Shortest railroads in New England

I just came across this 2005 post by ehb:

"The shortest short line in New England was actually the Warwick Railway at .9 miles, Moshassuck Valley was a whopping 1.8, and Fore River is about 2 miles."

But here's another contender: the Van Buren Bridge Railroad in northern Maine. Although the company had over a mile of track, the portion in the US, and hence New England, was only 412 feet, or .078 miles. I would add a couple of hundred feet more on the bridge to get to the border in the middle of the river, making it about .1 mile. VB was acquired by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic as an asset of the Bangor and Aroostock. MMA uses the VB mark for its radio-control cabooses.

From the time the railroad opened in 1915, BAR had a controlling interest in the company, so in truth, it was not a short line in the sense that it had its own motive power or operated independently. There are various pictures of freight cars lettered for the VB, however, as well as the above-mentioned cabooses.

So, how's that for splitting hairs?

We have a winnah!

I don't buy it. If we're counting only the New England trackage of a longer line, there have probably been several companies that operated car ferries to New England points with only a bit of yard trackage at that end.

For the shortest "pure" (not subsidiary) short line lying entirely within New England, I nominate the Seekonk Branch Railroad: http://books.google.com/books?id=yuUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA202 I don't know if it was longer when it was independent, but it ended up as about 1/4 mile sold to the Boston and Providence: http://books.google.com/books?id=tl4uAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA434 (the ICC valuation says 0.379 mile).

I'm not buyin' neethah, naybahs ! One of the small industrial company shuttle railroads would have to take the trophy- in their all-out, all-time, complete, non-subsidiary full glory. Take a look at the New England Milling Company Railroad in Ayer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uqWYmkS0EY

Also, don't forget those little Porters running around in diminutiveland for companies like Massachusetts Electric, yoo heeah !
http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0108/massel1.jpg (Gotta love the contradiction of an electric company using steam !)

There's a railroad in Maine called the Turners Island Railroad that's pretty small, but I have no idea what the actual total mileage is. I would guess that it's less than a mile.

http://turnersisland.com/

MEC407 wrote:There's a railroad in Maine called the Turners Island Railroad that's pretty small, but I have no idea what the actual total mileage is. I would guess that it's less than a mile.

http://turnersisland.com/

1.09 plus trackage rights: http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readin ... enDocument

"Gotta love the contradiction of an electric company using steam !"

How do you think the electricity is actually generated? Burn coal/gas to create steam to spin the turbines.

Actually some of the electric companies had fireless steamers that would get a load of steam from the plant and then run around witching until the steam started to cool and then they would go back for a refill.

How long was the Joe Cushing Railroad in Fitchburg? See if you can find the books Yankee Yarns or More Yankee Yarns by A H Blackington. He even had a TV show in Boston in the mid-1950s. Joe Cushing RR was not a common carrier but the owner of an industrial track, I think at a grain mill.

How about the loop at Paragon Park in Nantasket Beach ? Even though it was an amusement, by the thread's definition, it should apply.

How do you think the electricity is actually generated? Burn coal/gas to create steam to spin the turbines.

Not always. There are other ways such as hydro. (It always amazed me why electric companies didn't use electricity to run their generators, much less their railway motors. (??) )

It probably makes sense to limit it to common carriers (or other railroads chartered by the state, if there are any that were not common carriers).

If that were the case, Paragon Park's would be in as a common carrier and New England Milling Co's would be out, as well as the other industrial carriers which would be considered private carriers. Restricting the list to a Class 1, 2, or 3 railroad is another matter altogether.

3rdrail wrote:If that were the case, Paragon Park's would be in as a common carrier

Bloody hell. Common carrier under the jurisdiction of the ICC/STB. Usually a common carrier of freight.

NE2 wrote:Bloody hell.

I'm not sure about that one. If you look at the legal definition, it's pretty darn close. The thing that I thought might seperate Jumbo's Magic Train Ride from the Santa Fe as far as it's common carrier title, is it's indiscriminate transport of goods, which of course Jumbo doesn't provide (unless they're peanuts), but the definition says passengers or goods- doesn't have to be both. Nowhere does it mention being under the jurisdiction of ICC/STB as a requirement to fit the definition.
Duhaime's Legal Dictionary:
http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/ ... rrier.aspx

The Joe Cushing Railroad had 500 feet of track. I have one of their legendary passes from the turn of the century. On the back it shows their railroad line along with "connecting lines" - about 5,000 miles in all. Reader's Digest did a nice story on them about half a centruy ago.

Cute article about Joe Cushing: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=5 ... 22,6301818