linksMA

Sites Related to Massachusetts Railroads:

Updated: 1/30/22

Note: Because web sites often disappear, change addresses without warning, or otherwise become defunct, some of the links on this page may prove to be dead ones. I apologize in advance to anyone who happens to discover this while looking over this page, and I ask anyone noticing a dead link to please pass that news along to me so that I may correct or delete it. Should you find a dead link to an interesting-looking site , you might try typing the website title into your search engine. I'd also like to hear about relevant sites not listed here. Thanks!

Note: Most Wikipedia sites provide fast and accurate basic information; they can be accessed easily under the specific railroad name (e.g.: Boston & Maine RR, New Haven RR, Central Massachusetts RR, etc.). While not "scholarly" sources, they typically provide useful links and additional references.

The Library of Congress A site with an enormous collection of historical maps, including birds-eye-view maps that show plainly the exact location of older railroad stations in many American cities and towns and even provide sketch views of the depots themselves.

The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society The B&MRRHS official web page. Click here for information on the Society's services, publications, calendar, dues schedule, etc. Click here for an excellent on-line tour or station photos and images.

Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts, Inc. The Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts group also has its own web page. Click here for information on the Society's services, publications, calendar, dues schedule, etc.

The Walker Transportation Collection Richard Symmes, curator. The Walker Transportation Collection of the Beverly (MA) Historical Society and Museum houses an enormous collection of Railroad related materials, particularly photographs. The museum is located at 117 Cabot St., Beverly MA, 01915-5196 [(978) 922-1186], and is open to the public on Wednesday, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Digital Commonwealth: Massachesetts Collections Online An extensive site of on-line collections of historical images from all over Massachusetts, a great many of them relating to railroading in the state, with many, many excellent depot images. Very searchable, a hugely valuable (and entertaining) source.

The New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association By the NHRHTA. A superb site (with a great welcoming song!), very well kept.

Boston & Maine Railroad: Official List of Officers, Agents & Stations Posted by Kenyon Karl. A list of all B&M Stations, with mileposts and agents' names, as of 1 July 1923.

Scott's Railroad Archaeology Page By Scott Currier. A site devoted to the archaeology of abandoned branches of the B&M Railroad in Southern New Hampshire and Northeastern Massachusetts. Scott is one of the chief contributors to the NH and the MA stations sites.

Mystery Depots in Massachusetts and New Hampshire By Steve Fisk. A website with discussions of depots that have eluded positive identification (these are also linked to pages on the New Hampshire depots site).

Northern New England Railfan Page By Chuck Petlick. A site that contains three official and eight unofficial webpages of railroads operating in New Hampshire.

The Providence & Worcester Railroad (Official website)

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (Official website)

Amtrak (Official website)

The Billerica & Bedford Railroad By Friends of Bedford Depot Park (see below). A nicely constructed site featuring this charming narrow-gauge railroad.

Chronology of Bedford Railroad History By Friends of Bedford Depot Park (see below). One of several interesting sites related to railroading in the Bedford, MA, area.

The B&M Lexington Branch By Friends of Bedford Depot Park (see below). Another site related to railroading in the Bedford, MA, area.

Cape Cod Rails By Andrew Eldridge. A site featuring a variety of links to separate websites on railroads in the Cape Cod area.

MassHome's Massachusetts Railroad Page By Owen Devlin. A very helpful webpage featuring a variety of links to railroad sites of all kinds throughout Massachusetts and surrounding areas.

Salisbury Point Railroad Historical Society By the SPRRHS. A site devoted to the Boston & Maine's involvement in northeastern Massachusetts.

New England Trains and Railroading: Depots and Stations By Dave Laroche. A site with pages devoted to depots in all six New England states.

Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum A site devoted to the preservation of trolleys and railroading in the Shelburne Falls area.

E. B. Luce Collection A page of railroad photos from a site devoted to the work of Worcester-area photographer E. B. Luce.

Cape Cod Central Railroad The official website of the scenic railroad of Cape Cod.

Massachusetts Railroad Certificate Collection By Gary Rosenhahn. A website with a spectacular collection of stock and bond certificates from railroads serving both Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Canton Viaduct By Ed Costanza. A website with information, photos, and discussion of the 615-ft. railroad viaduct built in 1835 in Canton, Massachusetts.

Cochituate Rail Trail By A. Richard Miller. A website with information, photos, and discussion of the Saxonville Branch of the Boston & Worcester/Boaton & Albany RR.

Springfield Union By Matt Cosgro. A site focusing on railroading in and around Springfield, with additional emphasis on the great Union Stations of that city.

Pan Am Railways Official site of the railroad formerly known as Guilford (and previously known as....).

Friends of Bedford Depot Park In their own words, a website "honoring and preserving ... local rail transportation history in Bedford, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities.

Berkshire Scenic Railway Official site of the Berkshire Scenic Railway and the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum.

Amherst Railway Society Home page of the Amherst Railway Society, a very active organization and an especially useful source of information on all aspects of railroading in New England.

Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington Railroad Co. A small website on this interesting railroad.

Dave's Electric Railroads By Dave. A website loaded with images and data about street railways throughout America, notably in Massachusetts.

