Facts, Maps & Photos

BOSTON AND MAINE CORPORATION - RAILROAD HISTORY

Dates to Remember
1604Earliest record of the use of track as transportation - constructed from nearby coal mines to the Tyne River in England. Wooden rails and carts were pushed by men or pulled by horses.
1776First all-iron rail was manufactured near the city of Sheffield, England.
1795The first road of rails in the United States. The rails were made of wood and horses were used at Boston, MA.
Feb. 1 1804 First Steam locomotive used to haul a train of cars. South Wales.
March 4 1826 The Granite Railway Co. of Massachusetts was the first railway corporation to actually build and operate a railroad in the United States.
1829 A steam engine locomotive named "Stourbridge Lion", from England, ran on two miles track of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. This completed the first run of a steam engine on a regular railroad in the United States.
1830 A steam engine locomotive named "Tom Thumb" was the first American built locomotive to run on a common carrier railroad in the United States.
1851 Railroads in the United States started to use the telegraph for train dispatching.
1856 First railroad bridge across the Mississippi River was opened at Davenport, Iowa.
1859 First Pullman Sleeping Car went into service.
May 10 1869 Western and Eastern railroads joined at Promontory Utah, in the famous "Golden Spike Ceremony".
1875 The Hoosac Railroad Tunnel in Western Massachusetts was completed. It was 4 3/4 miles in length and was the longest tunnel in the United States for 53 years.
1886 Marked the change to standard gauge (distance between rails), among the railroads in the United States, enabling interchange of railroad cars. (4 ft., 8 1/2 in.)
May 10 1893 Locomotive "999" made the worlds first 100 miles per hour run.
1890's Casey Jones - popular locomotive engineer on the Mississippi Division of the Illinois Central Railroad.
June 12 1905 A train on the Pennsylvania Railroad officially recorded a speed of 127.06 miles per hour.
1941 Diesel Locomotives first used in railroad freight service.
May 24 1967 Fastest train ever recorded in the United States - 156 miles per hour - Princeton Jct., New Jersey.


The beginning of the Boston and Maine system was on March 15, 1833 in Andover, Massachusetts, when the Andover and Wilmington Railroad received its Charter. The Charter gave authority for a railroad "from the South Parish Meeting House in Andover to the Boston and Lowell Railroad in Wilmington".

The Andover and Wilmington Railroad's name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 5, 1837 and that name was changed to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839.

The name, Boston and Maine Railroad, as it is known today, was approved on March 6, 1841, effective January 1, 1842 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the consolidation of the Boston and Portland Railroad and other Railroads in New England. The first locomotive owned by the "Boston and Maine" was named "Andover No. 1".

The "Haymarket Square Depot" was the first Boston and Maine Railroad Station in Boston and was first used as a depot in 1845. This station was used until 1894, when the first "North Station" was completed.