Central Massachusetts Railroad
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- This article is about the former railroad forming part of the Boston and Maine Railroad system. For the current railroad, see Massachusetts Central Railroad.
| Central Massachusetts Railroad | |
|---|---|
| Locale | across central Massachusetts |
| Dates of operation | 1881– |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
The Central Massachusetts Railroad was a railroad running west from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, as a parallel competitor to the Boston and Albany Railroad and Fitchburg Railroad. It later became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad system, and now all but a few miles are abandoned.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Massachusetts Central Railroad was chartered May 10, 1869 and organized September 2, 1869 to build a line from Boston west to Northampton and possibly beyond to the Hudson River across the middle of the state. (The Wayland and Sudbury Branch Railroad had been chartered in 1868 as a shorter version of the Central Mass, running only from the Fitchburg Railroad in eastern Weston into Sudbury. In 1872, the South Mountain and Boston Rail Road was chartered as an extension southwest via the planned Poughkeepsie Bridge to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.)
The first section, from the Boston and Lowell Railroad's Lexington and Arlington Branch at North Cambridge Junction west to Hudson, opened on October 1, 1881. A further extension to the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad at Jefferson's opened in 1882, but the company failed, stopping all operations on May 4, 1883. On November 10, 1883 it was reorganized as the Central Massachusetts Railroad, and service began once again to Hudson on September 28, 1885, returning to Jefferson's on December 14.
The stockholders voted on March 21, 1880 to lease the line to the Boston and Lowell Railroad, but this did not happen until December 7, 1886, after which it became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad system in April 7, 1887. The rest of the line opened on December 12, 1887 (with regular service beginning December 19), running west to the Connecticut River Railroad in Northampton (part of the B&M after 1893). In March 1901 the B&M acquired a majority of Central Mass stock.
Some unused grading was built northwest from Hardwick center, now lying just east of the Quabbin Reservoir; this was never used by the railroad, as a new alignment (south of the current location of the Quabbin) was chosen.
In 1900 the B&M took over the Fitchburg Railroad, giving them a better route to the west. Prior to then, from 1890 to 1893, the Central Mass was part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route, a long-distance route via the Poughkeepsie Bridge.
The Wachusett Reservoir was built from 1897 to 1906, and flooded part of the Central Mass alignment in Boylston and West Boylston. A new alignment was built south of Clinton center, including a short tunnel. From Clinton to West Boylston, the new alignment used the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad, part of the B&M system, beginning in 1903.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad gained control of the B&M from 1907 to 1914, again making the Central Mass part of a major through route. The Hampden Railroad was chartered in 1910 and leased to the B&M in 1911, as a route from the Central Mass east of Bondsville west-southwest to Springfield to connect to the NYNH&H's Hartford and Springfield Railroad. In 1914 the near-monopoly was broken up due to a legal campaign led by Louis D. Brandeis. The Hampden Railroad never opened, and was dismantled in 1921. Part of the right-of-way was later used for the Massachusetts Turnpike.
The New England Hurricane of 1938 destroyed part of the line at Barre Plains in Barre, and in 1939 the line was abandoned from Wheelwright in Hardwick (at the old Hardwick station) to Oakdale in West Boylston.
Passenger service was cut to one daily round trip in 1928, and only ran east of Clinton after 1932. In 1958, this was cut yet further to Hudson; by 1964 these trains used the Fitchburg Line east of a junction in eastern Waltham. When the MBTA started to subsidize commuter rail on January 18, 1965, the line was cut back to South Sudbury. The rest was discontinued November 26, 1971. The route from Waltham to Berlin was bought by the MBTA on December 27, 1976, but has not seen service restored. A multi-use trail, the Mass Central Rail-Trail, has been proposed along the entire route west from Walthan; short sections in Waltham and Cambridge are currently in use (the latter as the Fitchburg Cutoff Path and part of the Cambridge Linear Park).
A small part of the line in Palmer is now in use for freight by the Massachusetts Central Railroad, from the former Springfield, Athol and Northeastern Railroad at Forrest Lake Junction west to Bondsville. That company started operations in 1976.
[edit] Station listing
| Milepost | City | Station | Opening date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | North Cambridge Junction | splits from Boston and Lowell Railroad Lexington and Arlington Branch (B&M) | ||
| at-grade crossing of the original Lexington and Arlington Railroad (B&M) | ||||
| Belmont | Hills Crossing | |||
| Belmont | ||||
| Waverly | ||||
| Clematis Brook | track connection to the Fitchburg Line (B&M) | |||
| 10.1 | Waltham | North Waltham | closed November 25, 1971 originally Waltham |
|
| 10.7 | Waltham Highlands | closed November 25, 1971 originally Hammond Street |
||
| Weston | bridge over the Fitchburg Line | |||
| Weston | closed November 25, 1971 | |||
| Cherry Brook | closed November 25, 1971 | |||
| Wayland | Tower Hill | closed November 25, 1971 | ||
| Wayland | closed November 25, 1971 | |||
| Sudbury | East Sudbury | closed November 25, 1971 | ||
| South Sudbury | closed November 25, 1971 junction with the Lowell and Framingham Railroad (NYNH&H) |
|||
| Ordway | closed January 17, 1965 originally Wayside Inn |
|||
| Hudson | Gleasondale | closed January 17, 1965 originally Rocky Bottom |
||
| Gleason Junction | not a station bridge over and junction with the Lancaster and Sterling Railroad (B&M) |
|||
| Hudson | closed January 17, 1965 at-grade crossing of the never-opened Lancaster Railroad (B&M) |
|||
| Bolton | South Bolton | |||
| Berlin | Berlin | |||
| West Berlin | bridge over the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad (NYNH&H) | |||
| Boylston | South Clinton | closed ca. 1900 | ||
| Boylston | closed ca. 1900 | |||
| West Boylston | West Boylston | closed ca. 1900 | ||
| Oakdale | junction with the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad (B&M) | |||
| Holden | Quinapoxet | |||
| Holden Junction | not a station junction with the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (B&M) |
|||
| Jefferson's | ||||
| Rutland | Muschopauge | |||
| Rutland | ||||
| West Rutland | ||||
| Oakham | Coldbrook | |||
| Barre | Barre | track connection to the Ware River Railroad (B&A) | ||
| Barre Plains | ||||
| Hardwick | Hardwick | |||
| New Braintree | New Braintree | |||
| Hardwick | track connection to and at-grade crossing of the Ware River Railroad (B&A) | |||
| Gilbertville | ||||
| Ware | Ware | track connection to the Ware River Railroad (B&A) | ||
| Palmer | junction with the never-opened Hampden Railroad (B&M/NYNH&H) | |||
| bridge under the never-opened Hampden Railroad (B&M/NYNH&H) | ||||
| Bondville | ||||
| Belchertown | bridge over the Springfield and North-Eastern Railroad (B&A) | |||
| Canal Junction | not a station track connection to the New London Northern Railroad (CN) |
|||
| Belchertown | at-grade crossing of and track connection to the New London Northern Railroad (CN) | |||
| track connection to the New London Northern Railroad (CN) | ||||
| Amherst | Amherst | |||
| Hadley | Hadley | |||
| Northampton | Northampton | junction with the Connecticut River Railroad (B&M) |
