The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was a railroad in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It was incorporated in 1840 to provide a rail connection between Fitchburg and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

. Service began on February 11, 1850, running 18 miles from Fitchburg through

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England; it is located at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of almos ...

and

Sterling Sterling may refer to: Currency * The English penny, historically known as the ''sterling'' * Pound sterling, the currency of the United Kingdom * Sterling silver, a grade of silver Places United Kingdom * Stirling, a Scottish city whose al ...

to Sterling Junction, where it connected with the

Worcester and Nashua Railroad Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

. In July 1866, the nearby

Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad The Agricultural Branch Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court, Legislature of Massachusetts on April 26, 1847, to provide a rail connection between Framingham, Massachusetts, Framingham ...

opened a 14-mile extension of its line from Northborough and joined with the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad at Pratts Junction in Sterling via the towns of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has also been used as a given nam ...

. The two railroads merged in 1869. On June 1, 1876, The Boston, Clinton, and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the

New Bedford Railroad The New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated on July 1, 1873, as a merger between the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad, the Taunton Branch Railroad, and the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad. The main line ran ...

to form the

Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was formed on June 1, 1876, when the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad. The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Rail ...

, which was leased to the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

in 1879 and then consolidated into the Old Colony network on March 5, 1883. The line was double-tracked between Fitchburg and Pratts Junction in 1886. In 1893, the Old Colony Railroad was leased to the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

. By the 1960s, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, like many railroads, was struggling to stay solvent in the face of increased competition from alternate modes of transportation. In 1961, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad petitioned to be included in the newly formed

Penn Central Transportation Company The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania Railroad, ...

, and on December 31, 1968 all of its properties were purchased by Penn Central. Penn Central, however, soon went bankrupt, and on April 1, 1976 it was taken over by

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

. On August 22, 1998, the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regula ...

approved the buyout of Conrail by

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

and

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

, with the former assuming control of the former Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad line. Eventually, the tracks between Sterling Junction and Pratts Junction were abandoned and removed. Much of this section has been converted into the Sterling Rail Trail. The tracks between Leominster and Fitchburg have also been abandoned. The portion of the original Fitchburg and Worcester line between Leominster and Pratts Junction is still used by CSX, mainly to haul plastic pellets into Leominster.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Defunct Massachusetts railroads Old Colony Railroad lines Railway companies established in 1840 Railway companies disestablished in 1869 American companies established in 1840