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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 is now the Pan Am Railways network in 1983.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly known as The Consolidated or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of the New York and New Haven and Hartford and New Haven railroads, the company had near-total dominance of railroad traffic in Southern New England for the first half of the 20th century.
The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over 398 mi (641 km) of track to 141 different stations, with 58 stations on the north side and 83 stations on the south. It is operated under contract by Keolis, which took over operations on July 1, 2014, from the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR).
The Providence and Worcester Railroad is a Class II railroad operating in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence, Rhode Island and Worcester, Massachusetts, and ran its first trains in 1847. The P&W operated independently until 1892, when the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad leased it.
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 and New England Railroad was a major railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was known as the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, which had been formed by several smaller railroads dating back to 1846. After bankruptcy in 1893, the New York and New England Railroad was reorganized and became known as the New England Railroad before its 1898 lease to the competing New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Today, most of the original New York and New England lines have been abandoned; however a portion in Massachusetts is now part of the MBTA's Franklin Line providing commuter rail service to South Station in Boston. The Connecticut Southern Railroad operates freight service on a small portion of the former NY&NE line near East Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut. Other portions in Connecticut and Rhode Island have been converted to rail trails.
The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.
The Framingham Secondary is a railroad line in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Mansfield northwest to Framingham along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. Its south end is at Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, over which CSX has trackage rights to reach the Middleboro Subdivision at Attleboro and the Boston Subdivision in Boston. Its north end is at the Framingham/Worcester Line; the Fitchburg Subdivision continues northwest from Framingham.
The Connecticut Company was the primary electric street railway company in the U.S. state of Connecticut, operating both city and rural trolleys and freight service. It was controlled by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which also controlled most steam railroads in the state. After 1936, when one of its major leases was dissolved, it continued operating streetcars and, increasingly, buses in certain Connecticut cities until 1976, when its assets were purchased by the state government.
The New Haven and Northampton Railroad was a railroad originally built alongside a canal between 1847 and 1850 in Connecticut. Leased by the New York and New Haven Railroad from 1849 to 1869, the railroad expanded northwards to Massachusetts and its second namesake city in 1859. Upon the end of the lease in 1869, the company expanded further into Massachusetts, reaching as far north as Shelburne and Turners Falls.
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.
The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was formed on June 1, 1876, when the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad. The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad connected with the key railroad hubs of Worcester, Framingham, and Ayer, as well as several important industrial towns such as Fitchburg and Lowell, with the latter coming through a lease of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad. The New Bedford Railroad linked Framingham with New Bedford, which was a key deep-water port.
The New England Greyhound Lines, an intercity highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from 1937 until 1955, when it became a part of the Eastern Division of The Greyhound Corporation (called also the Eastern Greyhound Lines, the first of four huge new divisions.
The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1840 to provide a rail connection between Fitchburg and Worcester. Service began on February 11, 1850, running 18 miles from Fitchburg through Leominster and Sterling to Sterling Junction, where it connected with the Worcester and Nashua Railroad.
The Agricultural Branch Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts on April 26, 1847, to provide a rail connection between Framingham and Northborough through the town of Southborough and a small portion of the city of Marlborough. Service began on December 1, 1855.
The New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated on July 1, 1873, as a merger between the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad, the Taunton Branch Railroad, and the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad. The main line ran from a junction with the Boston and Providence Railroad in Mansfield through the towns of Norton, Taunton, Berkley, Lakeville, and Freetown to the deep-water whaling port of New Bedford. The railroad also had several branches, including the former Middleborough and Taunton Railroad, which ran from Weir Village, Taunton into Middleborough through Raynham, and a shortcut to Providence via the Boston and Providence Railroad which ran from Taunton to Attleborough through Norton.
The Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts that connected Worcester and Winchendon via Gardner. It was originally chartered as the Barre and Worcester Railroad in 1847, before being renamed the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad in 1849. The company was unable to raise funds for construction until 1869; service between Worcester and Gardner began in 1871. An extension northward to Winchendon was completed in January 1874. The Boston, Barre and Gardner operated independently until it was taken over by the Fitchburg Railroad in 1885. Despite the company's name, it never served Boston or Barre. The line was abandoned between Winchendon and Gardner in 1959 by successor Boston and Maine Railroad. In the 21st century, freight service on the remainder of the line is operated by the Providence and Worcester Railroad between Worcester and Gardner, and by Pan Am Railways on a short segment in Gardner.
The Lancaster Railroad, also known as the Lancaster and Hudson Railroad, was a shortline railroad in Massachusetts. The line ran 8.75 miles from a connection with the Worcester and Nashua Railroad in South Lancaster to a connection with the Marlborough Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad in Hudson via the town of Bolton.
Railroads have played an important role in New England ever since the Granite Railway, America's first commercial railway, began operations in Massachusetts in 1826. As industrialization spread across the region, hundreds of railroads were built throughout the 19th century. Railroad mileage peaked around World War I, and from that point on mileage began to shrink. Despite this, railroads continue to be important for freight and passenger transportation in the region, with the New Haven Line holding the title of busiest railroad line in the entire United States.