Every morning, we’ve stopped for breakfast and coffee at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, Massachusetts. This is located near the site of the former Old Colony Railroad Station (a component of the New Haven System).
The railroad has been gone for more than half a century. Today little remains of the Old Colony at Orleans except the right of way, a mural, and a few signs.
The Cape Cod Rail Trail represents an adaptive re-use of the track bed.
I try to imagine the sound of a 4-4-0 approaching the town with a short passenger train in tow.
It’s just not there for me. The ghosts of the Old Colony are ephemeral. I need some stronger coffee.
Rail trail looking west toward Buzzards Bay.Rail trail looking railroad east toward Provincetown. This is more or less on the site of the old station.This mural decorates a wall near the Hot Chocolate Sparrow. I’ve featured it previously on Tracking the Light.An old USGS topographical map that dates from before the age of the automobile.
On our November visit to Cape Cod this year, Kris and I spent a day photographing beaches and tracing the route of the Old Colony Railroad line that once ran all the way to the pier at Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The railroad was abandoned decades ago and most of the infrastructure was scrapped or recycled. However, in places it’s possible to see evidence of the old right-of-way, or at least conceptualize where the tracks once were.
I made these photos using my Nikon Z-series mirrorless digital cameras.
A view looking across Pamet Harbor; the former Old Colony right-of-way is visable near the the center right of the photo. The railroad once crossed the water here on it its way to the station at Truro, Massachusetts.Near Pilgrim Beach, looking compass north (railroad east) on Highway 6A toward Provincetown, the railroad once ran parallel to the road, possibly along the right-of-way now occupied by the electric lines to the right of the road.Historically the railroad ran on to the pier at Provincetown. I don’t know if the pier pictured is the same pier that actually carried the railroad, or a later structure. Those are questions for a deeper investigation.
