Sold for $7,560

Landscape-oriented outdoor view of a 4-4-6 diamond stack locomotive labeled "Bridgewater," sitting stationary on a track just in front of the station building at South Braintree. (Few minor spots, scratches, great clarity; unsealed.) Housed in a Rare Union wall frame with geometric design [Berg 7-22] (some nicking to frame edges, residue to verso, else good). The headlight and box cab appear rather primitive, as if they were put together and added to the locomotive after its manufacture. The leading and trailing wheels appear to be solid rather than spoked, designating this as a rather early locomotive image dating from either the late 1840s or very early 1850s.

In 1845 the Massachusetts legislature granted a charter for a railroad extending from the Old Colony Railroad at South Braintree through Randolph, Stoughton, and North Bridgewater, to Bridgewater, to connect with the Middleboro and Bridgewater Railroad. The railroad was finished in 1846 and ran cars under the name "Randolph and Bridgewater Railroad Corporation."