In 1895 it was determined that the portion of the B&M Rail Road Central Mass. Division that ran through the Nashua River Valley from West  Berlin to Oakdale was to be relocated around the proposed Wachusett Reservoir. After this was accomplished in 1903, drawings and details of the line, no longer existing, were discarded and replaced with those of the newly relocated Central Mass. Branch of the Southern Division of the B&M Railroad.

An interesting side note to this story is the use of the railroad by the main contractor at the dam, who built a spur from it to the dam site in Clinton, to its receive construction materials from across the country. 

I have been able to recover some photographs of the bridges and infrastructure that existed along that route and are presented below.

Further details of the road geometry and buildings that made up this scenic tour, and a discussion of the contractor’s race with rising waters of the reservoir, will be added in the future.

I hope you like them.

Thanks,

Paul