The Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad was a railroad based in northwestern Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1842 and was purchased by the

Western Railroad of Massachusetts The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pass ...

before construction was finished in 1846, then acquired by the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...

in 1870, only to face a gradual demise between the 1960s and 1990. It ran from

North Adams Junction North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

in Pittsfield to North Adams, where it connected to the

Troy and Greenfield Railroad The Troy and Greenfield Railroad, chartered in 1848, ran from Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States, to the Vermont state line. It was leased to the Troy and Boston Railroad in 1856, then consolidated into Fitchburg Railroad 1887 which in tur ...

, an affiliate of the

Fitchburg Railroad The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main l ...

History

The Pittsfield and North Adams was incorporated on March 3, 1842, by special act of the State of Massachusetts. The original owners of the P&NA developed this corridor with the goal of extending the

Housatonic Railroad The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, an ...

north to Rutland, Vermont. It was organized December 18, 1845 and opened for operation on December 1, 1846. Before the tracks were under construction, the company was acquired by the

, which allowed the Housatonic to use the line until the Western Railroad became part of the

(B&A) on November 2, 1870, as their North Adams Branch. Mineral traffic developed on the line and a number of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

operations went into business. The

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

took over the B&A in 1900, and upgraded the line, although it allowed the B&A and its branches to operate under its old name. Brochures and schedules of the New York Central made the North Adams Branch seem as if it were a segment of the Harlem Division, despite the fact that the aforementioned line terminated at Chatham Union Station in New York. Some brochures with this extension actually pre-date the purchase of the B&A by NYC. In 1961, the B&A name was officially phased out, making the North Adams Branch into a branch of the NYC. Along with the rest of the New York Central, the line was merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 to form

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

, which faced bankruptcy within two years. Penn Central was bought out by Conrail in 1976, and kept the North Adams Branch intact, until they sold the branch to the Boston and Maine Corporation in 1981. Despite the connection to an existing track in North Adams, Boston and Maine ran the line with declining success. The 1983 purchase of B&M by

Guilford Transportation Industries Guildford is a town in Surrey, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Guildford, the Diocese of Guildford and the Parliamentary constituency of Guildford. Guildford, Guilford, or Gildford may also refer to: Places Australia * Guildf ...

had no effect on the line, so it was abandoned in 1990. Seeing the potential for recreational use of the corridor, local citizens organized to preserve the right-of-way, eventually gaining the local and political support needed to convert much of the line into the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.Ashuwillticook Rail Trail (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation)
/ref> Surviving structures along this branch include former stations in Cheshire, Adams, and North Adams.

Station list

The entire line was in Berkshire County, Massachusetts

References

External links

{{Commons category, Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad
Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports, Volume 27 (Google Books)
Pittsfield and North Adams Defunct Massachusetts railroads Transportation in Berkshire County, Massachusetts 1842 establishments in Massachusetts Railway companies established in 1842 Railway companies disestablished in 1990 American companies established in 1842