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Essex Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | Lawrence Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Defunct | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Massachusetts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Heavy rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | Eastern Railroad (1847-1884) Boston and Maine Railroad (1884-1958) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1847 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | 1927 (Salem to Lawrence) 1958 (Salem to Danvers Junction) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Essex Railroad (later known as the Lawrence Branch of the Eastern Railroad) was an American railroad in Essex County, Massachusetts that connected Salem to Lawrence.
In the mid-19th century, Mayor Stephen C. Phillips was an "outspoken promoter" for railroad development in Salem. [1] Phillips was anxious to make his city the port of entry for both Lawrence, and Lowell which caused him to lobby furiously for the cause. [1] The "Essex Railroad Company" was chartered by an act of Legislature passed on March 7, 1846. [2] Two days later, the City of Salem formally granted the "Essex Railroad Company" an act of incorporation (with backing from the Eastern Railroad). This granted the construction of a railroad from Salem through to South and North Danvers, Middleton, and North Andover. It would also connect a proposed new city in Methuen which later became Lawrence. [3] Civil engineer Charles S. Storrow approached and counseled Phillips on the subject in April 1847. [1] Storrow reassured him that a railroad to Lawrence would "recapture what Salem had lost". [1]
By the beginning of 1847, the first 2 miles (3.2 km) of track were completed from Salem to Peabody (then called South Danvers). The route was operated by the Eastern while the track to North Andover was constructed. In 1850, two new lines, the South Reading Branch Railroad and the Salem and Lowell Railroad, rented this stretch to give the Essex badly-needed revenue.
By September 1848, the Essex was completed to the Boston and Maine Railroad's main line in North Andover, and it was given trackage rights to Lawrence and South Lawrence over the B&M.
From the beginning, the Essex operation was under-capitalized, and it was soon in financial trouble. Operations were suspended three times. The first shut down was in April 1849, and the line remained closed for a year. The line reopened in the spring of 1850, but financial problems halted operations again by the fall. In October 1851, the Essex entered into a lease agreement with the Eastern, and the line was reopened and run as the Eastern's Lawrence Branch.
When the Eastern was absorbed by the B&M in 1884, Essex County was a dense network of rail lines through sparsely populated areas. The B&M could not justify keeping all these branch lines open. Freight service on the Essex had all but disappeared by 1925, and passenger service had lost riders to the trolley lines running through Danvers and Middleton. The only services on the line that were still strong were the passenger service for Lawrence factory workers commuting to North Andover and the freight service between Salem and Danvers Junction, where the Essex met the Newburyport Branch.
In 1927, the B&M abandoned the line between Stevens Station in North Andover and Danvers Junction. The line continued to operate until Stevens Mills closed in the 1960s and freight service to the North Andover Machine Shop ended in 1981. The line was formally abandoned later that year. Commuter service between Danvers Junction and Salem picked up and remained strong until 1958, when passenger service stopped. In 1985, the Waters River Bridge caught fire and took the line out of service. Customers north of the bridge were serviced via the Newburyport branch until all service on that line was suspended around 2000. The line between Peabody Square and Salem remained open for freight and the MBTA had preliminary plans to reopen passenger service between Salem and Danvers Junction, replacing the old bridge to gain access to Danvers. [4] A connecting segment at Route 1 is planned to open in 2024. [5]
Middleton is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,779 at the 2020 census.
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division.
The Grand Junction Railroad is an 8.55-mile (13.76 km) long railroad in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, connecting the railroads heading west and north from Boston. The line is notable for its railroad bridge over the Charles River that passes under the Boston University Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Norfolk County Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts, United States. Chartered as two different companies in 1846 and 1847, it completed a rail line between Dedham and Blackstone in 1849. A branch to Medway, Massachusetts was built in 1852. The railroad was leased by the Boston and New York Central Railroad, succeeded by the Boston and Providence Railroad and the East Thompson Railroad, before the Norfolk County Railroad returned to independent operation in 1858. In 1866, the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad leased the Norfolk County. The Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad was completed in 1877 from Franklin southward to Valley Falls, Rhode Island, and became a branch of the Norfolk County mainline. The northernmost portion of the main line from Islington to Dedham was rerouted to the east in 1881, and the original alignment abandoned two years later. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad assumed operation of the Norfolk County lines in 1898.
The Newburyport/Rockport Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running northeast from downtown Boston, Massachusetts towards Cape Ann and the Merrimack Valley, serving the North Shore. The first leg, operating via the Eastern Route of the former Boston and Maine Railroad, serves Chelsea, Lynn, Swampscott, Salem, and Beverly. From there, a northern branch continues via the Eastern Route to serve Hamilton, Ipswich, Rowley, and Newburyport, while other trains operate east from Beverly via the Gloucester Branch, serving Manchester, Gloucester, and Rockport. A bicycle coach is offered on the Rockport branch during the summer. With over 11,000 daily riders in October 2022, the line is the second-busiest on the system.
