the Southbridge and Blackstone was chartered in 1849 to build a railroad between Blackstone and Southbridge, Massachusetts passing through the northeast corner of Connecticut in East Thompson. After a series of financial problems and scandals, many of these smaller companies were absorbed into the Boston and New York Central Railroad. The new company revised the ending point of the Blackstone & Southbridge, moving the terminus from Southbridge to Mechanicsville, Connecticut, just north of Putnam, Connecticut. Here, the new line intersected an existing rail line which traveled north-south from New London, Connecticut to Worcester, Massachusetts.〔"Norfolk's Railroads," Town of Norfolk, http://www.virtualnorfolk.org/public_documents/norfolkma_historical/rr〕