Bay Colony Railroad

Bay Colony Railroad
Reporting mark BCLR
Locale Massachusetts
Dates of operation 1982present
Predecessor Consolidated Rail Corporation
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters Braintree, Massachusetts

The Bay Colony Railroad (reporting mark BCLR) is a shortline railroad operating in Massachusetts.

The BCLR operates in the Millis - Milford - Needham Corridor. In addition to moving freight for its customers, Bay Colony also performs AAR-certified repairs on rolling stock and contract track construction projects for other railroads. It has a sister railroad, the Seminole Gulf Railway, which is based out of Fort Myers, Florida.

History

The Bay Colony railroad was chartered on March 31, 1977, with the intent of taking over freight service on former New Haven lines from Conrail, which was planning to abandon service.[1] The lines were purchased by the state government, and Bay Colony took over all freight operations on the lines on June 12, 1982 with a 25-year contract.[2]

The contract for the railroad lines owned by the State of Massachusetts administered by the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT), which included the Cape Cod main expired on December 31, 2007. It was awarded to a new company, the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, which took over on January 1, 2008. At that time the Bay Colony ceased operation on those lines, but continues in other areas of the state. [2]

The corridor from Needham Junction to Millis has been abandoned by the Company, according to The Bay Colony Rail Trail project web site and the Boston Globe.[3]

Locomotive fleet

Bay Colony Railroad's original logo, marked on boxcar livery up through the mid-nineties

See also

References

  1. "about bay colony". Archived from the original on 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Massachusetts Coastal named to operate commonwealth-owned lines". Trains News Wire (Kalmbach Publishing). 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  3. Coakley, Tom (2013-07-13). "MBTA Approves Leases for 9.1 miles of the Bay Colony Rail Trail". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2013-06-03.

External links