The Titanic Railroad - The Southern New England Railroad - Webster to Palmer Massachusetts.

There were several railroads that were built and never operated in New England, but none more grand than the Southern New England Railroad. This 85-mile railroad would have provided the Grand Trunk Railway with access to the warm water port of Providence Rhode Island. Today, much remains of the 85 mile Southern New England Railroad if you know where to look. The SNE was backed by Canada’s Grand Trunk Railroad’s Chief Executive Charles M.Hays. Hay’s vision of connecting the Grand Trunk Railway to the deep water port of Providence Rhode Island, sparked the last great railroad war in New England. His adversary was none other than the infamous Charles S. Mellon, the President of the New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Mellon owned or controlled most of the rail roads and trollies in New England at this time.

Although the Grand Trunk already had warm water ports in New London, CT and Portland, ME. Hays’ bold vision didn’t stop at Providence, he also planned to build a line to Boston from Woonsocket and from White River Jct. to Boston. Many say, that his dream sank with the Titanic that fateful night April 15, 1912. While this adds drama to the story, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Construction of the SNE was broken into two phases the first was just three weeks after Hays death on the Titanic on, May 11, 1912, and lasted just six months before construction was halted. Mellon and New Haven Railroad tried to stop the SNE every turn, he was pressuring the GT to accept traffic rights if they would abandoned construction of the SNE. He also put up legal challenges and road blocks at every turn of the process. Eventually the governors of Rhode Island and Massachusetts charged the GT and NH with a violation the Sherman Anti-trust act. This resulted in a stoppage of work in November of 1912. The courts sided with the Governors and construction restarted in October 1913. When works War I broke out in 1914 British capital dried up and construction halted for the final time in December 1915. Attempts to revive construction after World War I ended were unsuccessful. The railroad was 70% completed when construction was abandoned.

In this video we’ll visit some of the many reminders of this Grand railroad that never operated.

AllTrails GPS recording:
Custom AllTrails map of SNE from Webster to Palmer:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map...
Dudley Rail Trail -
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/rec...

Grand Trunk Trail Sturbridge: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/rec...

Grand Trunk Trail Five Bridges:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/rec...

Hand drawn maps were created by John Alan Roderick for the book Titanic Railroad: The Southern New England.

Theme Music: Hero Theme by MK2

Chapters
0:00 - Intro/Preview/History
2:15 - Webster/Dudley
4:59 - West Dudley
7:07 - Southbridge
8:22 - Westville
10:17 - Sturbridge
12:00 - East Brimfield Dam
17:33 - East Brimfield-Holland Road
17:53 - Five Bridges
19:26 - Mill Lane Road
19:46 Fenton Mountain
20:57 - Horseshoe Curve
23:23 - Along Boston Road
23:44 - Blanchardville
25:31 - Hospital Road
25:54 - Wrap-up