. Most of Overlakes Freight Corporation ships were purchased by the War Shipping Administration for the war. Nicholson also owned the Nicholson Universal Steamship Company, Nicholson, Erie, Dover, Ferry Line, Nicholson Terminal & Dock Company, Aqua Terminal & Dock Corporation and the Nicholson Transit Company.
