Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Union Freight Railroad

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 84

Union Freight Railroad

Location and General Description of Property

The railroad of Union Freight Railroad Company, hereinafter called the carrier, is a standard-gauge steam railroad, partly single track and partly double track, located in Boston, Mass. The owned mileage extends from a junction with the tracks of the Boston Terminal Company to a connection with Boston and Maine Railroad, a distance of 2.297 miles. The carrier also owns a second main track, 0.829 mile in length, and yard tracks and sidings totaling 1.185 miles. Its road thus embraces 4.311 miles of all tracks owned. In Appendix 1 will be found a general description of the property of the carrier.

Corporate History

The carrier was incorporated on May 6, 1872, under a special act of the State of Massachusetts, and its organization was perfected on June 8 of the same year. An act, approved April 25, 1873, authorized the carrier, in addition to handling freight-train cars as already authorized, to receive and deliver passenger-train cars. The principal office of the carrier is at Boston, Mass. The detailed facts as to the development of the fixed physical property are given in Appendix 2.

Description of Road

The railroad of the carrier is located in important business streets skirting the harbor front, and extends from a junction with the tracks of the Boston Terminal Company near the South Station, along Atlantic Avenue, Commercial, Causeway, and Lowell Streets to a connection with Boston and Maine Railroad near the North Station. In conjunction with the Boston Terminal Company, the carrier's railroad constitutes a connecting freight line between the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and Boston and Maine Railroad, but its function is also that of a switching line for the various industries and commercial wharves located on or adjacent to the streets it occupies. The carrier's property also includes a freight-delivery yard and a car-storage yard located upon land which it owns.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The property owned by the carrier was acquired partly by purchase and partly by construction. Its charter authorized the carrier to take possession of certain tracks laid in the streets of Boston by the Marginal Freight Railway Company, subject to the laws relating to the taking of land by railroad companies and the compensation to be paid therefor. Under this authority the carrier became possessed of the tracks of that company, which then brought suit for recovery. In 1884 the carrier paid the Marginal Freight Railway Company $25,000 cash in full settlement and discharge of its claims. The remainder of the property of the carrier was constructed by contractors, apparently not connected with the corporation. Work was commenced in September, 1872, and the road was completed in December of that year, when an attempt was made to operate it with horses. Operations were suspended after a few days on account of the severity of the winter until April 1, 1873, when they were resumed with steam power.