Draft:West Bridgewater Branch

The West Bridgewater Branch was a railroad branch located in the state of Massachusetts that formerly connected the towns of West Bridgewater and Easton. The 7-mile (11.3 km) branch opened in 1888 and ran between the Dighton and Somerset Railroad mainline in Easton and the Fall River Railroad (currently the Middleborough/Lakeville Line).

The line was abandoned in segments starting in 1938 to 1963; a portion of the former branch right-of-way is now the West Bridgewater Rail Trail.

History
In 1854, the Fall River and Old Colony railroads merged to form the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad (later renamed the Old Colony Railroad in 1872). The opening of the shorter Dighton and Somerset Railroad in 1866 diverted many Fall River through services off of the original Fall River mainline via a junction at Braintree Highlands in Braintree. The West Bridgewater Branch was built by the Old Colony in 1888 to connect the two parallel Fall River mainlines. A total of six stations were located along the branch: Matfield (Matfield Junction), West Bridgewater, Cochesett, Eastondale (Sequosett), South Easton, and Easton (Easton Junction).

The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad assumed control of the West Bridgewater Branch along with the entire Old Colony system in 1893. Passenger service on the branch ceased in 1925, though freight services would continue for some time. In 1938, the segment between West Bridgewater Station and Eastondale was closed which severed through services on the branch. The Eastondale stub was truncated to South Easton in 1940 before being entirely abandoned between South Easton and Easton in 1954. Freight service would continue between Matfield Junction and West Bridgewater until the segment was abandoned in 1963.

In 2008, a 0.7-mile (1.1 km) segment of abandoned right-of-way reopened as the West Bridgewater Rail Trail. The gravel trail runs between the former West Bridgewater Station site near North Main Street to a point roughly 700-feet (219 meters) west of East Street. Foliage and redevelopment has encroached on the remaining sections of the line.

Route
The former site of Matfield Junction is located along what is now the MBTA's Middleborough/Lakeville Line, roughly 0.3 miles (0.5 km) north of the West Union Street rail underpass near the East Bridgewater town line. The branch continues west before turning north past the center of West Bridgewater and crossing MA Route 24 and Manely Street. The line snakes northwest and runs adjacent to Depot Street in Easton before curving southwest and crossing Washington Street. The branch meets the D&S mainline at Easton Junction slightly south of the former crossing at Purchase Street.