Northampton Street Railway

OwnerNorthampton Street Railway Company

Area served

Northampton

Transit typeLight rail

Horsecar (1866–1893)
Interurban (1893–1933)

Bus (1933–1951)

Headquarters125 Locust Street
Northampton, MA
01060-2066

Northampton Street Railway

A Northampton Street Railway car on Main Street, 1907

Overview

Owner

Northampton Street Railway Company

Area served

Northampton

Transit type

Light rail

Horsecar (1866–1893)
Interurban (1893–1933)

Bus (1933–1951)

Headquarters

125 Locust Street
Northampton, MA
01060-2066

Operation

Began operation

September 8, 1866^[1]^: 912
August 26, 1893 (electrified)^[2]
1933 (bus)^[3]

Ended operation

December 25, 1933 (rail)^[4]
August 22, 1951 (bus)^[5]^[a]

Technical

Track gauge

4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge^[1]^: 912

System map

The Northampton Street Railway (NSR), founded as the Northampton and Williamsburg Street Railway, was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Northampton, Massachusetts and its villages of Florence and Leeds, as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Easthampton, Hadley, Hatfield and Williamsburg.^[7] For a time, there also was through service from Northampton to both Holyoke and Springfield, operated jointly with the Holyoke and Springfield Street Railways.^[8]

In 1903, the Northampton Street Railway merged with the Greenfield & Deerfield Street Railway to form the Greenfield, Deerfield & Northampton Street Railway, which, only two years later was acquired by the Northampton & Amherst Street Railway, subsequently renamed the Connecticut Valley Street Railway.^[9]^[10]

Ultimately a prolonged labor strike beginning in August 1951, led to the company ceasing all services and relinquishing its routes and franchise later that year.^[6] Following its bankruptcy, several of the railway company's former bus routes were assumed by Western Massachusetts Bus Lines.^[11] Purchased two years after the company ceased operations, today the railway's former headquarters serves as the main garage of the Northampton Department of Public Works.^[12]

References

1 2 Poor, H. V.; Poor, H. W. (1901). "Street Railways in Massachusetts". Poor's Manual of Railroads. Vol. XXXIII. New York: American Banknote Company.
↑ "Northampton's Electric Cars; Successfully Started - Interesting History of the Street Railway". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. August 27, 1893. p. 3.
↑ "Bus Will Replace Trolly". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. November 7, 1933. p. 3.
↑
"Busses to Make Run from Northampton". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. December 21, 1933. p. 3. With the transformation of the Northampton street railway line to bus service Tuesday
- "New Busses Do Well Despite Heavy Snow; Railroad Passenger Traffic Mounts as Storm Halts Automobiles". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. December 27, 1933. p. 10.
↑ "'Hamp Bus Drivers, 65 Strong, Out On Strike; Pellissier, Acting Head of Transit Firm, Says Sale Would Be Welcome; Walkout First Since 1914". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. August 22, 1951. p. 1.
1 2 "Surrender of Franchise Stuns 'Hamp; But Officials Hope Bus Service May Be Restored Soon". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. October 31, 1951. p. 7.
↑ Map of the Street Railways of the State of Massachusetts (Map). The Joint Special Committee on the Transportation Facilities of Western Massachusetts. January 1913.
↑ Wright, Harry Andrew; Shaw, Donald E. (1949). "Chapter XLII: Local Transportation". The Story of Western Massachusetts Volume II: Transportation, Industry, Institutions & Miscellany (1st ed.). New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 638–639. ASIN B001V208OY. LCCN 50006039. OCLC 917661199 – via HathiTrust. Northampton Street Railway — Built as a horse railway in 1866, later extended and electrified in 1893, this company at the peak of its trolley operations had about thirty-five miles of track in Northampton, Williamsburg, Easthampton, Hatfield, Hadley and Amherst. In addition to its local service to these communities, the company operated a joint through car service to Holyoke with the Holyoke Street Railway, with which it connected at Mt. Tom Junction. At certain times, through cars were also operated to Springfield.
↑ Carlson, Stephen P. (1990). From Boston to the Berkshires : a pictorial review of electric transportation in Massachusetts. Internet Archive. Boston, Mass. : Boston Street Railway Association. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-938315-03-2. OCLC 1200480978.
↑ "TROLLEY CAR RIDING PAST AND PRESENT GREENFIELD TOPIC". Newspapers.com. The Springfield Daily Republican. 1933-10-22. p. 7 (18 A). Archived from the original on July 21, 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-21. In that same year, 1903, the Greenfield & Deerfield Street Railway company built a line from the south side of the Deerfield river at Cheapside to Old Deerfield. The next year the Cheapside bridge was built and the line was extended to South Deerfield, while in 1905 the Greenfield and Deerfield company merged with the Northampton Street Railway company to fill the gap through Hatfield, making Holyoke's great resort at Mountain park, Mt Tom, as accessible to local residents as to those of Springfield.
↑ "'Hamp Awakes to See Busses Rolling Again". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. January 21, 1952. p. 8. Fortier's Western Massachusetts Bus Lines will serve Northampton, Easthampton, Hadley, Amherst, Florence, Leeds, Williamsburg, and Mount Tom Junction for the present, with service nearly on a par with that given by the defunct Northampton Street Railway Co. which went out of business after union drivers struck for higher wages last August.
↑ "Boston Firm Gets Bid for Bond Issue; $101,000 Loan to Be Used For Purchase of Former Railway Co. Garage". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. September 18, 1953. p. 7.

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