Boston & Maine Railroad 99-Car Freight at Waltham MA 5/30/1928

I recently treated myself to an Ebay item... an original glass negative of a freight in Waltham Massachusetts.  The caption reads "3009  B&M  May 30, 1928  99 CARS   Waltham Mass".  

I wondered why a photographer would make a special note of the "99 cars", and tried finding newspaper accounts via the Boston Public Library e-resources.  

On May 19th a special train for then president Calvin Coolidge was run on the B&M to Andover MA.  The president spoke at Phillips Academy for their 150th anniversary.  But that event was 11 days before the "99 car train" ran.

On June 5th the B&M had a celebration to open the new hump yards at Somerville, complete with a "parade of boxcars" to demonstrate the system to over 1,000 guests.  Were those 99 cars "props" en route for that event?  

Was 99 even a lot of fright cars on one train for that era?

AND did railroads close down for Memorial Day Weekend in the 1920s?  Was this train run to get freight moved before the holiday?  

Well, in 1928, Memorial Day was also called Decoration Day, and it was celebrated on May 30th, not the last Monday in May like today.  That means the train in the photo ran ON Memorial Day!  Perhaps the photographer just plain had a day off from work and went trackside?

Unless the train was mentioned in an employee magazine, we may never know just what caused the photographer to document that particular train.  

Now, what about the location of the photo?  It seems to me if the train is on the Fitchburg mainline, then  the old Central Massachusetts line is at right.  That means the train is somewhere west of Waverley in the Clematis Brook area and traveling "eastbound" toward Boston.  

There also appears to be an overhead road bridge in the background, with some semaphore signals just visible.  That could be the Linden Street bridge BUT it should be off to the right of the Fitchburg main, so that may possibly just be a signal bridge.

A period track chart would come in useful... 

The easiest info to find is the locomotive type:  2-10-2 "Santa Fe" Alco S1-a, built in 1920.

Am I delving too much into this photograph?  YOU BET!  But HEY, it keeps me off the mean streets!

Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad Sues Maine Narrow Gauge Museum Over Investment in Steam Locomotive

READ:  Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad Sues Maine Narrow Gauge Museum Over Investment in Steam Locomotive

It wants compensation for its investment of over $144,000 connected to restoration of a Narrow Gauge steam engine.

WW&F Spring Photographic Excursions 2018

Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum

Spring Photographic Excursions

 Saturdays, April 14 & 21 2018

 
All of our original and replica equipment will be used to demonstrate mixed and freight trains commonly operated on the old WW&F.

April 14th runs 6 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., and April 21st runs 6 a.m. into the evening. Both days will include the firing of No. 9 starting at 6 a.m. and day session photo train operating 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. 

April 21st will also feature a staged and lit night scene starting at 6 p.m. Several unique photo opportunities will be provided both days. Price is $150 per person April 14th, and $225 April 21st.  

Maximum attendance will be 25 people April 14th and 20 people on April 21st. Reserve your seat online at wwfrytickets.simpletix.com!

Parts Salvaged from 1939 Portsmouth NH B&M Wreck

(SOURCE: By Alexander LaCasse alacasse@seacoastonline.com     http://www.fosters.com/news/20171210/pieces-of-lost-train-salvaged-from-piscataqua-river) 

PORTSMOUTH — Even after lying deep beneath the surface of the Piscataqua River for nearly 80 years, the rusted and decaying axles of a long lost iron horse, still give off a smell of industrial oil.

On the evening of Sept. 10, 1939, Boston and Maine passenger train No. 2024 left North Berwick en route to Boston with only 12 passengers and a crew of five. The train would never arrive.

According to author William Brooke writing in Volume 18 edition 1 of the “B & M Bulletin,” the train was crossing over a 100-year-old wooden trestle known as the “Portsmouth Bridge” and was 40 feet above the river. Brooke said barges used for the ongoing construction of the original Sarah Mildred Long Bridge were anchored to the bridge, which had already been weakened following a collision with a freighter in 1937.

“While crossing the old wooden bridge [...] a section of the structure collapsed. Engine 3666 and the first car – a wooden coach with open ends – disappeared beneath the swirling tide, drowning both the engineer and fireman,” Brooke wrote. “The train’s two remaining cars were abruptly and miraculously halted at the shattered brink when the brakes were automatically applied by the bursting air hose. Fortunately, no passengers or trainmen occupied the first car.”

