Ashuelot Railroad

Ashuelot Railroad (AR) is a former railway company in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire (United States).

Founded on December 27, 1844, the company planned to build a route to Keene from South Vernon on the Connecticut River. As this was to become the northern extension of the Connecticut River Railroad (CRR), the construction could not begin until 1849, after the opening of this railway. As the section from East Northfield to South Vernon could not be used as intended, they finally built their own line parallel to the existing Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad. The 39.4-kilometer-long, normal-track railway line East Northfield-Keene finally went into operation in 1851. In Keene there was a connection to the Cheshire Railroad from the beginning.

Already on 7 December 1849 the CRR leased the Ashuelot Railroad for ten years. However, the AR did not make a profit, so the contract was not extended. In 1860 the Cheshire Railroad leapt the train and also took over its management. In 1877, however, AR had to file for bankruptcy so that on April 21 of the year, a new Ashuelot railroad was set up, which was leased on the same day by the CRR. The final merger with the Connecticut River Railroad took place on 9 February 1890. On 1893, this was under the control of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The route has been completely shut down since 1983. Edit source text

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