postcard of the Sakonnet River Railroad Bridge, postmarked 1910
The Newport & Fall River Railroad was established in 1846 to build a railroad line from Fall River, Massachusetts to Newport, Rhode Island. It took nearly 18 years for the line to be built all the way out to Newport. In 1869 the railroad had daily passenger service to Newport which continued until 1938. Years later the line continued to see freight traffic with a slow decline. By the 1970’s Penn Central only had one weekly freight train servicing the line. Along with the declining service, the track conditions start to decline as well. In 1976 the railroad line was later served by Conrail and they sold the southern section between Portsmouth and Newport to the state of Rhode Island. A few years later in 1979, the state would lease the line to a new tourism Old Colony and Newport Railroad.
1974 Penn Central Transportation Co. | Employee Timetables
| Milepost | Station |
| 11.9 | Ferry Street, MA |
| 14.2 | MA/RI State Line |
| 16.9 | Tiverton, RI |
| The Hummock | |
| Bristol Ferry | |
| Coal Mines | |
| 20.8 | Portsmouth |
| Coreys Lane | |
| 23.0 | Mellville (Portsmouth Grove) |
| 25.5 | Middletown (Lawtons) |
| 30.3 | Newport, RI |
In 1980, the Sakonnet River Railroad Bridge was damaged by an overweight train and was taken out of service. Just eight years later, disaster struck again when a barge ran into the bridge. In late 2006 the swing structure on the bridge was removed and the supporting piers were demolished. Although landlocked, this picturesque line is still active on both sides of the bridge.
Since 2014, the Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad Company operates scenic trips on the landlocked Newport Secondary. On the other side of the “bridge,” the Mass Coastal Railroad is the freight provider for business along the Fall River Secondary. Scheduled for late 2023, passenger service will return to the Fall River Secondary with the MBTA South Coast Rail project. These two secondaries could be reconnected by building a new replacement Sakonnet River Bridge.
Future, Newport Flyer?
For the past 10 years, the MBTA has been operating Capeflyer running weekend summer service from Boston to Cape Cod (Hyannis, MA). The return of passenger service to the Fall River Secondary would be a great opportunity to bring summer service to the ever-popular tourist spot Newport, Rhode Island. There would be a few hurdles to overcome on the Newport Secondary; replacement of the bridge, track upgrades, railroad crossing improvements, and agreement between the State of Rhode Island and the MBTA. The Newport Secondary currently runs through a US Naval base and those security concerns would need to be addressed as well.
