Newburyport Railroad

Newburyport Railroad
Lynnfield Center station on the Newburyport Railroad
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Status	Defunct
Locale	Massachusetts
Termini	Newburyport, Massachusetts Wakefield, Massachusetts
Operation
Operator(s)	Newburyport and Bradford Railroad (1849-1855) Danvers and Georgetown Railroad (1853-1855) Newburyport Railroad (1855-1860) Boston and Maine Railroad (1855-1982) Guilford Rail System (1983-2001)
Technical
Line length	29.97 mi (48.23 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Newburyport Railroad

0.00 Newburyport Pond Street Bay State Street Railway (Newburyport Tpk) to East Boston Eastern Railroad to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Newburyport Harbor Interstate 95 5.13 Byfield 8.58 Georgetown to Bradford Bay State Street Railway (Main Street) 9.75 Baldpate 12.18 East Boxford Interstate 95 15.23 Topsfield Ipswich River Wenham Road 19.24 Putnamville Bay State Street Railway (Maple Street) 26.63 Danvers to Salem 20.82 Danvers Junction Essex Railroad 21.37 Tapleyville 21.85 Collins Street Interstate 95 23.93 West Peabody to Tewksbury Junction Salem and Lowell Railroad 26.82 Lynnfield Center Interstate 95 Industrial spur 28.44 Lowell Street Bay State Street Railway (Water Street) 29.50 Wakefield Center Bay State Street Railway (North Avenue) to Peabody to Wilmington Junction 29.97 Wakefield Junction to Boston

Newburyport and Bradford Railroad (1849-1855)
Danvers and Georgetown Railroad (1853-1855)
Newburyport Railroad (1855-1860)
Boston and Maine Railroad (1855-1982)

The Newburyport Railroad (later known as the Newburyport Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad) was a railroad that came about from the merger of three small rail companies into one rail line to compete with the Eastern Railroad for service between Newburyport and Boston, Massachusetts. The Newburyport Railroad ran from Newburyport to Wakefield, Massachusetts, where it connected with the Boston and Maine (B&M) for service into Boston.

The first company that would later become part of the Newburyport Railroad was the Newburyport and Bradford Railroad, incorporated on March 11, 1846. It opened a line from Newburyport on the Eastern to Georgetown in 1849 and extended it west to the B&M at Bradford (now part of Haverhill) in 1851.

The second company, the Danvers and Georgetown Railroad, was organized on May 7, 1851 and began work in April 1853 on a line running from the Newburyport Railroad at Georgetown south to Danvers on the Essex Railroad.

The third company, the Danvers Railroad, was incorporated on March 15, 1852, and began construction in August 1853 on a line from Danvers southwest to the South Reading Branch Railroad and the B&M in Wakefield.

On October 23, 1854, the entire line from Newburyport to Wakefield was complete. On February 22, 1855, the first two companies merged to form the Newburyport Railroad, which operated the section from Newburyport to Danvers. The B&M operated the section from Danvers to Wakefield, and in 1860, it leased the Newburyport Railroad, taking over operations on the entire line and running it as its Newburyport Branch. On October 30, 1906, the B&M bought the line outright.