If there are any errors on these pages, please contact me (Ken Akerboom).
The actual items have been slightly reformatted to fit into a "table" arrangement.
The following is © (Copyright) 1991 and 1992, Robert Willoughby Jones. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this may be used or reproduced without written permission from the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews
I am presently gathering material for a second volume to include things not covered in Volume I, as well as interesting
photographs of things already covered, where additional treatment could be illuminating. I would be thrilled to hear
from readers who have color material which they would like to have considered for inclusion.
Robert Willoughby Jones, July 1992
The page number shown refers to where you will find the photo or text in question. Sometimes the actual caption
is on the opposite page, but the header words, such as "Below," "Far right," etc. are always the same as
printed in the book."
| Page | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Photo | This must have been taken no later than early 1953, since that's when the Expressway ramp work started. From Carl Byron. See also p.52 photo note |
| 11 | Paragraph 4 | Alden Dreyer writes: "Strange, but what bothers me most was George Drury's mention of the operating ration in 1955 of 76.51 percent.
Why couldn't George have picked a more typical year when the operating ratio was well over 100?
1955 was the only good year the B&M had between 1928 and liquidation. Sure, it had an even lower operating
ration in 1932 (the last year of the dividend) but business was off a full third from three years prior.
The B&M showed earnings of over $3 million in 1955 — just a little more than it lost in 1954. But the railroad was in desparate straits and it knew it. For the first time B&M management seriously questioned its survival. Hiring and maintenance were severely cut and that, combined with exceptionally mild weather and wonderful carloadings, made 1955 a good year." |
| 25 | Paragraph 6 | Alden Dreyer writes: "Electrically controlled switches and signals were either 'hot wired' or code. 'Hot' wiring works just like the wiring in your home or automobile. Code has nothing to do with a simple computer as there was no mathematical function nor information processing...A code machine was a simple mechanical device that functions very much like a rotary dial telephone..." (Donald Robinson suggests "direct wire" rather than "hot wire.") |
| Regarding the parentheses at the end of the paragraph, Donald Robinson writes "Also red indicator lights were used within interlockings; yellow or white elsewhere." | ||
| 28 | Paragraph 2
Line 4 | Alden Dreyer writes: "Lynn Tower did not have 'hundreds' of mechanical levers as you want to imagine. It was a large tower, but forty levers was standard for most towers as that was the number one man could handle without reaching total exhaustion. |
| 29 | Photo | According to Don LeJeune, the engineer is A. J. Sullivan, the fireman Jerry Quinn, and on the platform, left to right, are Arthur O'Donnell, Frankie Morin, and Sammy Whitmore. |
| 43 | Paragraph 1 | Carl Byron writes: "A Budd car weighed between 52 and 65 tons depending on configuration (RDC-1, -2, -3, -9), well over the 45 ton limit of the Brotherhood Agreement. Thus, negotiation of the 'Union Concession' was necessary to allow one man operation." The author originally planned to use this version for the book, but changed it when two sources proposed the scenario that was printed. |
| A "call on" was, and is, a steady bottom yellow, through which an engineer may proceed, not exceeding 15 mph, being prepared to stop short of any train or obstruction. When flashing it is a "slow approach," i.e., proceed at 15 mph through turnout(s), prepared to stop at the next signal. From Donald Robinson. | ||
| 44 | Photo | This type of crossing was generally known as a "wig-wag" (from the swinging arm), although the manufacturer's
name was "Automatic Flagman." Of the many which once protected B&M highway crossings, only one
remains isn service at Richardson's Crossing on the Hillsboro Branch between Milford and Wilton and that rarely
sees a train.
The highway and railroad drawbridges at Beverly are not and never were operated by the same person, although the two men obviously do communicate with each other in order to coordinate the openings. From Donald Robinson. |
| 51 | Below | According to Brian L. Jennison and Dave Engman, the green coach is recently purchased from the Reading, still in its original color, but with B&M lettering. |
| 52 | Lower Left | Note that the trainshed roofs are coming down in preparation for placing the ramp footings. From Carl Byron, Dave Engman. |
| 53 | Above | Donald Robinson notes that this train was not a likely candidate for the Central Mass because of the P-2 Pacific. Although they were technically permitted on the branch, he never saw one there. Perhaps it is a train for Fitchburg or Lowell. Also from Dave Engman. |
| 55 | Text | Dave Engman notes that the Boston Engine Terminal is in Somerville. |
| 63 | Right Column
Line 8 | "site" not "sight" |
| 65 | Above Left | Dave Engman suggests this locomotive is actually 2726 or 2728 since 2720 had an Elesco feedwater heater. |
| 70 | Right | "site" not "sight" |
| 96 | According to David Q. Olsen (via John F. Kane), the East Wind is shown at Milbrook Street near the B&M yard (the first yard to be removed). | |
| 97 | Paragraph 3 | Alden Dreyer writes: "Your grouping of the Lowell Jct. to Worcester line was curious. The route may have been double tracked in 1929, but when you implied that the entire route received CTC in 1929 when actually only 13 miles of it did..." According to Donald Robinson, Worcester to Ayer was double-tracked in stages in the 1880s by the original owner, the Worcester & Nashua. |
| Below | The train is arriving from Peterboro and is unloading mail and express. From several readers, including the photographer.
