South Shore Railroad

It was incorporated in 1846 to provide rail service between Quincy and Duxbury, Massachusetts through the towns of Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and Marshfield.

[1] One of the early promoters and presidents of the South Shore Railroad was Caleb Stetson, a successful shoe manufacturer from Braintree.

[3] The company declared it would end passenger service on the South Shore line in 1958, but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funded continued operations until June 1959, when the Southeast Expressway opened.

[3] The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction purchased the line in 1982, and contracted freight operations to the Bay Colony Railroad.

[4] The Nantasket Beach Railroad opened in 1880 as a branch off the South Shore but closed in 1886.

Braintree station on an early postcard. This station, not the same as the modern station , was located where the South Shore Railroad (left) met the Old Colony mainline (right).
1881 timetable card.