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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 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 Manchester and Lawrence was chartered in 1847 and opened in November 1849. It leased the newly built Methuen Branch from the Boston and Maine Railroad which opened in August 1849 and ran from South Lawrence through Methuen to the state line where the two lines met.
The B&M tried to lease the M&L, but the company leased itself to the Concord Railroad in 1850. This still helped the B&M as the railroad opened up a second Manchester to Boston route that helped the B&M compete with the combined Nashua and Lowell and Boston and Lowell Railroads. Within 1887, the contract was terminated, and the B&M gained control of the line.
In the 20th century, the line was relegated to local freight. Passenger service on the line dropped to one round trip per day until 1953 when regular passenger service ended. Special summer trains ran to Rockingham Park in Salem for the horse races until 1960 when that service stopped.
Despite rapid population growth in Rockingham County in the 1960s and '70s, rail traffic declined. On November 6, 1980, the section of the line from North Salem to Derry was temporarily taken out of service and later abandoned in 1984 by Guilford, having never been reactivated. In 1986 the line from Derry to Londonderry (Manchester Airport) was abandoned. Freight service between the Manchester railyard and the airport continued until 1989, when a severe washout crippled the railbed just north of Goffs Falls Road in South Manchester. Guilford continued to serve the remaining customers from the railyard to South Manchester until 1998. The entire remaining right-of-way from the railyard to Manchester Airport was abandoned in 2000, and the segment that ran through the airport was sold to extend one of the runways.
Freight continued to run on the southern end of the line from Lawrence to North Salem until December 1992, when the remaining customers in that part of town closed. Service from Lawrence to the Rockingham Park run-around siding in Salem continued until March 1999. The main line and passing track at the racetrack was removed immediately and was relocated south so that Guilford could continue to serve the last remaining customer while waiting for approval to abandon service from the Surface Transportation Board. All service north of the Lawrence city line ended in June 2001 when Guilford delivered two covered hoppers to leave behind in Salem and picked up empties. A small stretch in Lawrence continued to see infrequent service until 2014. The portion of the line in Massachusetts (Lawrence and Methuen) is currently owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), and all track north of Lawrence has been removed, with some sections of rail still in place in Londonderry (just south of the airport) and staggered spots in Manchester.
The New Hampshire state rail plan of 2012 [1] and the I-93 transit study [2] stated that it could be feasible to revitalize the line up to Manchester for freight and commuter rail service.
The abandoned roadbed currently serves as a rail trail in Manchester, Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and Salem in New Hampshire, as well as in Methuen, Massachusetts. [3] [4]
Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 30,089 at the 2020 census and an estimated 30,647 in 2022. Salem is a northern suburb of Boston located on Interstate 93. As the first town along I-93 northbound in New Hampshire, which lacks any state sales tax, Salem has grown into a regional commercial hub for the northern section of Greater Boston, anchored by the Mall at Rockingham Park and Tuscan Village. Other major sites include Canobie Lake Park, a large amusement park; and America's Stonehenge, a stone structure of disputed origins. It is the former home of Rockingham Park, a horse racetrack. The Sununu political family hails from Salem, including former New Hampshire governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, and his sons John E. Sununu, a former U.S. senator, and Chris Sununu, current New Hampshire governor.
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983.
Londonderry is a town in western Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. It sits between Manchester and Derry, the largest and fourth-largest communities in the state. The population was 25,826 at the 2020 census. Londonderry is known for its apple orchards and is home to the headquarters of Stonyfield Farm and part of Manchester–Boston Regional Airport.
Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the 4th most populous in the state. The town's nickname, "Spacetown", derives from the fact that Derry is the birthplace of Alan Shepard, the first astronaut from the United States in space. Derry was also for a time the home of the poet Robert Frost and his family.
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 Massachusetts Central Railroad is a short line railroad in western Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1975 to provide railroad transportation services on portions of the Boston & Maine Wheelwright Branch in and around their trackage in Bondsville and Ware, and later between Palmer and South Barre on the old right-of-way of the Ware River Railroad.
New Hampshire Route 28 is an 85.413-mile-long (137.459 km) north–south state highway in eastern New Hampshire. It connects the town of Ossipee in east-central New Hampshire with Salem on the Massachusetts border, while passing through Manchester, the largest city in the state.
The Central New England Railroad is a railroad in and near Hartford, Connecticut. It began operations in 1995 on former Conrail trackage.
Bradford station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in the Bradford neighborhood of Haverhill, Massachusetts, served by the Haverhill Line. The Haverhill Line's layover yard is located adjacent to the station. It is temporarily the northern terminal of the Haverhill Line until mid-2025.
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. The remaining tracks were then used for freight service from Salem through Peabody Square to South Peabody to serve industrial parks until October 2023.
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 (B&M) and was organized in 1873, after the Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L)'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.
The Essex Railroad was an American railroad in Essex County, Massachusetts that connected Salem to Lawrence.
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 Stony Brook Railroad, chartered in 1845, was a railroad company in Massachusetts, United States. The company constructed a rail line between the Nashua and Lowell Railroad's main line at the village of North Chelmsford and the town of Ayer, Massachusetts where it connected to the Fitchburg Railroad. Rather than running its own trains, upon opening in 1848 operations were contracted to the Nashua and Lowell; this arrangement continued until the Nashua and Lowell was leased by the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1880. The Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) took over operation of the Stony Brook in 1887 when it leased the Boston and Lowell Railroad. In 1983 the B&M was purchased by Guilford Rail System, which renamed itself Pan Am Railways (PAR) in 2006. Passenger service last ran on the line in 1961, but it saw significant freight service under Pan Am Railways. While it never owned rolling stock or ran trains, the Stony Brook Railroad Corporation existed until 2022 as a nearly wholly owned subsidiary of the Boston and Maine, itself a PAR subsidiary. That year, it was merged into CSX Transportation as part of CSX's purchase of Pan Am Railways.
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 Monadnock Railroad was one of many extension line railroads built to help expand the Fitchburg Railroad/Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad into New Hampshire. This line was to serve the New Hampshire towns on the eastern side of Mount Monadnock, mainly Jaffrey and Peterborough.
The Methuen Rail Trail is a rail trail in Methuen and Lawrence, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is 2.4 miles (3.9 km) long, measuring from Manchester Street in Lawrence to the New Hampshire state border. The abandoned rail path continues in both directions; south of Manchester Street, the path is abandoned and walkable, although with no indication of it being a trail, while to the north, the trail continues as the Salem Rail Trail in Salem, New Hampshire.
The Nashua and Lowell Railroad (N&L) was a 14-mile-long (23 km) railroad built to connect Nashua, New Hampshire with the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. Chartered in June 1835, construction began in 1837 and the first train ran the next year. The Nashua and Lowell was the first railroad built in the state of New Hampshire.