The Eastern Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine. Throughout its history, it competed with the Boston and Maine Railroad for service between the two cities, until the Boston & Maine put an end to the competition by leasing the Eastern in December 1884. Much of the railroad's main line in Massachusetts is used by the MBTA's Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, and some unused parts of its right-of-way have been converted to rail trails.
The Senator Patricia McGovern Transportation Center, also known as the McGovern Transportation Center or simply Lawrence station, is a transit station in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Commuter Rail's Haverhill Line. The modern station, which opened in 2005, is the latest of seven distinct stations located in Lawrence since 1848; it is located in the city's Gateway District.
Andover station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Andover, Massachusetts. It serves the Haverhill Line. The station has one platform with a mini-high platform for handicapped accessibility serving one track, while the second track lacks a platform. The previous station building, used from 1907 to 1959, is still extant; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Third Railroad Station.
Bradford station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Bradford, Massachusetts. It serves the Haverhill Line. The Haverhill Line's layover yard is located adjacent to the station.
Salem station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station served by the Newburyport/Rockport Line. The station is located off Bridge Street near its interchange with North Street at the north end of downtown Salem, Massachusetts. The station has a single accessible full-length high-level platform serving the single track of the Eastern Route. Just south of the station is the Salem Tunnel, which carries the line under Washington Street. Salem is a major park and ride center, with a 700-space parking garage, as well as an MBTA bus terminal. It is the busiest commuter rail station in the MBTA system outside of the central Boston stations, with an average of 2,326 daily boardings in a 2018 count.
The Wildcat Branch is a single track railroad branch line which connects the MBTA Lowell Line in Wilmington, Massachusetts to the MBTA Haverhill Line at Wilmington Junction. The total length of the branch line from the connection with the Lowell Line to the merge with the Haverhill Line is 2.88 miles (4.63 km). It was operated from 1836 to 1848, then rebuilt in 1874, and has been used since.
The South Reading Branch Railroad or just South Reading Railroad was a short line railroad that ran from Wakefield, Massachusetts to Peabody, Massachusetts. Its origins began sometime in 1850 when the railroad was named after the town of South Reading before its name change to Wakefield in 1868. By the time Boston and Maine took over the railroad in 1884, the line had already become obsolete due to competing branches. Boston and Maine eventually halted passenger service in 1925 by abandoning 8 miles of track between Peabody and Lynnfield. The tracks of the former Wakefield branch continued to operate from Lynnfield to Boston until 1959 when passenger service ended. Active tracks for freight service are still used from Salem through Peabody Square to South Peabody to serve industrial parks.
The Salem and Lowell Railroad, chartered in 1848, was a railroad in Massachusetts that connected the towns of Peabody and Tewksbury. The company connected to other railroads at both ends to provide service to its two namesake cities - the Lowell and Lawrence Railroad at Tewksbury Junction, and the Essex Railroad at Peabody. Construction was completed in 1850, with train operations contracted to the Lowell and Lawrence until 1858, when the Boston and Lowell Railroad took over both companies. In 1887, the Boston and Maine Railroad took over the Boston and Lowell and became the new operator of the Salem and Lowell. The line gradually declined in importance from the start of the 20th century, and was progressively abandoned from 1925 onwards. The last trains ran on the route in 1980, and the remainder of the route formally abandoned in 1987. Parts of the right of way are now a rail-trail.
The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad was a small independent railroad that was chartered in 1846 to build a rail line linking the two giant Merrimack River Valley cities of Lowell, Massachusetts to Lawrence, Massachusetts.
The Lowell and Andover Railroad was a branch line of the Boston and Maine Railroad and was organized in 1873, after the Boston and Lowell Railroad's monopoly on Boston to Lowell service ended in 1865. The line opened in 1874 from the B&M's main line at Lowell Junction in Andover, just south of the village of Ballardvale, west to Lowell through Tewksbury.
Lowell Junction is a railroad junction located in Andover, Massachusetts, about one mile south of the village of Ballardvale.
The Newburyport Railroad was a railroad that came about from the merger of three small rail companies into one rail line to compete with the Eastern Railroad for service between Newburyport and Boston, Massachusetts. The Newburyport Railroad ran from Newburyport to Wakefield, Massachusetts, where it connected with the Boston and Maine (B&M) for service into Boston.
The Manchester and Lawrence Railroad was a railroad company that was chartered in New Hampshire, United States, by businessmen from Manchester, to build a rail line from that city to the Massachusetts state line.
The Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad was a railroad line that was to link the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, to the city of Portland, Maine, via the New Hampshire cities of Nashua and Rochester, by merging several small shortline railroads together.