The Providence & Worcester’s roots lie in the nineteenth-century New England railroad that connected its namesakes and was absorbed into the comprehensive New Haven Railroad system. Its modern independence began in 1973, when it withdrew from the faltering Penn Central and reassumed operation of its historic lines in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As Conrail experienced the 1976 bailout of northeastern bankrupt lines and the Boston & Maine scaled back its New England operations, P&W expanded its territory. By the late 1980s, it was operating a significant network of former New Haven Railroad lines, including routes between Worcester and Providence, Worcester to Groton, Connecticut (with rights on Amtrak’s former New Haven Shore Line route between Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and Attleboro, Massachusetts), and the former B&M route between Worcester and Gardner, Massachusetts, the latter point serving as its primary Guilford connection.
Rolling southward along the Thames River in December 1992, Providence & Worcester freight NR-2 passes the preserved USS Nautilus at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut. In its modern form, P&W began operations in 1973 and is a rare example of a short line that bought new locomotives from three builders: Electro-Motive, GE, and Montreal Locomotive Works. Brian Solomon
Much of P&W’s freight traffic was interchanged at Worcester with Conrail (CSX after 1999). P&W based local freights at its Worcester yard, with additional trains working out of yards at Valley Falls, Rhode Island, and Plainfield, Connecticut. During the 1990s, P&W expanded further. It picked up more lines discarded by Conrail, while assuming Conrail trackage rights on Amtrak and Metro-North to New York City. In 1997, it merged with Middletown, Connecticut–based Connecticut Central. Today P&W provides freight service and operates occasional excursions with its company passenger train.
Providence & Worcester bought this B23-7 new from General Electric. Brian Solomon