"Charles Perkins sits atop the railroad bridge built to accommodate the South Reading Branch Railroad. The bridge was reported to have been built around 1854, although the charter for the railroad was granted to a group of 'promoters' in 1848. The group received permission to build a line from South Reading (Wakefield) to South Danvers (Peabody). The line started at the Wakefield Junction station on the Boston and Maine line, crossing over to the Centre [i.e. Center] Station on Water Street, and through the woods to what is now Salem Street, and into Lynnfield. The line opened in 1850 and provided a new, more direct and competitive route into Boston for those South Danvers passengers who rode the Eastern Railroad into East Boston and took a ferry into Boston. Eastern subsequently bought the line the following year, with the B&M taking it over in 1884. In 1869, eight daily passenger trains passed over the bridge. There were seven daily trains in 1893 and nine in 1919. Passenger service ended in 1926. A short portion of the railroad right of way near Montrose became part of Route 128." Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2011 Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.
