Is the proper name of the trolley line from Boston to Worcester the Boston and Worcester Street Railway? I remember the bus line that ran in the 50's and into the 60's was the B&W and I assume it was the same company with rubber tires instead of steel. The buses followed the former trolley lines and branched through central Massachusetts besides serving Route 9.
Yes. The bus operator on Routes 9 and 20 between Boston and Worcester with some local operations in Framingham, Natick, Marlboro, Southboro and Hudson was the sucessor to the Boston & Worcester Street Railway. The correct corporate name was Boston, Worcester and New York Street Railway which was adopted after a financial reorganization. It had several subsidiaries which in later years kept the transit operation afloat. There was a school bus rental operation and truck sales and leasing. It also had a bus subsidiary, Dedham and Needham Transit Lines which I think was the last incarnation of Modern Bus Lines, Forest Hills-Charles River-Needham. I'm not positive this was the exact route.
The Route 20 Boston-Worcester bus operation was a motor age creation. It was not a through trolley route at all. Lengthy sections never had trolley service. It was a parkway type operation, initially, and cheap to set up. All you needed was a bus. The section from Marlboro to Shrewsbury had no local service until about 1952 or so. There was a Worcester Consolidated line, later Worcester Bus Co. route that served local passengers and when the Worcester company exited the route, B & W acquired it.