The Peterboro local was affectionately known as "Mike Downey's Train." Mike was the conductor, and for years the railroad kept this old coach in service because his arthritic legs could manage its four vestibule steps but not the newer ones with three. From Donald Robinson. | |
| Bottom | Two readers suggested this was the Lowell rather than the Peterboro train, because of the presence of the steel coach. However, the Lowell train left very early in the morning, and the shadows here indicate that it is already quite late. It is wintertime, with snow on the ground, so probably the Lowell train left before daylight. Also, photographer Stephen Payne confirms that this is the Peterboro train. | |
| 102 | last word | "lesser" not "lessor" |
| 106 | Above | Donald Robinson states this to be Crescent Lake, with Lake Wentworth a half mile to the left. |
| 110-111 | Map | Missing are track segments from Tilton to Franklin Falls, Contoocook to Emerson (South Henniker), and Lakeport to Lily Pond. From Donald Robinson. |
| 112 | Below | The location is North Chelmsford. From Donald Robinson, Dave Engman. |
| 118 | Below | [both] Donald Robinson writes: "Note the flag stop signal in front of the station. Of the 'hundreds' I saw I know of only one still standing and that is not used. Supposedly whether the white was toward or away from the track determined for which direction it was displayed, although I cannot remember ever seeing any instructions posted for the public. Many had chains which permitted hanging of lanterns at night." |
| 121 | Below | |
| 119 | Line 4 | "Winchester and Main Street" |
| Top | Train 310 not 302. From Donald Hills | |
| 122 | Below | Dave Engman notes that, although there are 8 coaches, they are ex-PRR P54s, shorter than most coaches. |
| 126 | Left | The location is actually Pinardville, a section of Manchester, NH. West Manchester was the closest station to the south, Grasmere Junction to the north. |
| 127 | Center | Dave Engman writes: "Steam generators were in the short hood. These humps were for head-end lighting for certain groups of commuter coaches. The new (1930s) B&M 1200 series used HEP lighting and several steamers had a large turbo generator on top of the tender behind the coal bunker for this purpose." Also from Brian L. Jennison. |
| 135 | Paragraph 2 | "met passengers at Plymouth" (not Concord). From David J. Smith. |
| 136 | Donald Robinson writes: "When I first remember the EB&L it had two active locomotives — a Shay and a 2-4-2T — both #5! It must have driven the ICC bonkers." | |
| 137 | Above | Though the train is in the town of Ashland, the nearest statin is Bridgewater, just to the right of the picture. From Donald Robinson. |
| 140 | Paragraph 5 | Alden Dreyer writes: "... only about 25% of the traffic on the Fitch went into the Boston area to feed the Camel and other locals, not the 60% you mentioned." |
| 140-141 | Map | "Clinton Junction" not "Stirling Junction." The Hollis branch is missing. From Donald Robinson. |
| 143 | Right | Dave Engman suggests the pusher is on the Central Mass rather than the Fitchburg (they were parallel here). Donald Robinson confirms this; it is an ammunitions extra for the East [?] Sudbury dump during World War II. |
| Below right | Route 20 not 128. The construction site is on the place of the former Stony Brook station. From the late Norton D. Clark (the photo was taken from the Route 128 bridge). Donald Robinson writes: "I remember the grade crossing which was eliminated by the bridge shown. During construction traffic used the road, the remnant of which shows beside the front of the train. Its crossing was torn out when the bridge opened (this was the first Route 20). | |
| 144 | Above Left | The train is eastbound, not westbound. From several readers. |
| Below Left | Donald Robinson writes: "5507 is a Cheshire Branch number and therefore is headed for Bellows Falls, VT, not Troy, NY. However, it will stop at Troy, NH, and this caused endless headaches. It was a rare day we did not have at least one passenger on the wrong train out of Fitchburg." Dave Engman writes that most of these head-end cars are D&H milk cars. Donald Robinson counters that these look like B&M 1600s in Bellows Falls Creamery service, or possibly Rutland or CV, and that the D&H cars served in NY. | |
| 150 | Above Left | The train is westbound, not eastbound. From several readers. |
| 154 | Above | Donald Robinson writes: "Although it was at the other end of the station, the picture of Troy reminds me of Gaynor's, a popular 'watering stop' for railroad men. At the time New York state law only said that a bar must be closed four hours out of 24; it didn't say which four. Gaynor's had two separately operated bars connected by a lockable door. One bar was closed 2:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. and the other 6:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.; the rest of the time the door was open and so were both bars" |
