Originally , the line was going to be built along the Merrimack River .
The residents of Tewksbury , upset that they had been bypassed by both the Boston and Lowell Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad requested that the new line come through their town .
Originally , the line was going to be built along the Merrimack River , but the residents of Tewksbury , upset that they had been bypassed by both the Boston and Lowell Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad requested that the new line come through their town .