The Fall River, Warren and Providence Railroad (also known as the Fall River Branch) was a railroad in southeastern

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

connecting the city of Fall River, Massachusetts with

Warren, Rhode Island Warren is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2020 census. History Warren was the site of the Pokanoket Indian settlement of Sowams located on a peninsula within the Pokanoket region. The reg ...

. It was incorporated in 1862 as a merger of the ''Warren and Fall River Railroad Company'' of Rhode Island and the ''Fall River and Warren Railroad Company'' of Massachusetts. The railroad line itself was not completed until 1865. It branched for 10 miles from the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad line in

to Somerset, Massachusetts, directly across the

Taunton River The Taunton River (historically also called the "Taunton Great River"), is a river in southeastern Massachusetts in the United States. It arises from the confluence of the Town River and Matfield River, in the town of Bridgewater. From the ...

from

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

via the Slade's Ferry Bridge. The line was abandoned and dismantled in 1937.

History

In 1875, the line was connected to the Old Colony Railroad main line in

with the opening of the Slade's Ferry Bridge. The Old Colony Railroad operated the line from 1875 until 1892 when it bought it outright. In 1893 the line became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad upon its lease of the entire Old Colony Railroad system.

Route

The branch split from the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad at Warren Station eastward through

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

and Somerset, crossing over the Kickemuit, Cole,

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

and

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

rivers; the Slade's Ferry Bridge carried both the railroad and road traffic. Despite its proximity to the Fall River Branch route, the

Dighton and Somerset Railroad The Dighton and Somerset Railroad, currently referred to as the Dean Street Industrial Track, is a railroad that ran between Fall River and Braintree, Massachusetts. It opened in 1866; from the 1890s to the 1930s and again in the late 1950s, i ...

had its own drawbridge across the Taunton River four miles upriver at Mallard's point. The FRW&P met the Fall River mainline at

Fall River Station Fall River station (Fall River Depot) is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Fall River, Massachusetts. The station is being constructed as part of the South Coast Rail project and is expected to open in mid-2024. History Forme ...

where transfers could be made to other Old Colony lines.

Electrification

Like the PW&B mainline, the Fall River Branch was completely electrified in 1900 with a 600 Volt DC single-wire trolley system under New Haven ownership. The New Haven had originally envisioned the eventual electrification of most commuter rail lines in the South Coast of Massachusetts; however, these plans were indefinitely postponed due to cost. A battery station was constructed on Brayton Point adjacent to the Slade's Ferry Bridge in Somerset; during rush hour periods, the battery stations would pick up some of the load, easing the burden on the Warren powerhouse. The branch was operated similarly to an interurban service under electrification. Electrification was never extended beyond Bowenville (Fall River) Station.

Decline and abandonment

The Fall River Branch was beginning to see a steady decline in ridership by the early 1930s. In 1932, the Slade's Ferry Bridge was destroyed when a passing ship attempted to navigate past the swing section and collided with it. Since the Fall River Branch had no connection to the Dighton and Somerset line, it could no longer cross the Taunton River; this in effect ended all PW&B passenger service to Fall River. The Slade's Ferry Bridge was then renovated soon after and the unneeded railroad span removed. Electric service was cut back the same year before being entirely ceased on the PW&B in 1934. The New Haven received ICC permission to abandon the line from East Warren to Slade's Ferry Bridge on June 11, 1937. The Slade's Ferry Bridge was subsequently bought by the state of Massachusetts as a highway bridge, with a lift drawbridge replacing the original swing section. The completion of the much higher

Braga bridge The Charles M. Braga Jr. Memorial Bridge, also known as the Braga Bridge, is a through truss bridge that carries Interstate 195 over the Taunton River between the town of Somerset and the city of Fall River, near the mouth of the Quequechan Rive ...

(

I-195 Interstate 195 (I-195) is the designation for the following Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95: *Interstate 195 (District of Columbia), a future designation for the north–south portion of I-395 from the Sout ...

) rendered the Slade's Ferry bridge a hazard to navigation and was demolished around 1965. Unlike the Bristol Secondary, little remains of the former Fall River Branch. Since the line had not been rail-banked, the line has been substantially built over. A 1-mile segment reopened as the Warren Bike Path in 2010. An expansion of the bike path in Warren began in 2021, including the rebuilding of the former bridge over the Kickemuit River, left destroyed after the

1938 Hurricane The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm ...

. The project is scheduled for completion in 2023. Some station structures, such as the former Touisset station in Swansea, are now private homes. The former Brayton Point battery station remains abandoned a few hundred feet west from the Somerset abutment of the former Slade's Ferry Bridge. Several bridge abutments are still extant in Swansea and Somerset.

Former stations

Gallery

File:PW&B abutment in Somerset, October 2020.jpg, FRW&P abutment in Somerset File:Slades Ferry Bridge 1914 postcard.jpg, View of Slade's Ferry Bridge from Fall River File:Touisset station and bridge abutment, October 2020.jpg, Former Touisset station and bridge abutment in Swansea File:Brayton battery house interior (1), October 2020.jpg, Interior of the former Brayton Point battery house File:Brayton battery house exterior (1), October 2020.jpg, Exterior of Brayton Point battery house; the entire structure is hidden by overgrowth

References

{{Reflist Old Colony Railroad lines Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 1862 establishments in Massachusetts