Ware, Ma Railroad Questions

My niece is moving to Ware, Massahcusetts soon and my wife and I plan to visit her in the near future. Is there any interesting railroad history in Ware and the surrounding area? I was looking at Ware on Google Earth and there appears to be a rail yard there, as well as some abandoned lines. I presume that the river is the Connecticut River - are there any canals there worth exploring?

Not the CT river, I forget what river that is. Is the line through Ware still active?

She will be close to Palmer, check out the Steamin Tender thread. Best place to watch trains.

The river is the Ware River. The active tracks belong to the MassCentral RR. Most of the abandoned track is part of the old B&M Central Mass line.
A small stretch of that line still serves as the siding leading to the Kanzaki paper plant. Palmer is a short drive south on Route 32. Here you can see CSX, New England Central, MassCentral and Amtrak.

There's a LOT of intriguing history about both railroads in Ware that once shared the Ware yard. The original Ware River Railroad got there from Palmer in 1870. The WRR became a leased branch of the Boston & Albany in 1874 and it went to Winchendon -- a total of 50 miles from Palmer. The second was the Central Mass branch of the B&M between Northampton and Boston. This history covering both will be published at a later date.