Old RR Grade in North Kingstown, RI?

On a walk in the John Chaffee Nature Preserve in North Kingstown, RI on Sunday, I came across what looked to me like an old rail grade running through the woods, roughly parallel to Narragansett Bay. Looking at the satellite view on Google Maps I traced it south as far as the west end of the Jamestown Bridge. To the north, it's visible all the way through Wickford until it merges with the still-active spur leading into the old Quonset Point NAS. You can see it here: I oriented the map so the grade enters the frame at the lower-right-hand corner and exits http://goo.gl/maps/7DUUu the top parallel to and just east of US 1A.

What is this? Is it an old interurban grade? I looked at the maps on historical.mytopo.com, and it doesn't appear on the only available sheets, which are from 1892 and 1944. It looks like it would have crossed the branch into the center of Wickford at a diamond just south of the harbor.

You're correct about it being an interurban - the Sea View Railroad. Ran from Narragansett Pier to East Greenwich, where it connected to Rhode Island Company tracks to downtown.

More info and photos:
http://narragansettbayresearch.wikispac ... alysis.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://sites.google.com/site/rhodeisla ... /trolley-i" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.newsm.org/steam-engines/Sea_ ... lroad.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also overlay map of the route: (zoom in for better views and use satellite image)
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8 ... c262854550" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Historic topo map of southern end of the line: http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... g&state=RI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I traced some of it a couple of summers ago when I was in the area. There's not an awful lot to see of it. The most impressive remains are the two piers that cross the bays. Like many electric railroads, it turned into an electric company, using the right-of-way as power lines.

Interesting. It must have been a pretty ride down to Narragansett Pier back in the day; the line must have been within sight of the bay most of the way.

this is a most interesting topic. i am a collector of anything SEAVIEW TROLLEY, in RHODE ISLAND. keep the info comming, thanks, toot.

Interesting that despite going to Narragansett Pier, it didn't actually go to the pier itself, and terminated in Wakefield instead.

Didn't they actually use the Narragansett Pier RR trackage between Wakefield and The Pier itself? Thought I read that at some point.

The Narragansett Pier RR did go all the way to the pier originally. See the link below for a photo of the Narragansett Pier station, a postcard view of the terminal area, and a 1902 timetable for service between Kingston and the pier. The NP trackage south of Wakefield was abandoned in 1953.

Google: NARRAGANSETT PIER RAILROAD COMPANY

Not only did it go all the way to the Pier, but the station, amazingly, still exists.

Map location: https://goo.gl/maps/7sQ15XdmqMS2

Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/X9VQ2HbJaVR2