This is a slideshow presentation given by Rick Kfoury, president of the B&M Historical Society on the Central Massachusetts branch of the Boston and Maine. This line's heyday ended before World War 2 and then withered away like an old vine until 1980.
From a modeling standpoint, the stations, track layout, industries, consists, and scenery are worth taking a look at. The trains were never particularly long, and steam ran right up into the 1950s long after other lines were served by Budd Liners (Budd RDC's). Like freight service, passenger service dwindled down to a single Budd Liner at the end of service.
The branch crossed over the New Haven, later Penn Central and Conrail at South Sudbury. At this location was a lumber yard that was still receiving boxcars until the very end. CSX served this customer until about 2000 which ended when the single boxcar derailed due to the putrid condition of the tracks by this time.
I remember the long freights on the Framingham and Lowell New Haven line. They too dwindled down after Conrail cut the tracks to Lowell and terminated that line in Chelmsford a few miles away. When I was young in the mid-1960s, my dad had to pick up something in Hudson, MA located on the Central Mass. I didn't care what he was picking up, but I remember seeing freight cars parked in Hudson. In 1980, a short time after I got my license, I took a drive out to Hudson and to my shock and horror, the tracks were ripped up and crossings were paved over.
I've looked at recreating the line but never got around to it. This might be one of my projects someday, but you know what happens with many Trainz projects and this would be yet another project to wither away just like the branch.