# Milford Branch

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The **Milford Branch** is a mostly abandoned [railroad](/source/Railroad) line in [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts). The line formerly ran from [Milford](/source/Milford,_Massachusetts) to [Framingham](/source/Framingham,_Massachusetts), traveling through [Holliston](/source/Holliston,_Massachusetts) and [Sherborn](/source/Sherborn,_Massachusetts), connecting to the [Boston Subdivision](/source/Boston_Subdivision) in [Framingham](/source/Framingham,_Massachusetts) and the [Milford Secondary](/source/Milford_Secondary) in [Milford](/source/Milford,_Massachusetts). The line was originally part of the [Boston and Albany Railroad](/source/Boston_and_Albany_Railroad), and the end of the line was later abandoned under [Penn Central](/source/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company), before most of the rest of the line was abandoned by [Conrail](/source/Conrail).[1] A short portion of the line in Framingham is still active. Although the line passes through [Sherborn](/source/Sherborn,_Massachusetts) and terminates in [Framingham](/source/Framingham,_Massachusetts), the majority of the line lies in [Holliston](/source/Holliston,_Massachusetts).

## History

The [Boston and Worcester Railroad](/source/Boston_and_Worcester_Rail_Road) began construction of the Milford Branch in early 1847, heading south from their mainline at Framingham, and opened from Framingham to Holliston by September 1847.[2] and by July 1848 had reached its southern terminus in Milford.[3][4] Originally, the line was proposed to continue south to [Woonsocket, Rhode Island](/source/Woonsocket,_Rhode_Island), but this would have interfered with the [Norfolk County Railroad](/source/Norfolk_County_Railroad), so it was decided to terminate the line in Milford.[4]

In Milford, the line interchanged with what was then known as the Hopkinton and Milford Railroad, later the [Milford and Woonsocket Railroad](/source/Milford_and_Woonsocket_Railroad), and today's CSX Milford Secondary.[5] This line was built in stages between 1869 and 1872.[2] In 1893, the Natick Street Railway expanded south through Sherborn to Ashland, but the Milford Branch remained the largest railroad in Milford.

The line continued thriving throughout the early 20th century, but by the 1950s, as with many railroads across the country, the line began struggling. By 1958, the line had only one train per day in each direction, running as a shuttle to/from Framingham during the rush hour only and serving Holliston and Milford stations only.[6][7] Passenger service could not last much longer, and the Milford Branch's very last passenger train arrived into Milford on the evening of March 28, 1959, after 111 years of service.[8]

Freight service still continued under the B&A, but the line was by this point an unimportant branchline. Eventually, as with the rest of the former B&A, the Milford Branch came under the control of [Penn Central](/source/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company) in their 1968 creation. The line continued having minimal freight service throughout the 1960s and 70s, but in the early 1980s, the line—which was then owned by [Conrail](/source/Conrail)—was abandoned.[9][10] Throughout the 1980s, 90s, and into the 2000s, the line sat abandoned, with tracks at least partially intact until 2004.[11][12][13][user-generated source?][self-published source?]

A rail yard on the line in Framingham, known as the Constructive Placement (CP) yard, was once used by Mazda, Ford, and General Motors to unload cars delivered by rail. Automobile unloading stopped in February 2009 after operations moved to [East Brookfield, Massachusetts](/source/East_Brookfield,_Massachusetts).[14] The yard started being used for a rail [transloading](/source/Transloading) facility in July 2024, with CSX moving railcars in and out of the yard 2-3 times per week.[15]

Starting in 2017, portions of the rail line began being converted into the Upper Charles Rail Trail, which as of 2024 has been completed from Whitney Street in [Sherborn](/source/Sherborn,_Massachusetts) south to Downtown [Milford](/source/Milford,_Massachusetts).[16][17][18]

### Remnants

The following remnants still exist along the line:

- The right-of-way from Sherborn to Milford is preserved as the Upper Charles Rail Trail.[17]
- The East Holliston, Holliston, and Milford station buildings are still standing.[11][19]
- The 8-Arch Bridge, also known as the Holliston Viaduct or the Woolen Mill Bridge, still stands slightly north of Holliston.[20]
- The Phipps Tunnel still remains just south of Holliston.[21]

### Modern transit

The [MetroWest Regional Transit Authority](/source/MetroWest_Regional_Transit_Authority) route 6 roughly parallels the former path of the line.[22]

## Station listing

Town Station Notes Framingham Framingham[23] still active as an MBTA and Amtrak station Sherborn Whitney[23] Holliston East Holliston[23] station building still remains[11] Holliston[23] station building still remains[11] Metcalf[23] Braggville[23] Milford Rocky Hill[23] Milford[23] station building still remains[19]

## References

1. ["The Milford Branch - Abandoned Rails"](https://www.abandonedrails.com/Milford_Branch)

1. Jacobs, Warren (1928). ["Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/43504499). *The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin*. '***(17): 15–28. [ISSN 0033-8842](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0033-8842). [JSTOR 43504499](https://www.jstor.org/stable/43504499)***

1. ["Town of Milford History | Milford MA"](https://www.milfordma.gov/historical-commission/pages/town-milford-history). *www.milfordma.gov*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. Ballou, Adin (1882). [*History of the Town of Milford, Worcester County Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement to 1881*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cj3VhkrWhqcC&dq=boston+and+albany+%22milford%22+branch+history&pg=PA336). Yale University Press. pp. 337–338. ISBN 978-1332310968.

