The branch was authorized amid Boston’s early railroad expansion and was built to improve service to Dedham. The Boston and Providence Railroad opened the West Roxbury Branch from a junction at Tollgate (near modern Forest Hills in Boston) to Dedham on July 14, 1849.[1] The line had several initial stops – including West Roxbury station and a station called Central (later renamed Bellevue).[2] Upon its opening, the West Roxbury Branch effectively supplanted the B&P’s older Dedham Branch (which had run from Readville to Dedham since 1835) as the main commuter route to Dedham Center. Direct trains from Boston began running via West Roxbury in 1850.
In March 1887, the Bussey Bridge collapsed in Roslindale. A B&P commuter train bound from Dedham to Boston derailed when a wooden truss bridge gave way, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens.[3] Despite this disaster, service on the West Roxbury Branch was soon restored with improved infrastructure; the collapsed span was replaced by a stone arch bridge by 1888.[4]
By the late 19th century, the West Roxbury Branch became a link in a longer through-route between Boston and Providence. The Norfolk County Railroad (the current-day MBTAFranklin-Foxboro Line) had built a line from Readville through Walpole to Blackstone in 1849, passing through Islington (then West Dedham).[5] After a series of reorganizations, this line came under the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad in the 1860s. The company, later reorganized as the New York & New England Railroad (NY&NE), had little use for the short Dedham-to-Islington segment. From 1867 onward, that portion saw minimal service and was officially abandoned and removed in 1883.[6]
In 1890, the Old Colony Railroad (which had leased the B&P in 1888) opened its Wrentham Branch Railroad. The Wrentham Branch, opened on December 1, 1890, ran from the Norfolk County mainline at Norwood Central through Wrentham and North Attleborough, connecting via the Attleboro Branch to Attleboro and the Boston–Providence main line.[7] This extension gave the Old Colony a new inland route toward Providence but lacked a direct Boston connection under Old Colony control. To secure this connection, the NY&NE rebuilt the missing Dedham–Islington link in 1890.[8] This allowed Wrentham Branch trains to operate through to Boston via the West Roxbury Branch. Beginning in the early 1890s, through passenger service operated from Providence (via North Attleborough, and Wrentham), up the Wrentham Branch to Walpole, over the Norfolk County line via Islington and Dedham, and finally via the West Roxbury Branch into Boston.[9][10] After 1903, trains were rerouted via the RI&M line (Valley Falls Branch) and the Providence and Worcester mainline, connecting to the Wrentham Branch in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
By mid-1898, shortly after the B&P, Old Colony, and NY&NE had all come under New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) control, Dedham was served by 36 inbound trains per weekday, approximately two-thirds of them running via West Roxbury, including six through trains originating from the Providence route.[11] This arrangement was short-lived; following the NYNH&H’s consolidation of the previously independent lines—the Old Colony lease in 1893 and NY&NE control in 1898—the company considered the Wrentham–West Roxbury routing redundant.[12] In June 1899, Providence trains were rerouted via a more direct connection at Readville.[13] A connecting track built at Dedham Junction in 1881 had already allowed the Norfolk County line to connect directly to the B&P mainline at Readville.[14] After 1899, Boston–Providence service exclusively used the main line, relegating the Wrentham Branch to local service. A stub shuttle between Dedham and Islington, operated using a steam railcar, continued intermittently until 1904, after which the rebuilt Dedham–Islington segment saw only infrequent freight service.[15]
Decline and abandonment
Diagram of historical rail connections in Dedham, including the southern portion of West Roxbury Branch south of West Roxbury station
Passenger service on the West Roxbury Branch continued into the early 20th century but steadily declined. In 1904, the Dedham-Islington section was once again abandoned, lasting only 14 years since it had been last rebuilt. The opening of the Needham Cutoff in 1906 diverted most of the traffic away from the West Roxbury Branch.[16] Additional service reductions occurred as part of cost-cutting measures during the Great Depression. On July 18, 1938, several local stations, including Spring Street, were closed as part of the railroad's system-wide station consolidation efforts.[17]All rail service between West Roxbury and Dedham Center officially ended on May 6, 1940.[18] Following abandonment, tracks and infrastructure between Dedham Center and West Roxbury station were dismantled, including the bridge at Spring Street, was removed.[19]
In 1947, the Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission (commonly known as the Coolidge Commission) proposed converting the southern portion of the West Roxbury Branch into a rapid transit line as part of a broader expansion of Boston’s elevated Orange Line. The commission’s preliminary report suggested using existing railroad rights-of-way to extend high-speed electric service to suburban areas such as West Roxbury, Dedham, and Readville.[20] The plan envisioned the Orange Line diverging south of Forest Hills, running over the West Roxbury Branch corridor through West Roxbury and Islington to Dedham Center.[21] Although the plan was never funded or designed in detail, the idea of extending rapid transit into the southwestern suburbs was revisited in later decades, leading to the development of the Southwest Corridor and the relocation of the Orange Line in the 1980s.[22] In 1973, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) formally acquired this segment from Penn Central, incorporating it into the Needham Line.[23] Dedham’s 19th-century granite station saw its final train via the Dedham Branch in April 1967 and was demolished soon afterward.[24]
Current status
The Spring Street station steps, bridge abutments and berm were demolished in 2024
South of the junction at West Roxbury, virtually no remnants of the former rail corridor survive. Following abandonment, the rail berm and grade were removed in many areas, facilitating redevelopment. In Dedham, large portions of the former right-of-way were consumed by surface parking lots and commercial buildings constructed during postwar redevelopment (such as the Dedham Mall) near the former Dedham station site.[25] In 2024, the remaining bridge abutments and berm at Spring Street were demolished to make way for a single-family housing development, eliminating one of the last visible structural remnants of the branch line.[26] Further south, highway development erased most traces of the railroad. Sections of the former right-of-way between Dedham and Islington were overtaken by the expansion of Route 1A (Providence Highway), which now occupies much of the former rail alignment through Westwood.[27] Additionally, suburban residential and commercial development throughout Westwood eliminated any continuous linear trace of the former branch line.
The northernmost 4 miles (6.4 km) of the branch, between Forest Hills and West Roxbury, were retained for active passenger rail service. This section was incorporated into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Commuter Rail’s Needham Line after acquisition from Penn Central in 1973.[28] Stations at Roslindale Village, Bellevue, Highland, and West Roxbury continue to serve daily commuter trains to Boston. While no trains continue south of West Roxbury, this portion of the corridor remains the only preserved remnant of the original West Roxbury Branch.
↑ Massachusetts Department of Transportation. (2024). Historic Rail Corridor Inventory Report.
↑ Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission. (1947). Preliminary Report. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Available via Massachusetts State Archives.
↑ Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission. (1947). Preliminary Report, p. 12. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
↑ Southwest Corridor Project Final Environmental Impact Report. (1973). Massachusetts Department of Public Works. Boston Public Library Government Documents Collection.
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