The Minnechoag Mountain cut in Ludlow

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The Minnechoag Mountain cut in Ludlow for the never used Hampden Railroad.

The Hampden Railroad built by the Boston and Maine Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The Hampden Railroad was chartered in 1910 and leased to the B&M in 1911, as a route from the Central Mass east of Bondsville west-southwest to Springfield, Massachusetts to connect to the NYNH&H's Hartford and Springfield Railroad or known as New Haven-Springfield Line .

History

Palmer, Massachusetts is affectionately known as 'The Town of Seven Railroads', and is still one of the favorite spots of rail buffs to come see the trains on Depot Street (The old depot is now a restaurant called the Steaming Tender). However, there is one rail line in Palmer that never got a chance to make a name for itself.

The Hampden Railroad ran between Bondsville, Massachusetts and Springfield, Massachusetts at Athol Junction. It was built to be an inland connector between the New Haven line and the Boston & Maine (Central Mass. division), shaving 3 miles off the usual trip from Springfield to Boston. The Hampden rail line was 14.8 miles of high class rail that never felt the wheels of a single revenue train.

The Hampden Railroad was incorporated in July 1910 as a subsidiary of NYNH&H. By 1912, 90% of the grading had been finished and 5 miles of heavy line rail had been laid. By June 23, 1913, the Hampden RR was practically completed (all that was left was to connect to the Central Mass), but the lease of the property was not approved by the Public Service Commission, and the rail was never opened for operation.

The rail line was unbelievably straight, with at most 4 degree curves and a steepest grade of 1.23% which was over Minnechoag Mountain in Ludlow. In addition, there was not a single grade crossing. To achieve these feats required 28 bridges over the 15 mile route, in addition to several huge grade fills and cuts. The Minnechoag cut itself was 4,800 feet long and 70 feet deep.

The longest bridge on the Hampden was at Bircham Bend over the Chicopee River which ran 85 feet above the river, and was 1,098 feet long. The bridge over the Swift River in Palmer was 400 feet long and ran 61 feet above the river and continued over the Central Vermont tracks. Despite being built as a freight line, there were 4 passenger stations built along it's route: East Springfield, Ludlow, Three Rivers and Thorndike.

In 1921, with more than $2,000,000 in notes overdue, and no revenue to offset them, the Hampden Railroad went into receivership. It was sold for scrap to the Roxbury Iron & Metals Co. for $30,000. The total price tag for the construction totalled $4,000,000. However, prior to the sale to Roxbury, the government commandeered the surplus rail for use in the Watertown, Massachusetts Arsenal during World War I.

There is little evidence left today of the Hampden Railroad, and little to no information as to the history is available online. You can however see two of the remaining bridge abutments while driving through Palmer, and thousands of people drive over the Massachusetts Turnpike just east of 291 which uses the Hampden RR alignment.

See
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Massachusetts_Railroad