The Fall River Branch Railroad was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1844, to provide a rail link from the emerging textile town of

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 ...

to 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 " ...

at Myricks Junction. It began operating in 1845 with 12 miles of track. A year later, in 1846 it merged with the Middleborough Railroad Corporation and the Randolph & Bridgewater Railroad Corporation to become the Fall River Railroad Company, with a new connection to Bridgewater. It operated as the Fall River Railroad until 1854 when it merged into the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall Ri ...

to become the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Company. The Fall River Railroad, under the leadership of Richard Borden began regular steamship service to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The service became known as the

Fall River Line The Fall River Line was a combination steamboat and railroad connection between New York City and Boston that operated between 1847 and 1937. It consisted of a railroad journey between Boston and Fall River, Massachusetts, where passengers would ...

, which for many years was the preferred means of travel between

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

. The original 1845 alignment of the Fall River Branch Railroad is currently part of the

South Coast Rail South Coast Rail is a project to build a new southern line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system along several abandoned and freight-only rail lines. The line has been planned to restore passenger rail service between Boston and the cities of Taunton, ...

project from

. The state purchased the track from

CSX 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. ...

in 2010 for $21 million, along with sections of track in nearby

New Bedford 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 pe ...

and Dartmouth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall River Branch Railroad Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Railway companies established in 1844 Railway companies disestablished in 1845 Defunct Massachusetts railroads Old Colony Railroad lines American companies established in 1844

See also

References