Warwick Railway

Warwick Railway

Warwick Railroad
Map of the Warwick Railway with its extension to Buttonwoods
Warwick Railway 104 hauls a tank car in Cranston
Overview
Current operator	Providence and Worcester Railroad
Reporting mark	WRWK
Dates of operation	1875–1982
Successor	Providence and Worcester Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	10 miles (16 km) (historical maximum) 1 mile (1.6 km) (1954 to present)

The Warwick Railway (reporting mark WRWK^[1]) was a railroad in Rhode Island, United States. It was originally chartered in 1873 under the name Warwick Railroad, with a route connecting Cranston to Oakland Beach, eight miles (13 km) away. Opened in 1875, the company survived until 1879 when it declared bankruptcy and shut down; it was resurrected in 1880 as the Rhode Island Central Railroad under New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) ownership and extended by two miles (3.2 km) in length. Following the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's purchase of the NYP&B in 1892, operations continued with steam power until the Rhode Island Central Railroad's 1899 consolidation with the Rhode Island Suburban Railway, at which point the line was electrified and trolleys replaced steam locomotives. Control subsequently passed to the United Electric Railways in 1921. Passenger trolley service was discontinued in 1935, but freight service continued; the following year, the line was cut back from its 10-mile (16 km) maximum length to just two miles (3.2 km).

In 1949, the line was purchased by a newly formed Warwick Railway, which ended electrified service in favor of diesel locomotives in 1952, and abandoned another mile (1.6 km) of track in 1954. The Warwick Railway provided freight service until 1979, when the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) began service following the Warwick Railway becoming insolvent. The P&W formally purchased the Warwick Railway in 1982, and maintained freight operations until 1999 before placing the tracks out of service. Two decades later in 2016, the Providence and Worcester began work to reopen the remaining tracks to serve a new customer shipping waste oil.