1. ["Old map of Massachusetts, Blackstone and surroundings"](https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Blackstone_352487_1889_62500_geo.jpg). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240512154738/https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Blackstone_352487_1889_62500_geo.jpg) 2024-05-12 at the Wayback Machine.

1. ["Time Table No. 1"](https://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/ett/images/ba-tt-0457.pdf). The New York Central Railroad Company. p. 14.

1. Railroad, Boston and Albany (1958-04-27), ["English: April 1958 timetable of Boston–Worcester suburban service plus Milford Branch service"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:April_1958_Boston_and_Albany_Railroad_suburban_timetable.pdf&page=2), retrieved 2024-05-12

1. ["Last run of Boston-Albany Railroad, Milford stop"](https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:bg2599602). *www.digitalcommonwealth.org*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Milford Station \[B&A\] - Milford, MA | Railroad History"](https://www.nashuacitystation.org/station/massachusetts/worcester/milford/milford-ba/). *www.nashuacitystation.org*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Old map of Massachusetts, Holliston and surroundings"](https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Holliston_351021_1969_25000_geo.jpg). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240512154730/https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Holliston_351021_1969_25000_geo.jpg) 2024-05-12 at the Wayback Machine.

1. ["middlesexco"](https://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/massachusetts/middlesexco.html). *www.lightlink.com*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Abandoned Framingham Autorack Facility?"](https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,4535784). *Trainorders.com Discussion*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. [East Holliston](https://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/massachusetts/easthollistonNA.jpg)

1. McDonald, Dan (March 2, 2009). ["CSX closes Framingham Southside rail yard"](https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2009/03/03/csx-closes-framingham-southside-rail/41246603007/). *Metrowest Daily News*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20250820010614/https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2009/03/03/csx-closes-framingham-southside-rail/41246603007/) August 20, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.

1. [*City Council 7-16-24*](http://vod-framingham.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/3217?channel=1&seekto=8049). The Government Channel, City of Framingham. July 16, 2024. pp. 02:14:09.

1. ["Old map of Massachusetts, Boston and surroundings"](https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Boston_353155_1985_100000_geo.jpg). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240512154731/https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/MA/MA_Boston_353155_1985_100000_geo.jpg) 2024-05-12 at the Wayback Machine.

1. ["Home"](https://uppercharlestrail.wordpress.com/upper-charles-trail/). *Upper Charles Trail*. 2013-03-06. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Sherborn to reiki spa"](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.2397022,-71.416398/42.1428887,-71.5120942/@42.1902077,-71.4921059,12.1z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e1!5m1!1e3?entry=ttu). *Sherborn to reiki spa*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["worcesterco"](https://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/massachusetts/worcesterco.html). *www.lightlink.com*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Google Maps"](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2091368,-71.4179176,3a,75y,122.22h,85.51t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIFMpq2aMVie0WzbQQduIcg!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?panoid=IFMpq2aMVie0WzbQQduIcg&cb_client=maps_sv.share&w=900&h=600&yaw=122.21933178699692&pitch=4.490835723745576&thumbfov=90!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e3?coh=205410&entry=ttu). *Google Maps*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Google Maps"](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.18897,-71.4352257,3a,75y,42.31h,98.05t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipPzYtRc70zdEGOOkxnKnbx-J4FRB5sTmOFUYMOB!2e10!6shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPzYtRc70zdEGOOkxnKnbx-J4FRB5sTmOFUYMOB=w900-h600-k-no-pi-8.048442407928889-ya359.9078712682995-ro0-fo90!7i7200!8i3600!5m1!1e3?coh=205410&entry=ttu). *Google Maps*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["Route 6 (M-F) :: MWRTA"](https://www.mwrta.com/routes/fixed-routes/route-6). *www.mwrta.com*. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

1. ["List of passenger station numbers"](https://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/passenger-station-list-1954.pdf). New York Central Railroad Co. p. 18.

## External links

- ["Upper Charles Rail Trail Exhibits"](https://medfield.baycolonyrailtrail.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2020-04-10-Interp-Exhibits.pdf). Friends of Holliston Trails. April 10, 2020.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Milford Branch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Branch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Branch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.