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:
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“Hey, you dress up our town very nicely. You don’t look out the Chamber of Commerce is going to list you in their publicity with the local attractions.”
—Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar)
“This I saw when waking late,
Going by at a railroad rate,
Looking through wreaths of engine smoke
Far into the lives of other folk.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings.”
—Anonymous.
A modern proverb along the lines of “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” This form of words has no precise origin, though both Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (16th ed., 1992)
“I ... would rather be in dependance on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon earth, or than on no nation. But I am one of those too who rather than submit to the right of legislating for us assumed by the British parliament, and which late experience has shewn they will so cruelly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)