While initially single-track, the entire branch was designed and built to allow installation of double-track at a later date. The Providence Evening Press reported that, "The intention is not to construct a road as cheaply as it can be built, but in ballasting, masonry, track and equipments, to make it first-class in every respect." P&W president William Smith Slater (of the prominent Slater family) was a key proponent of the construction of the branch.
