This is a list of all freight railroad (not streetcar or rapid transit) lines that have been built in Rhode Island, and does not deal with ownership changes from one company to another. The lines are named by the first company to build or consolidate them. Unless noted, every railroad eventually became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad system.
| Name | From | To | Branches | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston and Providence Railroad | Massachusetts state line in Pawtucket | downtown Providence | East Providence Branch, Massachusetts state line in Pawtucket to Fox Point in Providence | was jointly owned with the Providence and Worcester Railroad south of Boston Switch in Central Falls |
| Providence and Worcester Railroad | Massachusetts state line in North Smithfield | downtown Providence | East Providence Branch, Valley Falls (in Cumberland) to East Providence (with a section in Massachusetts) | was jointly owned with the Boston and Providence Railroad south of Boston Switch in Central Falls |
| Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad | Valley Falls (in Cumberland) | Massachusetts state line in Cumberland (with a section in Massachusetts) | ||
| East Side Railroad Tunnel | East Providence | downtown Providence | built by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | |
| Moshassuck Valley Railroad | Woodlawn (in Pawtucket) | Saylesville (in Lincoln) | remained independent | |
| Seekonk Branch Railroad | Short line in East Providence | |||
| Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad | East Providence | Bristol | ||
| Fall River, Warren and Providence Railroad | Warren | Massachusetts state line in Warren | ||
| Newport and Fall River Railroad | Massachusetts state line in Tiverton | Newport | ||
| Charles River Railroad | Massachusetts state line in Woonsocket | Woonsocket | ||
| Woonsocket and Pascoag Railroad | Woonsocket | Harrisville (in Burrillville) | ||
| Providence and Springfield Railroad | downtown Providence | Massachusetts state line at Burrillville | ||
| Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad | downtown Providence | Connecticut state line in Coventry | Dorrance Street Branch in Providence | |
| New York, Providence and Boston Railroad | downtown Providence | Connecticut state line in Westerly | South Providence Branch, Cranston Junction (in Cranston) to South Providence (in Providence) | |
| Pontiac Branch Railroad | Auburn (in Cranston) | Pontiac (in Warwick) | ||
| Pawtuxet Valley Railroad | Pontiac (in Warwick) | Hope (in Scituate) | ||
| Warwick Railroad | Auburn (in Cranston) | Buttonwoods (in Warwick) | remained independent, later became a street railway | |
| Naval Air Station Quonset Point | Davisville (in North Kingstown) | Quonset Point (in North Kingstown) | remained independent (U.S. Government owned) | |
| Newport and Wickford Railroad | Wickford Junction (in North Kingstown) | Wickford (in North Kingstown) | ||
| Narragansett Pier Railroad | Kingston (in South Kingstown) | Narragansett Pier (in Narragansett) | remained independent | |
| Wood River Branch Railroad | Wood River Junction (in Richmond) | Hope Valley (in Hopkinton) | remained independent | |
| Westerly Granite Quarry Proprietor's Railroad | Westerly | granite quarries | ||
| Southern New England Railway | Massachusetts state line in Woonsocket | Providence | South Providence Branch, around the west side of Providence | never finished, built by the Grand Trunk Railway |
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, railroad, lines and/or island:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Weigh what loss your honor may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmastered importunity.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say—I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”
—Harriet Tubman (1821–1913)
“While you are divided from us by geographical lines, which are imaginary, and by a language which is not the same, you have not come to an alien people or land. In the realm of the heart, in the domain of the mind, there are no geographical lines dividing the nations.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)
“We crossed a deep and wide bay which makes eastward north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left, and keeping to the eastern side of the lake. This way or that led to some Tomhegan or Socatarian stream, up which the Indian had hunted, and whither I longed to go. The last name, however, had a bogus sound, too much like sectarian for me, as if a missionary had tampered with it; but I knew that the Indians were very liberal. I think I should have inclined to the Tomhegan first.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)