Sandwich station is a railway station in

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. History Cape Cod ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. It is currently only used by the

Cape Cod Central Railroad The Cape Cod Central Railroad is a heritage railroad located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It operates on a rail line known as the Cape Main Line which is owned by Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The line was previously owned and ope ...

as a whistle stop for its seasonal excursion trains.

History

The original passenger station in Sandwich was opened in May 1848 when the Cape Cod Branch Railroad extended its rail line from Middleborough to Sandwich. The original station was replaced by a brick station building in 1878. It was demolished in the 1980s. Scheduled year-round passenger service was operated to Sandwich from 1848 until June 30, 1959, when the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

discontinued all passenger service on its Old Colony division. During the summers of 1961 to 1964 the New Haven Railroad operated weekend service between New York and Hyannis, with a scheduled stop in Sandwich. New Haven trains of the 1930s-1960s included the '' Day Cape Codder,'' ''Neptune'' and ''Night Cape Codder, '' in addition to several trains a day year round to Boston. The station also saw a restoration of seasonal service between 1984 and 1988 when the Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad operated service between Braintree, Massachusetts and Cape Cod. The Sandwich station was also used from 1986 to 1996 for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's '' Cape Codder'' service. However, it has been eliminated from the schedule of the seasonal ''Cape Flyer'' train service initiated in 2013. Sandwich station currently serves as a whistle stop for select tourist excursion trains operated by Cape Cod Central Railroad, and also serves as the "turning point" for trains traveling to Mill Creek in Sandwich.

References

External links

Sandwich, Massachusetts Cape Cod Central Railroad stations Old Colony Railroad Stations on Cape Cod Stations along Old Colony Railroad lines Former Amtrak stations in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-railstation-stub