South Harwich station

South Harwich
Postcard of South Harwich station
General information
LocationDepot Road
South Harwich, Massachusetts
Coordinates41°41′6.23″N 70°2′21.71″W / 41.6850639°N 70.0393639°W / 41.6850639; -70.0393639
Line(s)Chatham Branch
History
Opened1887[1]
Former services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Harwich Center
toward Harwich
 Chatham Branch South Chatham
toward Chatham

South Harwich station was a train station located in South Harwich, Massachusetts. Built in 1887, it was a small wooden structure.[2]

The Chatham Railroad opened between Harwich and Chatham on November 21, 1887.[3][4] It was immediately leased by the Old Colony Railroad, which controlled all rail lines on Cape Cod, as its Chatham Branch.[5][6] The Old Colony was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1893.[5]

Passenger service on the Chatham Branch ended in 1931; it was the first line on Cape Cod to lose service.[5][7] Freight service continued until the line was abandoned in 1937.[8][9] The stations were sold to private individuals; all but Chatham were eventually demolished.[10]

  1. ^ Farson, Robert H. (1993). Cape Cod Railroads Including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Joan Hollister Farson (First ed.). Yarmouthport, Massachusetts: Cape Cod Historical Publications. p. 106. ISBN 0-9616740-1-6.
  2. ^ Eldredge, Andrews T. (2003). Railroads of Cape Cod and the Islands. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 100, 101. ISBN 978-0-7385-1157-3.
  3. ^ "Opening Chatham's New Railroad". The Boston Globe. November 16, 1887. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Chatham's New Railroad Opened". The Boston Globe. November 21, 1887. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c Karr, Ronald Dale (2017). The Rail Lines of Southern New England (2 ed.). Branch Line Press. pp. 408–414. ISBN 9780942147124.
  6. ^ Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders. Old Colony Railroad Company. November 1887. p. 7.
  7. ^ "Demand Gasoline Car Be Retained". The Boston Globe. July 29, 1930. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "To Abandon RR Line Harwich to Chatham". The Boston Globe. May 22, 1937. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "7-Mile Cape Railroad With Three Stations Goes on Market as Last Train Puffs Away". The Boston Globe. July 8, 1937. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780942147087.