Old Colony and Newport Railway Co. - 1880's dated Massachusetts Railroad Check

Check w/ Revenue of the Massachusetts National Bank. Hole cancelled. The Old Colony & Newport Railway was formed in July 1863 when the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad merged w/ the Newport & Fall River Railroad, which had been incorporated in 1846 to build a road from Newport, Rhode Island to the Massachusetts state line at Fall River. However, the road from Fall River to the Rhode Island state line was not authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1860. The newly formed & renamed Old Colony & Newport Railway Company completed the final section of the line from Fall River to Newport which finally opened for service on February 5, 1864.

In 1865, the Old Colony & Newport Railway Company acquired the Dighton & Somerset Railroad. It completed a new, more direct route between Fall River & Boston via South Braintree on September 24, 1866. Part of the new route was over the Easton Branch Railroad between Stoughton & North Easton. In 1871 the Old Colony purchased the Easton Branch. A portion of the old Granite Railway line was acquired in 1870 & later extended to form a loop through West Quincy off the original Plymouth line. In 1872, the Old Colony & Newport Railway Corporation built the Shawmut Railroad as a connection between the Dorchester & Milton Branch & the main line to Boston. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Colony_Railroad