From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cape Cod Railroad
Cape Cod Railroad
The Cape Cod Railroad was a railroad in southeastern to build a line from Buzzards Bay to Woods Hole. Howev-
Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1846 as the Cape er, the line to Woods Hole was not completed until after
Cod Branch Railroad to provide a rail link from Fall River the merger with the Cape Cod Railroad in July of 1872. By
Railroad line in Middleborough to Cape Cod. Among the this time, the Cape Cod Railroad had merged with the Old
proponents of the Cape Cod Branch Railroad were Colony and Newport Railway to form a new company, re-
Richard Borden of Fall River, who saw the new line as an named the Old Colony Railroad. The Cape Cod routes be-
opportunity to bring more traffic and business through came known as the "Cape Cod Division" of the Old Colony
his hometown.[1] Railroad, with an office in Hyannis.[3]
On January 26, 1848, the first 14.7 mile segment of the The Old Colony Railroad completed the line to
railroad was opened between Middleborough and Ware- Provincetown in July of 1873.
ham. By May of 1848 an additional 12.9 miles was opened The lines of the Cape Cod Railroad would become part
to Sandwich. of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in
In 1853, the extension of the line to Hyannis was 1893 its lease of the entire Old Colony Railroad network.
started, reaching reaching West Barnstable on December The NY,NH&H ended daily passenger service to south-
22, 1853. On February 22, 1854, the Cape Cod Branch Rail- eastern Massachusetts and the Cape in 1959. The railroad
road was renamed the Cape Cod Railroad Company.[2] In the did, however, restore the popular seasonal rail service
spring of 1854, construction continued, with the railroad from New York, with connections from Boston, during
reaching Barnstable village May 8, Yarmouth Port May the 1960 through 1964 summer seasons.
19, and finally Hyannis on July 8, 1854. Connecting steam- Between 1986 and 1996, Amtrak operated the Cape
boat service to Nantucket commenced from Hyannis in Codder during summer weekends from New York City to
late September and would continue until 1872, when the Hyannis.
railroad branch to Woods Hole was opened.
In 1868, the Cape Cod Railroad acquired the Cape Cod
Central Railroad, which had opened a line from Yar-
References
mouth to Orleans in 1865. [1] The Story of the Old Colony Railroad, 1919
In 1871, the Cape Cod Railroad bought the Plymouth [2] Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, Feb
and Vineyard Sound Railroad, which had been incorpo- 15, 1911, page 415
rated in 1861 as the Vineyard Sound Railroad Company [3] The Story of the Old Colony Railroad, 1919
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Categories:
• Old Colony Railroad lines
• Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
• Railway companies disestablished in 1872
• Defunct Massachusetts railroads
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