The Portsmouth Herald reported in the Sept. 11, 1939, evening edition, “The train was traveling at about 3 miles per hour, officials said, which was the order for trains during the past several years because of the condition of the bridge. Only a few moments after the front section of the passenger train plunged into the water as though thrown from a catapult, the fireman was heard screaming for help as the incoming tide swept him upstream. Automobile lights were directed across the water in the direction of the screams but all witnesses said they could see was the splintered debris if the wooden bridge being swept towards Great Bay.”

The body of fireman Charles D. Towle, an Exeter resident, was recovered the next day around Dover Point and Somerville, Massachusetts, native and engineer John Beattie’s body was not found until 10 days later when it was found floating near the Back Channel.

Engine 3666, resting in its watery Piscataqua River grave, has captured the imaginations of history buffs all over the city, and now its story is being brought to a little more closure as a result of the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge’s construction.

During routine dredging in March and mid-October this year for the construction of piers 17 and 18, which make up the center draw span on the bridge, wheels from Engine 3666 were dug up from among the debris.

Listen: This Day In History

Ron Taylor, Maine Department of Transportation resident engineer running the SML Bridge project, said in March construction crews dug up what was 3666′s pilot wheels and in October trucks from the locomotive’s coal tender were recovered.

“We were digging to meet the permitting requirements for the center piers and we discovered the wheels among the debris,” Taylor said. “There was no intentional effort by us to recover part of the train.”

Taylor said all of the train parts were being left on the New Hampshire State Pier and as the project continued along, the pier asked MDOT to consolidate their materials and the wheels were moved to nearby Albacore Park.

According to Taylor, the 18-foot tall Engine 3666 was moved in the 1960s to better clear the navigational channel and in the mid-1990s the train had to be moved again for the New Hampshire Port Authority’s pier expansion, but efforts to raise the locomotive to the surface were too costly.

However, now that pieces have been recovered, Taylor said the wheel sets will be donated to the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum and the other set will be stored at the Albacore Park through the winter.

“I would have loved to display them here but there isn’t much synergy between submarines and trains,” said Ken Herrick, president of the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association, which operates Albacore Park. “But, it’s a really interesting part of our history and I hope the city can find a way to showcase these wheels.”

Herrick said he offered the wheels at Albacore Park to the city and Economic Development Program Manager Nancy Carmer said she was in favor of incorporating the train artifacts into the new park being built along Market Street near the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, which is in “phase two” of the project and is included in the city’s capital plan.

“The pieces are certainly appropriate there, and we’re willing to learn more about the event and incorporate it into the future plans,” Carmer said. “It will be in addition to the natural and maritime features of the Great Bay estuary we are looking to showcase down there.”

The Kittery Historical and Naval Museum’s director Kim Sanborn said when the museum opens for the spring season visitors will get to see the wheels set up on a small rail spur local railroad buffs constructed for the display outside the museum facing Town Hall.

“Before the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, this was the main source of transportation across the river when the only alternative was to wait for a ferry in the days before the Memorial Bridge,” Sanborn said. “I’m very excited to be able to tell this story and it really puts the history into perspective when you have the visual component to the story you’re trying to tell.”

1947 Boston & Maine RR Photo Location... Where in Ayer (MA)??

I recently added a 2/28/47 image of Boston & Maine locomotive #1783 at Ayer Massachusetts to my little collection, and am trying to figure out the exact location in the photo.

I took a peek at the town over at HistoricAerials.com , which is a VERY addictive website, and the only possible location I could find was just north of the depot area, and it wasn't exactly a perfect match. Their oldest aerial photo was from 1963, so it is very possible the building in the photo had already been torn down.

Then I started to think perhaps the location was the Ames Plow Company, but it appears the company was gone by 1889, so that rules Ames out.  Was it the tannery, once located on Tannery Street?   I have not been able to find an image of the building, though there is footage of when the complex burned in 1961.  As you can see in the photo, there was a section of windows very low to the ground.  In the footage, there is a similar looking thing but the windows are a different style.  Had they been changed in the 14 years since the photo was taken?  Take a look at the screen-shot of the video below and ponder as I have...

Perhaps the photo was marked incorrectly and it wasn't even taken in Ayer! 

2018 UPDATE:  I have figured out the location of the photo!

Note the low section with the windows

I adjusted this scan so you can see how the building was long and at a right-angle to the tracks

Low windows of the tannery, which burned in 1961 and was located near the tracks (see video link above)

Tannery location on 1875 map, showing proximity to tracks... note it is indeed a long building at an angle to the tracks, but what about that low area with the locomotive-level windows?

