In 1848, a group of investors from
Salem and
Danvers were granted a charter to build a railroad line from South Reading to South Danvers. The line took two years to build and opened for business in 1850 and opened up another
Boston to Salem route as it was given trackage rights to Salem on the
Essex Railroad. The Boston to Salem route had long been monopolized by the
Eastern Railroad and when the South Reading line was opened, it took quite a bit of the business away with lower fares and the fact that passengers had a direct link to downtown Boston via the
Boston and Maine Railroad, the Eastern's most heated rival. Whereas the Eastern had to ferry their passengers from East Boston across the harbor to get to and from Boston, many passengers preferred to take the B&M to Wakefield and go to Salem via the South Reading. In 1851, the Eastern Railroad, fearing that the B&M would take over the South Reading, in self-defense took over the line at steep cost. The Massachusetts State Legislature for years forced the Eastern to keep the Boston-to-Salem route open via the South Reading even after the Eastern had leased the
Grand Junction Railroad in order to provide service directly into downtown Boston. In 1868, South Reading became Wakefield and South Danvers changed to Peabody. The line was then renamed the Wakefield Branch. When the B&M took over the Eastern RR in December 1884, the South Reading line became obsolete as the B&M had other lines that went to Salem via the
Newburyport Branch and the former
Boston and Lowell Railroad branch line, the
Salem and Lowell Railroad. In 1925, the B&M received permission to abandon the line and the tracks were removed from Wakefield Center (where the line split from the Newburyport Branch) to Peabody. == Current status ==