Hidden in the woods of North Kingstown are the remnants of one of Rhode Island’s forgotten railroads — a tiny 3.5-mile line that was used by some of America’s wealthiest families (1, 2). Known as the Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamship Company, the line was cherished by Gilded Age elites who sought a faster, more convenient route to their mansions in Newport.
But today, most signs of the line have all but disappeared. It’s become so hidden that you could live in North Kingstown your whole life and never know it existed. You could drive past one of its old right of ways (3) or shop inside one of its former stations without ever knowing it.
This is the first episode of “Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island”, where we uncover the hidden tracks, lost stations, and forgotten stories of the state’s vanished railroads — starting with the Newport and Wickford Railroad.

2. The World That Created the Railroad
By the 1870s, the Gilded Age was in full swing and Newport had become the summer capital of America’s wealthiest individuals. Families like the Vanderbilts and Astors hosted lavish balls, yacht regattas, and grand parties that filled their mansions with hundreds of guests and set the standard for high society.
But getting to Newport wasn’t easy. Many of these travelers came from New York so they either had to brave the dangerous waters off Point Judith or take a roundabout train ride up to Providence and then through Fall River.
And so, like any good capitalist, railroad tycoons Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his brother Frederick saw this problem as a business opportunity.  They knew that a railroad line and steam ship operating out of Wickford would be leveraged often by summer visitors bound for Newport and nearby factory workers traveling locally.  
With this demand in mind, the men got right to work and By 1871, The Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamship Company was up and running. The line was an instant hit amongst regional elites as it gave them a smoother, safer, and far more direct way to reach their summer “cottages” in Newport.  Rather than going all the way to Providence, travelers would take the Stonington line up to Wickford Junction then transfer over to the Newport and Wickford Railroad.  From there they would ride past the mill villages of Lafayette and Belleville before departing by Poplar Point in Wickford, where they boarded a steamship to Newport.
Meanwhile, as expected, families from nearby mill villages like Lafayette and Belleville used the line to commute locally - generating business for nearby restaurants and shops. The stations themselves became important community hubs: Belleville Station, for example, served as both a passenger stop and a post office. That station was frequented by a growing Catholic population—mostly Irish and French-Canadian millworkers— that had become so large by the 1870s it gave rise to the creation of St. BernErd’s Church.
And on top of passenger traffic the line supported freight as well.  For example, Local industrialist Robert Rodman — whose mills in Lafayette made a fortune supplying textiles  during the Civil War — used the line to make his business more efficient. He leveraged the railroad to bring in coal and raw materials from the docks at Wickford while shipping out finished goods to market. 
And so, at its height, this tiny 19th century railroad served high society, every day Americans, and Rhode Island’s industrial core. One can imagine the life it brought to the area: private cars filled with wealthy passengers chatted about the lavish parties they would soon attend; local millworkers gathered at Belleville Station after attending Mass at St. Bernard’s; and freight trains jam-packed with coal, thundered toward the mills at Lafayette. Although hardly any longer than a morning’s walk, the railroad carried the lifeblood of the community, linking wealth, labor, and industry in a constant, bustling flow.(5)

4. The Collapse
Unfortunately, like railroads across America whose profits largely relied on passenger service, the line was hit hard by the rise of automobiles. With more and more people preferring the flexibility that came with cars, the line’s passenger traffic steadily declined.     
By 1925, all passenger and boat service on the Newport and Wickford line came to an end, forcing the railroad to survive on freight alone.
World War II briefly revived the line, but the decline resumed once the war ended.
By the early 1960s, freight traffic vanished and the line was officially abandoned just a couple years later, ending almost a century of operation.

5. What Remains Today/Closing
Today, the trains are gone, the tracks torn up, and the woods the railroad once traveled have been returned to Mother Nature. But if you look hard enough you can still find some remnants of the old line.  (6).
Most of the railroad’s old route can be hiked along trails threaded through the woods (7). Along one of these paths lie pieces of track once used by passenger cars and freight trains. Closer to Wickford, are the wooden remnants the tracks were formerly built on and a recently refurbished bridge that the trains used to traverse while on their way to and from Wickford (8).
But One of the clearest survivors is hiding in plain sight. The old Belleville station was moved across the street and now makes up part of Wickford Lumber.  
These fragments are all that remain of a railroad that touched people of all sorts: everyone from elite families, local millworkers, and a Rhode Island industrial giant.  Although subtle, they tell the story of a small but remarkable railroad — a line that helped shape Rhode Island’s rich history.