Does anyone have any information about the Central Mass Railroad? I’m trying to find information about the railroad in my hometown and the surrounding area (Northampton, Hadley, Amherst).
I did find this map just now from Boston & Maine Historical Society’s archive.
John,
there was a book put out buy the B&M historical society on the road. they had a second printing a few years ago that should still be available. very good addition to your library.
AL P.
You could try the MWRA Quabbin visitor center … they had to move some of it for the reservoirs
Quabbin and Wachusett’s reses…
John, I went to the LOC’s panorama collection and looked for those towns, and only this one of Amherst was available. The RR in the foreground is labeled NLN RR though, so I guess it’s not the CMR.
Another resource is the Sanborn Fire Insurance map collection. Here’s some 1910 maps for Northampton.
Here’s a 1950’s topo map (scroll down to 1951 Albany), but I didn’t see your RR marked. Maybe it got bought by a later RR company that is marked?
https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/topomapexplorer/#maps=&loc=-72.59,42.33&LoD=10.94
Cheers,
Cliff
Cliff, this is amazing! I didn’t know this historical map explorer existed! You are indeed correct. The Central Mass was absorbed into the Boston & Maine in the early 1900s. In fact, after about 30 seconds you’ve helped me confirm the presence of sidings on part of the line. Thank you!!
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I saw @rmccown-admin post about a recent Quabbin visit and I hope to check that out at some point myself. Thanks for the reminder, @smcgill !
I’m glad it helped, John! For some reason the Northampton maps weren’t showing up for me last evening, but they are now. You probably already saw it, but this is from the 1881|1881 Northampton map, showing your RR labeled.
Is this the book?
Nice find. Nice price too.
John,
Not the book i was talking about but a great series on the Monadnock region in three volumes.
little pricey but what you want.
Al P.
I found another book specifically on the Mass Central RR. $35 on eBay and its already on the way. I shall start here. There’s SOO much info to go through. I already have four books about the history of railroads in New England, and so I continue my research…
I thought I’d share a link to the history section of my website. While certainly not complete, I feel like I’m making good progress on certain things. There are a lot of sections, but right now I am focused on the Pioneer Valley section, since that’s my home. Hadley & Northampton are easily the most detailed.
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Wow, really nice work, John!
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