Dedham Branch

DEDHAM BRANCH

Former site of East Dedham station, photographed in 2015
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Status Abandoned
Locale Southeastern Massachusetts
Termini Boston South Station
Dedham
Stations 7
Operation
Opened 1834 (Boston and Providence Railroad)
Closed April 1967[1]
Owner New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Operator(s) New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Character Surface-level
Technical
Line length 11.7 miles[2]
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map

The Dedham Branch was a spur line of the Boston and Providence Railroad, later acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which ran from the junction with the main line (now the Franklin Line) at Readville through to central Dedham. In 1966, it became part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, but was abandoned the next year.[1]

History

MBTA era

Abutment of the former bridge over River Street in Dedham, photographed in 2015

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in 1964 out of Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.), largely in order to save the rapidly declining commuter rail lines feeding into Boston.[1] In April 1966, the MBTA began subsidising continued NYNH&H commuter rail service on four of the NYNH&H's six commuter rail lines entering Boston from the southwest; the Franklin Line, Needham Line, Dedham Branch, and Millis Branch received MBTA subsidies, while the Shore Line (which provided through service from Boston to Providence) and Stoughton Branch, both now part of the MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line, did not receive MBTA subsidies until they were acquired by the MBTA outright in 1973.[1]

Despite now being subsidised by the MBTA, commuter rail service on both the Dedham and Millis Branches (by now consisting only of a single rush-hour round trip in each direction daily) was discontinued a year later, on April 21, 1967.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Belcher, Jonathan (27 December 2014). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND RAILROADS (2) – SL 198" (PDF). Jim Fergusson's Railway and Tramway Station Lists. 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.

External links

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