The West Bridgewater Branch was a short railroad line in southeastern Massachusetts that connected to the towns of West Bridgewater and Easton. Opened in 1888, the 7.6 mile (12.2 km) branch primarily served to link two major rail corridors while providing local freight and passenger service. It was abandoned in stages between 1938 and 1963. Within West Bridgewater, a part of the former right-of-way has been converted into the West Bridgewater Rail Trail.
The branch was constructed by the Old Colony Railroad and opened for service on January 1, 1888.[1] Its primary purpose was to connect the Fall River main line (currently the MBTA'sFall River/New Bedford Line) at Matfield Junction in West Bridgewater with the Dighton & Somerset Railroad near South Easton. This created a through-route between Brockton, Easton, and Taunton while extending railroad service to West Bridgewater for the first time.[2] In 1893, the Old Colony Railroad was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, incorporating the branch into its Old Colony Division.[3] From Matfield Junction, where it diverged from the Old Colony's Fall River main line, the route proceeded southwest through West Bridgewater, crossing the Town River and passing near Cochesett village. The line continued into Easton, passing through Eastondale before connecting with the D&S mainline near South Easton. Stations included Matfield, West Bridgewater (Cochesett), Eastondale, and South Easton.[4][5]
Decline and abandonment
By the time the New Haven took over the West Bridgewater Branch, the line held more value as a freight connector route than for passenger service. By 1897, the Brockton and Taunton Street Railway Company operated streetcar services through Eastondale (along Washington and Depot Streets) parallel to the rail line, which required the New Haven to build a bridge where the two crossed. Regular passenger service on the West Bridgewater Branch ceased by the late 1920s.[6] While the branch had been built partly to give Easton manufacturers (like the Ames Shovel Works or other mills) another outlet for shipping, many of those industries declined by the Great Depression.
In 1938 the western portion of the line toward Easton was abandoned, severing the through connection at Easton; this left only a short segment of the branch in service from Matfield Junction into West Bridgewater to serve remaining freight customers.[7] That remaining segment continued to be used sporadically for local freight into the early 1960s. By 1963, the New Haven obtained permission to abandon the last active portion of the West Bridgewater Branch, and the track was subsequently removed.[8]
Current status
Remnants of the railbed are still visible, particularly near Simpson Spring in Easton and in wooded sections of West Bridgewater.[9] Most of the right-of-way in South Easton and Eastondale has been overdeveloped by single-family housing. Portions of the former right-of-way in West Bridgewater have been converted into the West Bridgewater Rail Trail; the 1.6-mile (2.6 km) recreational trail opened in 2016 and uses a section of the old railroad grade starting in the center of West Bridgewater which extends westward through woods and wetlands.[10] The town of Easton has opposed an extension of the rail trail eastward through their town.[11][12] The bridge that carried the railroad over the trolley line in Eastondale (near Turnpike Street) was removed in 1939, but the raised grade where it crossed the road is still extent.
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