Philip E Johnson

The Hampden Railroad -- the Greatest Railroad That Never Ran Philip E Johnson

In the early 1980's, I discovered a bridge on the Central Mass branch in Bondsville. This began my investigation as to why the bridge was there, and what ran underneath. This discovery led me to a railroad lost in the woods, with little written history. I also found a carved stone marker with B82 telling all that Boston is 82 miles from that point on the Hampden. This is the Hampden Railroad's story. Trains were the major modern means of transportation in the 1910's. Three men decided to make money in the towns between East Springfield and Palmer, Massachusetts. J. P. Morgan of New York decided to make money by lending money to the venture, Charles Mellen of New Haven, Connecticut wanted to make money by connecting his railroads to the Hampden. In addition, Ralph Gillett of Westfield, Massachusetts wanted to make money by using his company the Woronoco Construction Company to build the fourteen-mile Hampden Railroad at a cost of $4 million.