Worcester Union Station Before and After Restoration By John Simakauskas. Comparative photos of the Worcester MA Union Station, a page from a larger website, Vistadome Views.

New England Railroad Buildings: Massachusetts By Jonelle DeFelice. A multi-featured website with extensive coverage of railroading in New England, including many of Jonelle's very fine photographs of stations and locomotives.

Boston & Albany Company Records At Baker Library, Harvard Business School. A "finding aid" for historical research.

Boston & Albany Railroad Company and South Station By Boston Atheneum Digital Collections. A website with libraries of historical photographs.

Rails of the World: Boston & Albany By Scott Running Bear. A website with a list of stations of the B&A, with usual notations.

Massachsetts Railroad Stations By Edward Ozog. A website with a great many images of stations in Massachusetts.

Wellesley's Railroad Stations By Josh Dorin. A website with a history of local railroad stations, with images. View at: https://wellesleyhistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/wellesleys-railroad-stations/

Lost Train Stations [Boston] By Mark B. A website with images, maps, and information on formewr stations in Boston (based chievfly on Richard Barrett's book Boston's Depots and Terminals).

List of Massachusetts Railroads By Wikipedia A very valuable resource with station-by-station charts and useful information for all railroads, current and historical, in the state of Massachusetts.

List of Old Colony Railroad Stations By Wikipedia A very valuable resource with station-by-station charts and useful information for Old Colony railroad stations, current and historical, in the state of Massachusetts.

Massachsetts Railroads and Railfanning in The Bay State" By American Rail. A link that contains a number of railroad-related matters in MA, as well as many outside of MA in various sub-categories, including one on stations.

The Boston & Maine Railroad By Earl Tuson. A site featuring a wealth of information about the B&M, particularly prototype data.

The Boston & Maine Railroad On-Line Books Page Edited by John Mark Ockerbloom. A compendium of historical reports, etc., published by the B&M Railroad.

Abandoned Rails of Massachusetts A quick and handy guide to 25 abandoned railroads in eastern Massachusetts

Grafton & Upton Railroad By Steve Clark and Dick Bolt. A very nice group of depot photos for this unique Massachusetts railroad.

The Amesbury Passenger Railroad Station: A Moving Story By the Amesbury Carriage Museum. A small, nicely done narrative of the moving about of a small-town station, with postcard images and maps.

Walking Tour: The Railroad [in Amesbury] --Downtown to Oak Street A Century Ago By Mike Harrold, for the Amesbury Carriage Museum. A detailed walk along the railroad through the industrial heart of a Massachusetts town. Not to be missed!

The Half-Abandoned Clinton Union Station By Emily Moser, for the Harlem Line. A small page with several interesting images of the Clinto, MA, station.

Allston Depot By the Brighton-Allston Historical Society. A small, nicely done site with information and many excellent images of Allston Station.

The Railroad Comes to South Wellfleet By David Sexton. A brief but nicely written page on railroading on this part of Cape Cod.

Revolution on Wheels, Part Three -- The Railroad By Martin Ray. A brief page with notes and pictures about the railroad in Rockport, MA.

History of the Railways of Massachusetts By Edward Appleton. A history published in 1871 with a distinct 19th-century perspective (web-hosted by Catskill Archive)

Newton Railroad Stations Historic District By Wikipedia. A small site with links to the four structures standing within the district

NERAIL: The New England Rail Mailing List By Gil Emery. A site that deals with every aspect of railroading in New England; be sure to visit the photo archive maintained by Jeff Morris, which features hundreds of photos of all kinds of railroads contributed by a variety of railfans.

Hoosac Tunnel By Mark Howes. A site with lots of information and photos of all aspcts of the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel.

The Unofficial Boston & Maine Railroad Page By James V. VanBokkel

Conway Electric Street Railway By Afred Barton. A nice, compact, and interesting site devoted to this small, rural, turn-of-the-century interurban line.

Boston Elevated Railway Company, Main Line Elevated Structure By the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). An excellent and valuable account of the history of the BERy, especially Chapter Five, devoted to detailed architectural descriptions of the physical stations on the line.

The following links are to sites of interest but which, regrettably, appear to be down (please let me know if you find this not to be the case):

Unofficial Guilford Rail Systems Home Page By John Dietz (down as of May 2008)

The Boston & Albany Railroad Webpage By Ron Groves. A site that has a great deal of information about the trains and structures of the B&A. (down as of May 2008)

Greater Capitol District Railfan Association By Mike Cole, Michael Christie, and Pat Cemizski. A site devoted to railroading in the Albany, NY, area, but also in western Massachusetts. (down as of May 2008)

Railroading in the Berkshires By Rob West. A site devoted to past and current aspects of railroading in northwest Massachusetts. (down as of May 2008)

Steam-Era Engine and Shop Facilities of New England By NERAIL. A website that lists standing roundhouses, turntables, switch towers, coaling facilities and the like-- an excellent place to start if you're looking for types of extant railroad structures in the six New England states. (down as of May 2008)

Cape Cod Rail Views A "trainweb" slideshow of various historical views of railroading on Cape Cod. (down as of May 2008)

Recollecting Nemasket: Railroads By Michael Maddigan. A very interesting segment of a site dedicated to historical matters in Plymouth County. This specific link is to several detailed and informative pictorial essays on railroads in the area.