The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.
The Old Colony Railroad's terminal in Boston
The Governor Bradford, an early OC locomotive built in 1845 by Hinkley & Drury
Old Colony & Fall River Rail Road seal from 1854 stock certificate
The Pilgrim, of the Fall River Line, operated by the Old Colony Railroad Company
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. It straddles part of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island state line with Tiverton, RI to its south.
Downtown Fall River in September 2007
Welcome sign in Fall River
Fall River municipal flag over City Hall
Group of workers in the Sagamore Manufacturing Company in August 1911 photographed by Lewis Hine