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Company never reached Barre or Boston. |
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Originally chartered as the Barre and Worcester Railroad by businessmen in Worcester in 1847, the company changed its name to the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad in 1849.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Karr|first=Ronald Dale|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/rail-lines-of-southern-new-england-a-handbook-of-railroad-history/oclc/1038017689?referer=br&ht=edition|title=The Rail Lines of Southern New England|publisher=Branch Line Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-942147-12-4|edition=2nd|location=Pepperell, Massachusetts|pages=229–231}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=February 11, 1869|title=The Steam Railroads of Massachusetts|work=[[Boston Daily Evening Transcript]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zTozAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA2|access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref> It was originally intended to connect Worcester with [[Barre, Massachusetts|Barre]] and [[Palmer, Massachusetts|Palmer]], and its charter authorized it along a westward route towards those two cities.<ref name=":0" /> The railroad's promoters could not raise funds to begin construction at the time, leaving the company a railroad only in name until 1869.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In September of that year, the city of Worcester voted by an overwhelming margin to give the company $200,000 in aid, allowing construction to begin.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 25, 1869|title=Brief Mention|work=Hartford Weekly Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GdQyAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5|access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref>
With the passage of 20 years since the original charter, the railroad changed its original plans and decided instead to build northward towards [[Gardner, Massachusetts|Gardner]], and requested a modification of its charter by the [[Massachusetts General Court]] in late 1869. The legislature approved this change, and the railroad formally changed its route in March 1870.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=March 23, 1870|title=Barre & Gardner Railroad|work=[[Boston Daily Evening Transcript]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QyEzAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA4|access-date=October 27, 2021}}</ref> An additional change was made to route the railroad directly through the town of [[Holden, Massachusetts|Holden]], which had contributed $30,000 towards the railroad's construction and offered an additional $14,800 on the condition that the company directly served the town.<ref name=":4" /> Construction was completed from Worcester to Gardner in 1871, and the railroad ran its first trains that year.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=December 2, 1872|title=A Visit to Gardner|work=[[Boston Daily Evening Transcript]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-UzAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5|access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref> The change to the company's route meant it never reached Barre, and despite its name the company never planned to directly serve Boston.<ref name=":0" />
=== Operating history ===
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