branch from Mansfield-Taunton Ma

Any info on this branch that ran through Norton Ma, abandoned around 1966? What industry was on the branch etc, photos? I remember seeing NH RDC's and E or F commuter trains shortly before it was abandoned when I was a kid.

The line between Taunton and Mansfield was severed when the tracks through Mansfield were separated and the grade
crossings done away with in the mid to late 1950's. After that the only thing that operated on this line was local freight
service between Taunton and Mansfield (South Main Street).
Noel Weaver

Maybe you're thinking about the Taunton - Stoughton - Canton Jct. line? The MBTA is currently looking at rebulding this line as part of the New Bedford/Fall River expansion. The New Haven ran commuter trains as far as Stoughton in the '60s, likely using RDCs and diesels, which may have included FL-9s. The NH didn't own any E-units.

There was NH passenger service between Norton and Taunton until the branch was abandoned in the mid 60's but no connection to Mansfield and Boston connections ensuring its doom.

[quote][/quoteThere was NH passenger service between Norton and Taunton until the branch was abandoned in the mid 60's but no connection to Mansfield and Boston connections ensuring its doom.]

I have a 1953 NH timetable showing the Taunton - Mansfield branch as one of two routes used for Fall River - Boston trains (the Stoughton branch is the other). However, the May 1959 Official Guide shows no service south of Stoughton or Mansfield. Ronald Dale Karr's "The Rail Lines of Southern New England" cites 1955 as the date the connection at Mansfield was severed, and 1958 as the year all passenger service to Taunton was was discontinued with the exception of summer-only New York - Attleboro - Cape Cod trains. The trackage through Norton that dead-ended in Mansfield following the 1955 abandonment was itself cut back to Cranes in 1965.

NRGeep wrote:There was NH passenger service between Norton and Taunton until the branch was abandoned in the mid 60's but no connection to Mansfield and Boston connections ensuring its doom.

The only NH passenger service to Taunton at any point during the 1960s was the seasonal New York-Cape Cod service that passed through on its way from Attleboro.