MRC/Model Power Boston & Maine / New Haven 2-6-0 Locomotives in N Scale

2-6-0 MOGUL BOSTON & MAINE DCC COMPATIBLE - 0687601
2-6-0 MOGUL BOSTON & MAINE DCC & SOUND - 06876011

2-6-0 MOGUL NEW HAVEN DCC COMPATIBLE - 0687617
2-6-0 MOGUL NEW HAVEN DCC & SOUND -  06876171

ANNOUNCED APRIL 2017:  Boston & Maine 4-4-0 American steam locomotive. One road number per scheme.  Five-pole Mashima motor with flywheel; metal boiler, chassis, and cylinders; separately applied metal handrails; factory-installed traction tire; and golden-white light-emitting diode headlight. Direct-current model, $269.98; with Digital Command Control and sound, $339.98. Model Rectifier Corp., 732-225-2100

POSTCARD VIEW: B&M Roundhouse & Yards, Concord NH

Maine Central Steam Locomotive 470 Arrives in Hancock | WABI TV5

Steam Locomotive 470 Arrives in Hancock | WABI TV5

Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington #9 Hits the Rails!

The following information and photo is from the WW&F Facebook page:

"Engine 9 runs around coach 3 at Alna Center. This is the first time the locomotive has pulled coach 3. This trip is a result of years of work. A steam test was done Friday and adjustments were made a good part of Saturday. #9 moved under her own steam power at 2:45 on Saturday afternoon and ran well so a short test train was run."

December 4, 2015

Vintage View: B&M Steam at FitchburgMA Station

B&M Steam at Fitchburg MA Station

WW&F Fires Up Historic 2-Footer #9 For the First Time Since 1933

(SOURCE:  WW&F website 11/25/14)

After 5+ years of restoration work, Locomotive #9 reached a critical milestone today – a steam test of the boiler and appliances.  While the locomotive is no where near ready – as you can see from the pictures, it’s missing the cab, the tank, and a bunch of other little things – the test was necessary to check for steam leaks.  The boiler had undergone several hydro pressure tests in preceding weeks, which helped to eliminate other leaks.

Maine Two-foot Steamer on Track to Restoration

(SOURCE:  Trains.com Newswire)

PORTLAND, Maine. – One of Maine's best known two-foot gauge steam locomotives, Bridgton & Saco River 2-4-4T No. 7, is on track to being under steam within the next year and a half. The engine is currently under restoration at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum in Portland.

The nonprofit group has been working on the locomotive since 2008, but suffered a major setback in 2010 when a fire destroyed the museum's engine house. No. 7 was inside the structure at the time and the cab and tender tank were completely destroyed. According to museum Steam Program Manager Jay Monty, those two pieces have been a major part of the restoration, but volunteers have also been focusing on a complete rebuild of the locomotive's boiler. That part of the project is being completed at the Boothbay Railway Museum and should be completed this summer.

No. 7 was built in 1913 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and ran on the B&SR, and later the Bridgton & Harrison, until 1941 when the railroad was scrapped. At the time, the B&H was the state's last two-foot gauge railroad. Later that year, No. 7 and sister engine No. 8 were purchased by Ellis D. Atwood, a Massachusetts businessman who set up his own two-foot gauge railroad around his cranberry bogs in South Carver, Mass. The Edaville Railroad ran as a tourist attraction until 1992 when the entire collection (which included four original Maine two-foot gauge steam locomotives and dozens of freight and passenger cars) was returned to Maine and set up as a museum on the Portland waterfront. No. 7 remained in Massachusetts for nearly a decade and finally returned to Maine in 2002, where it ran under steam for a year before being sidelined. In 2008, the group began another full restoration of the engine.

The Edaville built the locomotive’s current boiler in 1959 and during this most recent restoration, volunteers repaired the shell and installed a new firebox, dry pipe, flues, and stay bolts. Last week, Monty estimated the boiler would return to Portland in mid-summer. Meanwhile, the new tender tank is about 95 percent complete and ready for the final mounting on the frame.

In the past year, the museum has raised more than $40,000 for the project, however the group still needs another $10,000 to cover the re-assembly of the locomotive. Anyone interested in helping should visit www.mainenarrowgauge.org/winter-fundraising-campaign.

