The Taunton Branch Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to be established in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States. It was chartered by the state in 1835 as a branch of the

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with a ...

(which opened in 1835) running between

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market to ...

and

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. At the 2020 cen ...

. The railroad provided a rapid overland connection between the seat of Bristol County and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Origins

The Taunton Branch Railroad opened for business in 1836. The overall length of the railroad was about 11.5 miles. Thomas B. Wales served as the company's first president. In 1840 the Taunton Branch Railroad was extended to

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American p ...

by the

New Bedford and Taunton Railroad The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad was originally incorporated at the Old Colony Railroad Corporation in 1836 as an extension of the Taunton Branch Railroad between Taunton and New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. The name was changed to "N ...

, providing Taunton with a direct link to the

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

port city. The railroad opened up new markets for Taunton's notable ironmaking industry, and would lead to the rapid development of new businesses in the coming decades. In 1845 another branch, known as the

Fall River Branch Railroad The Fall River Branch Railroad was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1844, to provide a rail link from the emerging textile town of Fall River to the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad at Myricks Junction. It began operating in 1845 with 12 miles of ...

, was built between Myricks and the emerging textile town of

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census, making it the List of municipaliti ...

. However, in 1846, Fall River trains bypassed Taunton and the Boston & Providence main line with the opening of their own connection, renamed the Fall River Railroad through Middleborough and Bridgewater to the Old Colony Railroad at South Braintree.

Expansion

In 1856, the Middleboro and Taunton Railroad was opened between

Weir Village Weir Village (also known as "The Weir") is a village of the city of Taunton in Bristol County, Massachusetts, located about one mile south of the city center on the banks of the Taunton River, near the point where it becomes tidal. The village ...

and the

Cape Cod Railroad The Cape Cod Railroad (also currently referred to as the Cape Main Line) is a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, running from Pilgrim Junction in Middleborough across the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, where it splits towards Hyannis in on ...

at Middleborough. In 1870, an extension of the original Taunton Branch Railroad was opened between

and

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a pop ...

, known as the

Mansfield and Framingham Railroad Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market town ...

, and leased by the adjoining

Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad The Agricultural Branch Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts on April 26, 1847, to provide a rail connection between Framingham and Northborough through the town of Southborough and ...

(BC&F). In 1871, the Taunton Railroad built a new connection to

Attleboro Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. Attleboro is ...

, providing a shortcut to Providence. On February 2, 1874, the Taunton Branch Railroad was merged into the

New Bedford Railroad The New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated on July 1, 1873, as a merger between the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad, the Taunton Branch Railroad, and the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad. The main line ran f ...

. The following year, the BC&F began leasing the New Beford's line. The two companies merged in 1876 to become the

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was formed on June 1, 1876, when the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad. The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Rai ...

. In 1879 the Old Colony Railroad leased the combined company, merging it into itself in 1883.

Today

The southern portion of the original Taunton Branch Railroad northeast of downtown Taunton is part of the

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

freight network, along with the original extensions to New Bedford and Fall River. The CSX lines connect to an extension with

that was built in 1871 as a shortcut between Taunton and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. Much of the original northern portion of the Taunton Branch Railroad has been abandoned, with the northernmost section between Mansfield Center and the

Mansfield Municipal Airport Mansfield Municipal Airport is a public airport located southeast of the central business district of Mansfield, a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. During World War II, the airfield was Naval Outlying Landing Field Mansfi ...

having been converted to a

bike path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

. In 2019 the state awarded $265,000 for construction of an extension of the trail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taunton Branch Railroad Taunton, Massachusetts Companies affiliated with the Old Colony Railroad Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Defunct Massachusetts railroads Railway companies established in 1835 Railway companies disestablished in 1874 Old Colony Railroad lines American companies established in 1835 American companies disestablished in 1874

Origins

Expansion

Today

See also

References