Central Mass. at Jefferson and Holden

A friend and I were tracing part of the old Central Mass. by car and on foot a few days ago, and eventually wound our way to the area between Rutland and Holden, where the roadbed has not yet been developed into a rail trail. I was already familiar with it in Rutland, as well as most of the section between Jefferson and what used to be Unionville, but for the life of us we couldn't find where it originally came into Jefferson from the west. I gather that in its current state it either abuts, or has been partly obliterated by, the north end of the country club golf course; we searched high and low and could not find the point at which it crosses Princeton Road. We thought that it might be via a cut and an overpass upon which has been built a house, but we really couldn't tell. It is apparent that it went through what is now a large housing development before crossing the B&M's Worcester & Contoocook Branch via an underpass. (The abutments are still there.)

Can someone out there enlighten us?

Also, did the ROW cross Route 31 via a grade crossing or bridge? The area has changed quite significantly since the '30s and there is no way of telling.

I traced the whole line on Google Maps. It crossed Princeton Road just north of Jackson Street, as seen in the far upper right hand corner of this topo.

Will have an answer about 31 later.

I think the 31 crossing was at-grade, but I'm not sure.

Many thanks, EGE. The Princeton Rd. crossing seems to have been exactly where we thought it was.

By the way, the rail trail through portions of Holden, Rutland and Coldbrook is absolutely beautiful. I've never been a big advocate of rail trails, but after seeing what Wachusett Greenways has done, I have to say I'm very, very impressed --- not just by the superb quality of the trail, but by the organization's determination to celebrate and preserve the former railroad's history.

I went past both those places mentioned today. The right of way crossed Princeton St at house #248 - you can see a dense messy piece of land on the opposite side.
I remeber many years ago I was in the golf course there and the right of way - mostly on embankments - went right thru the course. I assume it is still that way but i don't know for sure.
On Rt 31 you can see a cut on the east side - on the west side is house #451 and you can see how they filled in a hollow to make their yard years ago.
I don't know if there was a bridge here but I imagine so as the road is well above the track level - but maybe years ago the road was totally different.
The tail trail folks have an intersting granite plaque in Rutland showing where there two trains crashed into each other.

john, Regarding the location on 31, it's exactly where I thought it was. I could make out the cut on the east side during a slow drive-by, and it can also [kinda-sorta] be seen on the Google Maps image of the area. I'm guessing that from there the ROW made a slight curve to the northeast, went through what is now the north end of Holden Self-Storage property, then crossed over Wachusett Street via an underpass. If one could find a decent place to park and examine the area on foot, I'm sure the roadbed could be found fairly easily. Thanks for your efforts!

I'm wondering, in hindsight, whether the section of Route 31 (Highland Avenue) between the corner of Union Street and the corner of Wachusett Street even existed when the railroad was there. The houses along that part of the road seem to be mostly, if not all, post-World War II. River Street may originally have been part of 31. Does anyone know? I'd have to go back to have a better look.

I just endeavored to answer my own question, checking UNH's collection of old topo maps. The road has been there for many years. I'm guessing, as with you, that there was a bridge over the railroad. The obliteration of the roadbed on the west side makes it hard to tell. Again, a foot search might help.

Here's a good one for you Mass Central lovers. I just came across an old map of Worcester county with most railroads shown, but the Mass Central (as well as the Ware River Line) shown as dashed (to be constructed) lines. However, the route between Berlin and Rutland shows two routes - the one that was actually used (through West Boylston, Oakdale, and Jefferson) and another one further north that paralleled the agricultural branch, then headed west through Sterling Center, then after a bit looped back south-south-west to meet back up with the actual route just west of the Barre RR.
Anyone ever heard about the possible alignment? I know its not mentioned in the Mass Central book (although plenty written about the alternative route west of Gilbertville that was never used). I live in the area of the Wach Reservoir and know the land so I seriously doubt any of this other route was ever graded.
The map is in the book "Atlas of the city of Worcester Mass", reprinted in 1971.

Well, that certainly is an interesting piece of information. I have long known about the section of the original proposed alignment through Hardwick (and have seen a short segment of it), but this is the first time I have ever read about anything through Sterling. I have passed this along to a particularly knowledgeable fellow railfan. Perhaps he knows something about it.

If you travel north on Rt70 by Wachusett Reservoir, just before reaching the Rt62 jct, there is a dirt access road off to the right. Walk down this 100+ yards and you will be on the old Mass Central right of way (before the flooding of the reservoir). Now if instead you drive on a few feet further and look right into the woods (before the leafs bud out and you can't see) you will see the end of a fill, obviously an old railway bed. This fill in a continuation of the rail bed that you intersected if you walked in on the afore mentioned road. The question is: is that fill the old right or way, cut off by the reservoir excavation work, or is the dirt access road actually the old right of way. It would seem that the fill must be it, but my contention is that the dirt road is the old rail bed and the fill was created during the reservoir excavation (a way to pull cars of dirt away from the reservoir works and then back them up o a spur specially crated just to dumo them. Any other opinions from people who have been here (or maybe someone knows the facts)?

johnhenry wrote:If you travel north on Rt70 by Wachusett Reservoir, just before reaching the Rt62 jct, there is a dirt access road off to the right. Walk down this 100+ yards and you will be on the old Mass Central right of way (before the flooding of the reservoir). Now if instead you drive on a few feet further and look right into the woods (before the leafs bud out and you can't see) you will see the end of a fill, obviously an old railway bed. This fill in a continuation of the rail bed that you intersected if you walked in on the afore mentioned road. The question is: is that fill the old right or way, cut off by the reservoir excavation work, or is the dirt access road actually the old right of way. It would seem that the fill must be it, but my contention is that the dirt road is the old rail bed and the fill was created during the reservoir excavation (a way to pull cars of dirt away from the reservoir works and then back them up o a spur specially crated just to dump them. Any other opinions from people who have been here (or maybe someone knows the facts)?

One thing to remember this area is posted no trespassing. With that being said I had the permission to walk this area before and it is indeed part of the old ROW. It continues for about 1/2 mile and ends at a farm. There is a quarry at the end of the road and that's why the road is there. The quarry was created to fill the inside of the dam. The exterior granite came from a different location. I would not be surprised if there was a narrow gauge railroad from the quarry to the dam though. As a side note all the excavated dirt from the reservoir was used to create the North and South Dikes.

There was indeed a rail line from the quarry to the dam. I believe it was narrow-gauge but I could be wrong.

There was a book written a few years ago by a talented and young local author that covers this:

Wachusett: How Boston's 19th Century Quest for Water Changed Four Towns and a Way of Life