The incline section of the Granite Railway, 1934.

A three-car, horse-drawn train on the Granite Railway at East Milton Square, MA, about 1855. Another source, Robert E. Scholes, gives the photo date as about 1840.

The switch frog of the Granite Railway that was displayed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. It is now on public view in East Milton.

The Granite Railway was one of the first railroads in the United States, built to convey granite from Quincy, Massachusetts to a dock on the Neponset River in Milton, Massachusetts. From there boats carried the heavy stone to Charlestown for construction of the Bunker Hill Monument. The Granite Railway is popularly termed the first commercial railroad in the United States, as it was the first chartered railway to evolve into a common carrier without an intervening closure. The last active quarry closed in 1963; in 1985, Boston's Metropolitan District Commission purchased 22 acres, including Granite Railway Quarry, as the Quincy Quarries Reservation. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (4894x3934, 2519 KB) Photograph of the Incline portion of the Granite Railway, Quincy, Massachusetts. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (4894x3934, 2519 KB) Photograph of the Incline portion of the Granite Railway, Quincy, Massachusetts. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Frog_Switch_of_the_Granite_Railway_displayed_at_the_Chicago_World's_Fair_in_1893. ... Image File history File links Frog_Switch_of_the_Granite_Railway_displayed_at_the_Chicago_World's_Fair_in_1893. ... Several railroads have been called the oldest in the United States. ...   Settled: 1625 â€“ Incorporated: 1792 Zip Code(s): 02169, 02170, 02171 â€“ Area Code(s): 617 / 857 Official website: http://ci. ...   Milton is a suburban Boston town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Birdseye view of Boston, Charlestown, and Bunker Hill between 1890 and 1910. ... Bunker Hill Monument, 2001. ... A common carrier is an organization that transports persons or goods, and offers its services to the general public. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units and United States customary units. ...

History

In 1825, after an exhaustive search throughout New England, Solomon Willard selected the Quincy site as the source of stone for the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. After many delays and much obstruction, the railway itself was granted a charter on March 4, 1826, with right of eminent domain to establish its right-of-way. Businessman and state legislator Thomas Handasyd Perkins organized the financing of the new Granite Railway Company, owning a majority of its shares, and he was designated its president. The railroad was designed and built by railway pioneer Gridley Bryant and began operations on October 7, 1826. Mr. Bryant utilized developments that had already been in use on the railroads in England, but he modified his design to allow for heavier, more concentrated loads and a three-foot frost line. This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Solomon Willard (June 2, 1783, Petersham, Massachusetts – 1861) was a carver and builder in Massachusetts who is remembered primarily for designing and overseeing the Bunker Hill Monument, the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States. ... Bunker Hill Monument, 2001. ... Birdseye view of Boston, Charlestown, and Bunker Hill between 1890 and 1910. ... March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Eminent domain (U.S.), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption (Australia) or expropriation (Canada, South Africa) in common law legal systems is the inherent power of the state to expropriate private property, or rights in private property, without the owners consent, either for its own use or... A right-of-way (plural: rights-of-way) is an easement or strip of land granted to a railroad company upon which to build a railroad. ... Thomas Handasyd Perkins. ... Gridley Bryant (1789 – June 13, 1867) was an American construction engineer who ended up building one of the first railroads in the country and inventing most of the basic technologies involved in it. ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The railway ran three miles (4.8 km) from quarries to the Neponset River. Its wagons had wheels 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and were pulled by horses, although power supplied by steam locomotive had been in operation in England for two decades. The wooden rails were plated with iron and were laid 5 feet (1,524 mm) apart. A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. ... km redirects here. ... The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 at work on a cold November 29, 1941 A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...

In 1830, a new section of the railway called the Incline was added to haul granite from the Pine Ledge Quarry to the railway level 84 feet (25.6 m) below. Wagons moved up and down the 315 foot (96 m) long Incline in an endless conveyor belt. The Incline continued in operation until the 1940s.

The railway introduced several important inventions, including railway switches or frogs, the turntable, and double-truck railroad cars. Gridley Bryant never patented his inventions, believing they should be for the benefit of all. A railroad switch is a mechanical installation enabling trains to be guided from one set of rail tracks (or tramway tracks) to another. ... A small turntable at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA. In rail terminology, a turntable is a device used to turn railroad rolling stock. ... A railroad car (or, more briefly, car, not to be confused with railcar), also known as an item of rolling stock, is a vehicle on a railroad (or railway) that is not a locomotive — one that provides another purpose than purely haulage, although some types of car are powered. ...

The Granite Railway was the site of the first fatal railway accident in the United States, on July 25, 1832, when the wagon containing Thomas B. Achuas, of Cuba, derailed as he was taking a tour. The accident occurred while the wagon was ascending the Incline and a cable broke. The four occupants of the car were thrown over a cliff, approximately 30 to 40 feet in distance. Three other passengers were badly injured. July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1871 the Old Colony and Newport Railroad took over the original right-of-way of the Granite Railway, and steam trains then took granite from the quarries directly to Boston without need of barges from the Neponset River any longer. This portion of the Old Colony Railroad through Quincy and Milton was later absorbed into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and later closed. 1875 map The Old Colony Railroad was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts, USA. Old Colony trians ran from Boston to points such as Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, and Providence, Rhode Island via its Boston and Providence Railroad. ... The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (AAR reporting mark NH) was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States. ...

During the early Twentieth Century, metal channels were laid over the old granite rails on the Incline and motor trucks were hauled up and down on a cable.

Preservation

The railway's Incline was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1973, and the railway itself was added on October 15, 1973. A typical plaque showing entry on the National Register of Historic Places. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

A centennial historic plaque from 1926, an original switch frog, a piece of train track, and a section of superstructure from the Granite Railway can be found in the gardens on top of the Southeast Expressway (Interstate 93) as it passes under East Milton Square. The frog had been displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. The commemorative display is at the approximate site of the railroad's right-of-way as it went through Milton on its way to the Neponset River. One-third scale replica of Daniel Chester Frenchs Republic, which stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004 The Worlds Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher...

In Quincy visitors can walk along several parkland trails that reveal vestiges of the original railway trestle and the Incline. These trails connect to the quarries themselves, most of which are now filled for safety purposes with dirt from the massive Big Dig highway project in Boston. In years past, many persons had been injured while diving into the quarries from great heights. Metropolitan Highway System Big Dig is the unofficial name of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), a megaproject to reroute the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief controlled-access highway through the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, into a 3. ...

The Massachusetts state government's Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains the Quincy Quarries Reservation. In addition to rock-climbing activities, the reservation has trails connecting the remains of the Granite Railway.

The 2.5-mile section from Central Avenue in Milton/Adams ending on Taylor Avenue near the I-93 overpass in Quincy is an official Rails-To-Trails multi-use path for bicycles and pedestrians. It will eventually be 8.5 miles long and connect to the already finished end trail near Castle Island in Boston Harbor (at a grade level street crossing is a granite block with a history marker, depicting a quick history of the Granite Railway with its years of operation).

References

• A History of the Origin and Development of the Granite Railway at Quincy, Massachusetts privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.
• Scholes, Robert E. (1968), The Granite Railway and its Associated Enterprises.
• Historic American Buildings Survey - Granite Railway, Pine Hill Quarry to Neponset River, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
• Website for Quincy Historical Society and information on the Granite Railway
• The Massachusetts state government Department of Conservation and Recreation for the Quincy Quarries Reservation
• Granite Railway Drawings
• Granite Railway Photographs