Fore River Fun
One of the shortest railroads in New England, the obscure Fore River Railroad is also a bit of a working museum with a vintage Alco switcher on the property (albeit long out of service), three privately owned caboose and a motor car all sharing space around the small modern single track shop building.
But for me the most appealing thing about this little road is that they still roster a pair of GE B23-7s. These are the class 1 local units of my youth, and they were ubiquitous on Conrail and the P&W all over southern New England throughout the 1990s. Upon the split in 1999 they were quickly banished elsewhere by CSXT and then retired, and soon P&W's fell by the wayside in favor of newer GEs but here two of the classic little 12 cylinder FDL GEs still burble along in revenue service Both once proudly wore Conrail blue, #101 was blt. in Jul. 1979 as CR 1992 and #102 was blt. in Jul 1978 as CR 1980.
In the background is New York Central caboose 21052 which was built at the NYC'S on Merchants Despatch Shops in East Rochester, NY. It was one of 100 in a class that was first built in 1963. I do not know their NYC class designation, but were given the N7B class at the time of the 1968 Penn Central merger. 88 of the class made it to Conrail in 1976 and this particular was preserved at the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Museum. When that little museum in the south coast Mass city went out of business in 2016 after 30 years the caboose was in need of a new home. Former Amtrak Road Foreman of Engines Joe Burgess, who comes from a long line of NYC men, purchased it in 2017, and after two decades sitting she was returned to operation and even spent time in active service on Mass Coastal.
As for the railroad itself here is a a bit of history. The Fore River railroad was developed by Thomas A. Watson, assistant to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Watson used his telephone profits to start an engine and boat factory in East Braintree, “The Fore River Shipyard Engine Company.” In 1898, Watson’s company was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to build 2 destroyers and a cruiser.
In 1900 the company moved to a new facility at Quincy Point where the 3 vessels were completed. At first, transporting heavy materials to Watson’s new shipyard was a slow and expensive process; the nearest railroad ended over 2 miles away, in East Braintree. Rail shipments had to be unloaded in Braintree, hauled to the Fore River, and finally, floated to Quincy. In 1902, Watson had a private rail line built along the river to bring supplies directly from Braintree to the shipyard. Operations began on June 1, 1903.
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation purchased the Fore River Shipyard and Railroad just before World War I. During the war, shipyard workers built 36 destroyers and several "zero" class and "R" class submarines.
In 1919, the Fore River Railroad was formally incorporated as separate holding from the Bethlehem Steel shipyard. During World War II, the Fore River Railroad Corporation's steam locomotives carried over 750,000 tons of construction materials for U.S. Navy cruisers, battleships, destroyers and aircraft carriers, including the Lexington. General Dynamics Corp. purchased the shipyard and railroad in 1963.
After the yard closed in 1986, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority acquired the shipyard and railroad. From 1987-1992, MWRA used Fore River facilities as a staging area and transportation system for the Boston Harbor Project. MWRA sold most of its shipyard property upon completion of the project but retained the railroad to transport its Bay State Fertilizer.
Fore River Railroad is the underlying owner of the property and holds the common carrier obligations for the line, but operation of it is contracted out. In the late 80s and through the 90s the line was operated by the Quincy Bay Terminal, an affiliate of New Hampshire's New England Southern, but in 2000 FRVT took over. FRVT is a Class III railroad owned by its largest customer, Twin Rivers Technology LLC, a manufacturer of industrial inorganic chemicals (rendering of glycerin, fatty acids). Twin Rivers purchased the former Proctor & Gamble soap plant in 1994 and in 2007 the company was purchased by FGV a Malaysian Global Agribusiness company that was originally and arm of the Malaysian government agency FELDA but was taken public in 2012.
Quincy, Massachusetts
Friday June 6, 2025
Fore River Fun
One of the shortest railroads in New England, the obscure Fore River Railroad is also a bit of a working museum with a vintage Alco switcher on the property (albeit long out of service), three privately owned caboose and a motor car all sharing space around the small modern single track shop building.
But for me the most appealing thing about this little road is that they still roster a pair of GE B23-7s. These are the class 1 local units of my youth, and they were ubiquitous on Conrail and the P&W all over southern New England throughout the 1990s. Upon the split in 1999 they were quickly banished elsewhere by CSXT and then retired, and soon P&W's fell by the wayside in favor of newer GEs but here two of the classic little 12 cylinder FDL GEs still burble along in revenue service Both once proudly wore Conrail blue, #101 was blt. in Jul. 1979 as CR 1992 and #102 was blt. in Jul 1978 as CR 1980.
In the background is New York Central caboose 21052 which was built at the NYC'S on Merchants Despatch Shops in East Rochester, NY. It was one of 100 in a class that was first built in 1963. I do not know their NYC class designation, but were given the N7B class at the time of the 1968 Penn Central merger. 88 of the class made it to Conrail in 1976 and this particular was preserved at the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Museum. When that little museum in the south coast Mass city went out of business in 2016 after 30 years the caboose was in need of a new home. Former Amtrak Road Foreman of Engines Joe Burgess, who comes from a long line of NYC men, purchased it in 2017, and after two decades sitting she was returned to operation and even spent time in active service on Mass Coastal.
As for the railroad itself here is a a bit of history. The Fore River railroad was developed by Thomas A. Watson, assistant to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Watson used his telephone profits to start an engine and boat factory in East Braintree, “The Fore River Shipyard Engine Company.” In 1898, Watson’s company was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to build 2 destroyers and a cruiser.
In 1900 the company moved to a new facility at Quincy Point where the 3 vessels were completed. At first, transporting heavy materials to Watson’s new shipyard was a slow and expensive process; the nearest railroad ended over 2 miles away, in East Braintree. Rail shipments had to be unloaded in Braintree, hauled to the Fore River, and finally, floated to Quincy. In 1902, Watson had a private rail line built along the river to bring supplies directly from Braintree to the shipyard. Operations began on June 1, 1903.
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation purchased the Fore River Shipyard and Railroad just before World War I. During the war, shipyard workers built 36 destroyers and several "zero" class and "R" class submarines.
In 1919, the Fore River Railroad was formally incorporated as separate holding from the Bethlehem Steel shipyard. During World War II, the Fore River Railroad Corporation's steam locomotives carried over 750,000 tons of construction materials for U.S. Navy cruisers, battleships, destroyers and aircraft carriers, including the Lexington. General Dynamics Corp. purchased the shipyard and railroad in 1963.
After the yard closed in 1986, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority acquired the shipyard and railroad. From 1987-1992, MWRA used Fore River facilities as a staging area and transportation system for the Boston Harbor Project. MWRA sold most of its shipyard property upon completion of the project but retained the railroad to transport its Bay State Fertilizer.
Fore River Railroad is the underlying owner of the property and holds the common carrier obligations for the line, but operation of it is contracted out. In the late 80s and through the 90s the line was operated by the Quincy Bay Terminal, an affiliate of New Hampshire's New England Southern, but in 2000 FRVT took over. FRVT is a Class III railroad owned by its largest customer, Twin Rivers Technology LLC, a manufacturer of industrial inorganic chemicals (rendering of glycerin, fatty acids). Twin Rivers purchased the former Proctor & Gamble soap plant in 1994 and in 2007 the company was purchased by FGV a Malaysian Global Agribusiness company that was originally and arm of the Malaysian government agency FELDA but was taken public in 2012.
Quincy, Massachusetts
Friday June 6, 2025