When No. 7 is restored to steam in 12-18 months, it will be the museum's only operating steam locomotive. On March 29, former Monson Railroad No. 4, a 4-4-0T, made its last run before being sidelined due to the expiration of the engine's Federal Railroad Administration certificate. The event included photo runs and a night photo session.

POSTCARD VIEW: Bangor & Aroostook #203 at St. Francis, Maine 1910

Vintage postcard view of a Bangor & Aroostook steam train at St. Francis Maine.  The engine is #203, built in 1893 by Manchester Locomotive Works.  The engine was rebuilt in 1921, and finally scrapped in 1930.

Boston, Hartford & Erie Bond

Boston & Albany Inspection Locomotive 1907

This is a photo taken in 1907 by Stanley Smith of a B&A inspection locomotive.  Details on the back of the photo state that this is engine #31, later #200, named "The Berkshire".  It was a 4-4-0 scrapped in 1928.  The photo was taken at Beacon Park in Allston/Boston MA.  Ironic, as CSX has recently sold and vacated the yard there, ending any real freight presence in Boston.  It seems the city is more interested in adding college facilities than business and jobs...

Waterville Maine Looks For Someone to Rescue Maine Central Locomotive #470

SOURCE:  By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com

WATERVILLE -- The Old 470 steam locomotive sits rotting and rusting near College Avenue, and city officials hope to either sell it or see it restored.

It is clear, however, that the city does not have the $1 million or so it would take to fix it up, according to City Manager Michael Roy.

"It's an important part of the city's past but unfortunately, with all the other demands on the city, we don't see where we're going to have the resources to do anything with it," Roy said recently. "We hope someone out there is willing to restore it and put it someplace where it can be more appreciated."

The locomotive was the last steam engine used for passenger service on the Maine Central Railroad. It made its final trip through Waterville -- from Portland to Bangor -- on June 13, 1954.

The 470, built in 1924 by American Locomotive Co., was a gift to the city on Oct. 28, 1962, by Maine Central Railroad on its 100th anniversary.

In 2004, railroad enthusiasts tried to support an effort to restore and preserve the engine, saying it was the last representative of the indigenous steam locomotives that once powered industry, commerce and passengers throughout Maine.

The engine had deteriorated because of exposure to harsh weather, unsupervised visitors, vandals and thieves. Rust had eaten through the engine's cylinder jacks, the cab was severely rusted and it was stripped of gauges, valves, windows and its wooden interior.

Some work was done to spiff up the engine, but ultimately, interest fizzled.

Jennifer Hickey of Waterville and her sons, Ben and Jacob, were members of the Friends of 470 Restoration Committee about 10 years ago and her boys raised money for the train effort.

She said Friday that at first there was a lot of enthusiasm around helping to restore and preserve the engine.

"The people were all very well-intentioned; however, they just did not have the capability to follow through with it," she said. "Colby College kids painted it on community day and we did some greasing of valves."

Now, when she drives past the engine, which is just north of the new Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter, her heart sinks.

"It just really makes me sad and really disappointed that we haven't been able to do anything and keep the train in the respect that it really deserves," she said. "It's just such a piece of history."

Parks and Recreation Director Matt Skehan, who is helping to advertise and coordinate the sale or restoration, said the city sent out requests for proposals to have the locomotive removed or restored, with an initial response deadline of Aug. 1.

That deadline has been extended to Oct. 5, Skehan said.

Bidders were asked to send their proposals in sealed envelopes marked "470 Steam Engine" to Waterville Parks & Recreation, 6 Wentworth Court, Waterville, 04901.

The bids will be reviewed by a committee charged with determining the best and most feasible plan for the city and the engine, according to the request for proposal.

More information about the engine and other specifications is available on the Parks & Recreation page at www.waterville-me.gov.

Skehan, a member of the Friends Committee, said the engine is in deplorable shape.

"It's dangerous and it's in awful condition," he said. "Our insurance representative from Maine Municipal was here in the spring and he said there were several red flags that went off when he saw the engine, including all the open holes in it."

Skehan said the representative said if someone stuck a finger in one of the holes, he could lose it.

The city erected signs at the engine to warn people of the danger.

"It's just a really tough economy to be trying to raise money and there are a lot of other causes and organizations out there that are very worthy," Skehan said. "It's really hard with this steam engine and we don't really see any money coming down the pipeline immediately."

Roy said the city has not put a price on the engine, which sits on property owned by the state Department of Transportation.

Skehan said he even though he has spoken to some people who have expressed interest in buying the engine and some who are interested in fixing it up, he has received no written proposals.