Bedford’s Railroad History

1845 – The Lexington & West Cambridge Railroad, organized by the citizens of those towns, is chartered on March 24. Construction begins on August 20.

1846 – The 6.6-mile Lexington & West Cambridge opens between the Fitchburg Railroad’s main line in West Cambridge and Lexington Center on August 25. There are at first six daily trains (three round trips) between Lexington and the Fitchburg’s Charlestown depot. All are operated by the Fitchburg using its equipment.

1848 – The Fitchburg Railroad opens a monumental passenger station on Causeway Street in Boston. Lexington & West Cambridge trains begin terminating there instead of in Charlestown.

1857 – The Lexington & West Cambridge begins operating its own trains on September 1, having acquired some used locomotives and cars.

1859 – Competition arrives in the form of the West Cambridge Horse Railroad, which begins hourly service from West Cambridge to Boston on June 13.

1867 – The town of West Cambridge is renamed Arlington and the local railroad becomes the Lexington & Arlington Railroad.

1869 – The number of daily trains between Lexington and Boston has grown to 11, but the Lexington & Arlington is nearly bankrupt. In December, it is acquired by the Boston & Lowell Railroad.

1870 – On December 1, the Boston & Lowell opens a two-mile cutoff between East Arlington and its main line at Somerville Junction, allowing Lexington Branch traffic to bypass the Fitchburg Railroad and reach Boston entirely on B&L rails. There are now 16 daily passenger trains.

1871 – On April 10, the Boston & Lowell creates a subsidiary, the Middlesex Central Railroad, to extend the Lexington & Arlington northward.

1873 – The Middlesex Central opens an 8.0-mile extension from Lexington to Bedford and Concord on August 4.

1877 – The Billerica & Bedford Railroad begins regular service between those towns on November 29. It is the first two-foot gauge common-carrier in America. Its low cost and mechanically successful operation will spawn some 200 miles of such ultra-narrow gauge railroads in rural Maine.

1878 – Unable to pay its bills, the Billerica & Bedford files for bankruptcy on January 30 and ceases operations on June 1. Its equipment is sold at auction and becomes a bargain for the Sandy River Railroad of Farmington, Maine, which would operate from 1879 to 1935.

1879 – The Middlesex Central completes a 2.6-mile extension from Concord Center to the state prison in what is now West Concord, and a further 0.5 miles to a connection with the Framingham & Lowell Railroad at Middlesex Junction. Passenger service to Prison (renamed Reformatory in 1888) begins on August 4.

1883 – Bedford becomes an engine terminal, acquiring a two-stall engine house and a wye to turn locomotives. The Middlesex Central is absorbed by the Boston & Lowell. 

1885 – The Boston & Lowell opens its Bedford & Billerica Branch on May 1. The 8.1-mile standard-gauge line from Bedford to the B&L main line in North Billerica uses most of the right-of-way of the defunct Billerica & Bedford narrow gauge. The Bedford depot is now at a junction between rail lines to Concord and Billerica. The fork to Concord eventually becomes known as the Reformatory Branch.

1886 – To better accommodate the ever-increasing traffic, the Boston & Lowell completes a second track from Somerville Junction to Lexington.

1887 – The Boston & Lowell is leased by archrival Boston & Maine Railroad. The B&M takes over operations on the Lexington Branch on October 11. The B&L had increased the daily passenger service to 48 trains for Arlington, 42 for Lexington, 21 for Bedford, 6 for Reformatory via Concord, and 8 for Lowell via Billerica.

1900 – Passenger service on the Lexington Branch peaks at 58 trains for Arlington, 42 for Lexington, 26 for Bedford, 14 for Reformatory via Concord, and 10 for Lowell via Billerica. There are also two scheduled daily freights and occasional extra trains. However, serious competition arrives in the form of the Lexington & Boston Street Railway, which begins trolley service from Arlington Heights to Concord and Billerica on tracks that parallel the Lexington Branch.

1901 – The Boston & Maine removes Middlesex Junction from its list of stations. (The half mile of track from there to Reformatory had seen little or no use except for car storage since 1891.)

