Mass Central redux
Aug. 6th, 2005 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmazeI had mused a little earlier on the Massachusetts Central Railroad, and what appears to be its remains in Berlin (albeit with a big berm). Two more recent observations:
(1) The June, 2005 Trains Magazine "Map of the Month" is "Boston & Maine Facilities, 1937". That map clearly shows a North Waltham, Hudson, Clinton line that's the MCRR; a detail map suggests that it separates from the Fitchburg main line at West Cambridge, though this doesn't seem quite right to me. It's unclear if the Mass Central got hosed by the construction of Quabbin Reservoir. It's also unclear what value acquiring the MCRR would add to the B&M, given a through line from Mechanicville, NY to Ayer and from there to anywhere in northeastern Massachusetts.
(2) Driving in Framingham today I ran across a similar berm also labelled as MWRA property, but I don't think it corresponds to a retired rail line. The useful tool here is a road atlas that goes out as far as Berlin but also still has all of the old rail lines on it: the berm we biked past isn't on there at all, the Mass Central would have been a mile or so north of there. The only place we would have crossed the Mass Central on the return trip (beyond the big trailhead labelled Mass Central Rail Trail) is just north of the second water stop in Bolton.
(1) The June, 2005 Trains Magazine "Map of the Month" is "Boston & Maine Facilities, 1937". That map clearly shows a North Waltham, Hudson, Clinton line that's the MCRR; a detail map suggests that it separates from the Fitchburg main line at West Cambridge, though this doesn't seem quite right to me. It's unclear if the Mass Central got hosed by the construction of Quabbin Reservoir. It's also unclear what value acquiring the MCRR would add to the B&M, given a through line from Mechanicville, NY to Ayer and from there to anywhere in northeastern Massachusetts.
(2) Driving in Framingham today I ran across a similar berm also labelled as MWRA property, but I don't think it corresponds to a retired rail line. The useful tool here is a road atlas that goes out as far as Berlin but also still has all of the old rail lines on it: the berm we biked past isn't on there at all, the Mass Central would have been a mile or so north of there. The only place we would have crossed the Mass Central on the return trip (beyond the big trailhead labelled Mass Central Rail Trail) is just north of the second water stop in Bolton.
