The opening of the Erie Canal across central New York in 1825 encouraged the development of a trans-Massachusetts transportation scheme to connect Boston, the state capital, and the canal head near Albany, New York. Initially a canal through the Berkshires was considered, but by the late 1820s, proponents urged construction of a through railroad. Boston & Worcester began construction in 1832 and connected its namesakes on 44 miles of line in July 1835. In the meantime, in 1833, B&W directors incorporated the Western Railroad (of Massachusetts) to build west from Worcester, via Springfield, over the Berkshires to the New York state line. Major George Washington Whistler was hired to survey and engineer the line. He located a low summit of the Berkshires, near the village of Washington, Massachusetts, 1,459 feet above sea level, and constructed the world’s first mountain main line. With connections at the Massachusetts–New York state line, the B&W and Western formed a through link between Boston & Albany in 1841.
In the mid-1920s, Lima used the B&A as a proving ground for its new superpower steam concept. The success of the 2-8-4 on the B&A route resulted in this wheel arrangement being named for the Berkshire Mountains. B&A bought three classes of Lima Berkshires beginning in 1926. On October 14, 1947, B&A A1a No. 1421 works east through Warren with tonnage freight. Robert A. Buck
B&W and Western merged in 1867 to form the Boston & Albany, which at the time had a virtual monopoly on trunk traffic to southern New England. B&A prospered through the nineteenth century and was among the first railroads to adopt automatic block signaling. In 1900, the New York Central & Hudson River leased the B&A. While the New York Central System image predominated for a few years, local demand restored the B&A name, and from 1912 through the end of the steam era, equipment was lettered thus.
Today the route survives as CSX’s main line to New England and serves as a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter line between Boston and Worcester.
This period postcard, circa 1910, depicts an eastward B&A express running through the valley of the West Branch of the Westfield River between the villages of Huntington and Russell, Massachusetts. Solomon collection
Route map, 1942. Bob Buck collection