Category:Gleason Junction

English: Gleason Junction / Central Mass Junction was a railroad junction in Gleasondale, Hudson, Massachusetts, where the Central Massachusetts Branch met the Marlboro Branch. The Central Mass passed above the Marlboro Branch on the "Skeeterville Bridge". In 1902, a connecting track was built on the south side of the junction, allowing Marlboro trains to run to Boston over the shorter Central Mass route. The switch between the Marlboro Branch and the connecting track was called Central Mass Junction; the connection with the Central Massachusetts Branch was Gleason Junction. From 1901 to 1923, the Concord, Maynard and Hudson Street Railway ran on the north side of the Marlboro Branch through the junction.
All Marlboro passenger service used the connecting track from 1932 until its 1939 discontinuance. The middle section of the Marlboro Branch was disused in 1939 and abandoned in 1943; the long bridge was replaced with an embankment. From 1958 to 1965, all Central Mass Branch passenger service used the connecting track to terminate at the Hudson station of the Marlboro Branch. Freight service on the Central Mass Branch and the southern section of the Marlboro Branch continued until 1980, when the lines were abandoned. The fill was removed in 2005 when the Assabet River Rail Trail was built on the ex-Marlboro Branch alignment.