Boston & Albany Railroad, The Stan Trzoniec Worcester MA to Albany NY Hard Cover

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Boston & Albany Railroad, The Stan Trzoniec Worcester MA to Albany NY Hard Cover
Boston & Albany Railroad, The by Stan Trzoniec
Worcester, MA to Albany NY
Hard Cover
Table of contents pages is partially loose
Over 200 photos
136 pages
Copyright 2016
CONTENTS
1. Worcester, Massachusetts (Past)
2. Worcester (Present)
3. Charlton
4. Spencer
5. East Brookfield
6. North Brookfield Branch
7. West Brookfield
8. Warren
9. Palmer
10. Ware River Branch
11. Wilbraham
12. Springfield
13. West Springfield
14. Westfield
15. Woronoco
16. Russell
17. Huntington
18. Chester
19. Bancroft-Middleton
20. Becket
21. Washington
22. Hinsdale
23. Dalton
24. Pittsfield
25. Richmond
26. State Line Junction
27. State Line Tunnel
28. Canaan, New York
29. Chatham, New York
30. Niverville, New York
31. Schodack, New York
32. Selkirk Yard, New York
INTRODUCTION
People from all walks of life enjoy New England. There is simply no reason not to. After all, in winter, scenes from Currier and Ives dot the landscape everywhere you look. In spring, the tender green on the trees means warmer weather is on the horizon and with the beginning of summer everyone is happy, even with a shorter growing season than most other locations in the country. In the fall, well, there is nothing like New England with the smell of cider, crisp weather and color that rivals nothing else in these United States.
While I can't guarantee the builders of the Boston & Albany thought along the same lines, regardless of the weather, color or the romance of New England, they sought to bring the rails west from Worcester, Massachusetts to Albany, New York.
The Boston & Albany is steeped in history, evident by the reams of research material I went through in the last year. While this book is centered on the start of the Worcester Railroad that headed west from the same city, the original line was called the Boston & Worcester with ties going back to its first charter in June of 1831. Actual construction started in August 1832 with the first of two sections from Newton to Westborough completed by November of 1834. The final leg --- to Worcester, Massachusetts was finished in July of 1835 --- and at that time was the total sum of the Boston & Worcester Railroad.
Since the original intent of the investors of the railroad was to move product to the Erie Canal in New York state, the railroad moved on. Even before the line reached Worcester, a charter was signed in March of 1833 to build a line from Worcester to Springfield and on to the New York state line. To help with the Worcester Railroad, construction was starting to move on the west end when the Castleton & West Stockbridge and the Hudson & Berkshire advanced to their rail lines to New York in 1842. Now all that was needed was to connect Worcester with the Empire State around Albany and the economy would escalate.
However, things did not move along as smoothly as everyone had hoped. With an estimated cost of extending the line in excess of million dollars, paying for it proved difficult. With infusion of ,000,000 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, construction started in earnest by late 1836. Three years later, the line was open to Springfield and trains were running to that point.
However, during this time construction was lagging on the far west end. It seems the Castleton & West Stockbridge was poorly built and without adequate funds, the burden of rebuilding fell on the City of Albany. They came up with the necessary funds, hired the Western Railroad to construct this part of the line and when completed, leased this connecting part of the railroad to the Western Railroad.
Slow progress was starting from Worcester west and under the supervision of George Washington Whistler, the stage was set. In this period of time, construction of the railroad up, over and through the Berkshire Mountains proved to be a formable task. At the summit, elevation hit 1,459 feet above sea level with grades holding to 1.67 percent it was daunting to say the least. Personally walking a good part of the line west of Westfield I can attest to the fact these boys had a hard time bridging the gap between this town and Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Along this part of the route, trains are faced with numerous curves, rock cuts and many bridges that needed to span the Westfield River. You have to keep in mind that at this period in the evolution of the railroad, there was no motorized equipment such as bulldozers or earth moving machines. Men with hand tools, black powder for blasting and mule carts to transport earth and rock were employed for this backbreaking work through the mountains.
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