1910 – Automatic block signals are installed on the double-track part of the Lexington Branch (as far north as Lexington).

1914 – Reflecting the loss of riders to streetcars since 1900, passenger service on the Lexington Branch has been cut in half (27 daily trains for Arlington, 21 for Lexington and Bedford, 4 for Reformatory, and 7 for Lowell). Competition from motor vehicles is not yet a major factor.

1924 – The Middlesex & Boston Street Railway (successor to the Lexington & Boston) converts to buses. The last trolleys on the former L&B routes operate on September 15.

1926 – Effective April 25, passenger service to Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford is reduced to 10 trains daily (five round trips) and that to Lowell via Billerica to two trains (one round trip). Although the last passenger trains to Concord and Reformatory run on April 24, freight service on the Reformatory Branch continues.

1927 – The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approves abandonment of the 2.6 miles from Concord to Reformatory on February 5. More importantly, Lexington Branch traffic is permanently rerouted back to the Fitchburg Division on April 25. To permit that, the connection in West Cambridge used in 1846–70 is rebuilt. The former Lexington Branch trackage from Somerville Junction to North Cambridge becomes part of a freight cutoff, and the second track and automatic block signals beyond North Cambridge are taken out of service.

1932 – The last passenger trains to Lowell via Billerica operate on December 31. Thereafter, all passenger trains originate or terminate in Bedford.

1949 – In September, the number of daily passenger trains between Boston and Bedford is reduced to six (three round trips).

1953 – The Monday-Wednesday-Friday local freight on the Lexington Branch is dieselized beginning on August 26.

1955 – In April, the number of daily passenger trains between Boston and Bedford is reduced to four (two round trips). What are supposed to be the last steam-powered passenger trains run on May 16. For the next three years, diesel road switchers haul the usual types of conventional passenger cars.

1956 – A snowstorm causes steam to be pressed back into passenger service for three weeks beginning on March 22. The last steam-powered train on the Lexington Branch leaves Bedford on the morning of April 10 behind Pacific #3662.

1958 – Starting May 19, passenger service on the Lexington Branch is reduced to a single daily round trip, and locomotive-hauled passenger trains are replaced by self-propelled Rail Diesel Cars.

1962 – The abandonment of the southern two-thirds of the Bedford & Billerica Branch (5.3 miles from Billerica Center to Bedford) is approved by the ICC on February 1, and that of the 3.8-mile remnant of the Reformatory Branch between Bedford and Concord on May 8. That ends all service on the Lexington Branch beyond Bedford.

1965 – In January, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) begins subsidizing Boston-area commuter rail. The MBTA determines service levels and fares and pays the Boston & Maine to operate the trains on B&M lines out of North Station, including the Lexington Branch.

1976 – Effective December 27, the MBTA acquires all of the B&M’s remaining commuter trackage (including the Lexington Branch) and rolling stock. The B&M continues to operate the passenger trains under contract and provide freight service on its former trackage.

Ignominious ending. A century of passenger service on the Lexington Branch between Bedford and Boston came to an abrupt end when a snowstorm stranded a Rail Diesel Car (which had been assisted by B&M switcher #1132) at Bedford on January 10, 1977. (Photo by H. Bentley Crouch)

1977 – The evening train from North Station to Bedford on January 10 becomes the last passenger train on the Lexington Branch. A snowstorm that day causes the train to arrive hours late and the equipment is stranded in Bedford for a week or two. In late March the MBTA announces that service on the line will not be resumed.

1981 – To make way for the MBTA’s Red Line subway extension to Alewife, the Lexington Branch is embargoed on January 31 from Rindge Avenue in West Cambridge to the end of track in Bedford. The last freight train, retrieving cars from Arlington Heights, operates on January 30.

1991 – The Lexington Branch is formally “railbanked” (not abandoned) in order to permit construction of the paved Minuteman Bikeway on its right-of-way from Arlington to Bedford.

1993 – The grand opening of the Minuteman Bikeway is held on May 29.

1998 – The railroad returns to Bedford, in a manner of speaking, when former B&M Rail Diesel Car #6211 is brought to town by road on January 28 for static display at the future Bedford Depot Park.