HILLTOWN HISTORY…1840, a large part of the grading of the 63 miles in the state west of the Connecticut river, was completed and the rails laid upon 35 miles. The running of cars from Springfield to Chester Factories was begun on the 24th of May 1841, and from there to Washington summit on the 13th of September following. The first train of cars from Springfield to Albany was run in late December.

“In the space of a trifle over nine years from the time when the soil was first broken for the purpose of building a railroad in New England, this important line, two hundred miles in length, and overcoming in its course a mountain summit over fourteen hundred feet above the sea, was completed. Truly it may be said to be a monument of high and imperishable honor to its bold projectors.”  The road was first built for a single track. The double track was laid to Washington from Albany just before the Civil War in 1861. National Park Service. Photos from the John Hamm Book,  The Boston and Albany Railroad.

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