Providence & Worcester Line
(Worcester, MA - Blackstone - Woonsocket, RI - Valley Falls)

Shoreliner® Article Index

Volume 5 Issue 1 (Winter) 1974
  • "Providence & Worcester Signal Systems" -- Reviews the Providence & Worcester Railroad's 1880s contract with the Union Switch & Signal Company to install block signals, which were replaced by the New Haven in the late 1940s. 1-1/2 pages.
Volume 12 Issue 4 1981
  • "Trolley Stop: Electric Locomotives of the Whitin Machine Works" -- Reviews the standard and two-foot gauge operations of the Whitin Machine Works in Whitinsville, MA. 4 pages with photos, map and roster.
Volume 13 Issue 3 1982
  • "The Charles River Line" -- The history of the Newton, MA - Woonsocket, RI rail line and connections. Includes a timeline chart of ownership for the lines extending between Brookline, MA - Medfield Junction - Woonsocket, RI - Harrisville - Douglas Junction, MA - Putnam, CT - Willimantic - Middletown - New Haven. 12 pages with photos and maps.
Volume 15 Issue 3 1984
  • "On the New Haven...Today: 'The Boat Train' Returns" -- Coverage of the Providence & Worcester Railroad's 1984 boat train excursions from Worcester to Providence and New London. 1 page with photos and advertising material.
Volume 16 Issue 3 1985
  • "Crossing Shanty Dedicated" -- The story on how Phil Paradis and the Connecticut Valley Railroad Museum saved the Shoves Crossing, North Uxbridge, MA, shanty, now preserved on the Valley Railroad in Essex, CT. Also includes the story of crossing tender Robert Shatos. 2 pages with photos.
Volume 17 Issue 2 1986
  • "Trolley Stop: The Woonsocket Division of the Rhode Island Company" -- The history of trolley service in and about Woonsocket, RI. 6 pages with map and photos.
Volume 18 Issue 4 1987
  • "Trolley Stop: Trolley Express and Freight Service in Rhode Island" -- The history of trolley freight and express handled by the Rhode Island Company, United Electric Railways, and other Rhode Island trolley lines. 10 pages with photos, roster and map.
Volume 21 Issue 3 1990
  • "Another Way to Boston -- The New York & New England in Northern Rhode Island -- Part 1" -- The history of the New York & New England Railroad and its predecessor lines in Rhode Island and nearby portions of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Includes a discussion of early joint efforts by the Rhode Island Mining Railroad and the Providence & Worcester Railroad to construct waterfront railroad facilities in East Providence. 11 pages with photos and maps.
Volume 23 Issue 3 1992
  • Color cover photo of a light train entering Valley Falls yard in September 1966.
Volume 26 Issue 1 1995
  • Two B/W photos of New Haven sign advertisements on bridges, one in Worcester and the other in Uxbridge.
Volume 38 Issue 4
  • "Blackstone -- BE: Where the Midland Met the P&W" -- Richard K. Hurst provides a detailed history of the railroad and its operations in and around Blackstone, MA. 30 pages with photos, many in color, and maps.
  • "Providence - Worcester Local Passenger Service" -- A summary of local passenger operations on the P&W route via Blackstone through 1956, when service ended. The article makes particular note of the use of Mack FCD railbuses during the last years of operation. 4 pages with photos, including one color.
  • "The New Haven and Cupid Helped My Parents Marry" -- Harry B. Chase, Jr., discusses how his dad, a New Haven signal maintainer, met and married his mother, a telephone operator in Uxbridge, MA. 2 pages with photos.
Volume 39 Issue 1
  • "The Hamlet Covered Bridge" -- The story of the covered railroad bridge on the branch line to Hamlet village in Woonsocket, RI. 4 pages with photos, diagram and maps.
  • "Thirty Years of New Haven Steam" -- The late Harry B. Chase shares his memories of New Haven steam from the late 1920s to early '50s, with particular focus on the Providence & Worcester and the Boston & Providence main lines. 5 pages with photos.

Books

New Haven Mechanical Department Facilities Maps -- Revised Edition

Includes:

  • Worcester, MA (1956 map and photo of the round house area). 2 pages.

  • Blackstone, MA (1941 map). 1 page.