Charles River Railroad
| Locale | Massachusetts, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1851–1855 |
| Successor | New York and Boston Railroad |
The Charles River Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from a connection with the end of the Charles River Branch Railroad in Dover to Bellingham through the current-day towns of Medfield, Millis, and Medway.
In 1847, a petition was filed with the Legislature of Massachusetts to build a rail line linking greater Boston to the Rhode Island border. The first stretch of track that would eventually fulfil this idea was the Brookline Branch of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, which opened that same year and stretched 1.55 miles from a junction just south of Kenmore Square with the Boston and Worcester main line to Brookline Village. In 1849, the Charles River Branch Railroad was chartered to build tracks from the end of the Brookline Branch to Dover, and then in 1851, the Charles River Railroad was chartered to build a line from the terminus of the Charles River Branch Railroad in Dover to the Rhode Island state line in Bellingham. The Charles River Railroad charter also authorized the union of the Charles River Railroad with the Charles River Branch Railroad.
By November 1852, a 6.1-mile section of track from the Brookline Branch of the Boston and Worcester Railroad in Brookline to Newton Upper Falls was the first section of track to be completed. Soon after, on June 1, 1853, a 2.4-mile section of track from the end of the first section in Newton Upper Falls to Needham was completed, and later that year, on October 26, the Charles River Railroad officially merged with the Charles River Branch Railroad. From this time through the 1880s, the Back Bay region of Boston was filled in, and the railroad was used to haul stone from quarries in Needham. Construction on the next section of the line continued for the next two years until October 3, 1855, when the Charles River Railroad merged with the New York and Boston Railroad.
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