| 157 | Paragraph 3 | Donald Robinson writes: "Gleason Junction was not a diamond since the Central Mass bridged the Marlboro branch (and also the Maynard & Hudson trolley). A quarter-mile ramp track connected the two. The Central Mass end was Gleason Junction which was for a time a train order office. The Marlboro Branch end was called CM Junction. The Central Mass for a brief period carried a Boston-Harrisburg express. Freights rarely went beyond Berlin after the abandonment of Oakdale-Rutland." |
| 159 | Top | This photo was actually taken by the late Norton D. Clark, though the author did review a virtual twin view by Donald Robinson. |
| Bottom | Donald Robinson writes: "The 'elbow' gate arms allowed the tips to drop to clear the overhead wires when the gate was raised. A wire attached to the base pulled it out when the gate was lowered." Locomotive 1455 has resided at Edaville since its retirement. With the liquidation of the Edaville collection, its fate is uncertain as of this writing. | |
| 163 | Below | Near Kendall Green would be more accurate, since the actual station is on the Fitchburg. Near Weston would be more accurate still, according to Donald Robinson. |
| 165 | Near Left | Dave Engman wonders if this could be 1496 on the excursion of April 25, 1948. Donald Robinson confirms that magnification of the transparency appears to favor 1496. |
| 167 | Line 8 | Donald Robinson writes: "Steamtown was on the C&C the year before it went to Keene and used a different locomotive. The trek from Pleasure Island to North Walpole was a never-to-be-forgotten 12-hour trip which took three 16-hour days. Getting the engines out of Pleasure Island to the B&M Topsfield Branch was ever after known as 'The Battle of Snyder's Swamp.' There was also a year operating out of North Walpole to Westmoreland before going on the Rutland." |
| 169 | Below | The train consists of 22 over-dimension brewing tanks for the then abuilding Budweiser Brewery at Merrimack, NH. From Donald Robinson. Also Carl Byron. |
| 170 | Paragraph 2 | Track between Peterboro and Elmwood, and between Hillsboro and Emerson was abandoned as a result of the flood of March, 1936, not the hurricane of September 1938. From Donald Robinson. |
| Paragraph 3 | Donald Robinson writes: "New Haven President F.C. Dumaine, Jr., leased the RS-3 to the B&M for $1 per day for the Peterboro train so that he could dismantle the steam servicing facilities at the NH's South Worcester enginehouse where the B&M engine was kept." | |
| 176 | photo | Alden Dreyer writes: "The gorgeous photo of Jack Falvey entering Bellows Falls with the icicles masks the story about the most expensive wreck in B&M history that necessitated this detour." Carl Byron adds that the detour was in effect for about 10 days. |
| 178-179 | map | Donald Robinson writes: "Technically the B&M used the CV between Norwottuck (South Amherst) and Canal Junction
(east of Belchertown) and the B&A between Forest Lake (east of Bondsville) and Creamery (three miles west of
Wheelwright). Ware, being the largest town on the branch, should be shown in the B&A section. Originally
the B&M had its own track in both of these sections. Use of the CV and B&A started in the early 1930s.
Isolated sections of B&M remained in Ware and Belchertown to serve customers.
East Northfield, an important junction with a 24-hour train order office, is missing from the main line. Dole Junction is also missing at the junction of the Ashuelot branch. CV track should be shown in Vermont between East Northfield and Brattleboro; both it and Windsor to White River Junction should be identified as 'CV track dispatched by the B&M.' When I started dispatching, orders for extra trains specified 'Via Vernon' or 'Via Dole Jct.' Later the CV was designated the "southward track' and the B&M the 'northward track'." Bretton Woods(Fabyan)-Whitefield (at, not north of) and Waumbek Junction-Coos Junction should be shown as 'Maine Central Track.' The B&M once had its own routes Whitefield Junction-Coos Junction and Wing Road-Fabyan-Base Station but found trackage rights cheaper in later years. It did retain a wye and small yard at Fabyan as long as it operated the summer passenger service. Before the advent of Guilford, the B&M purchased Waumbek Junction-Coos Junction from the Maine Central when the MC abandoned Quebec Jct.-Beecher Falls." |
| 180 | Above Left | According to Dave Engman, this is not 3620, which had an Elesco feedwater heater, and which he thinks was scrapped before the war. Donald Robinson: "I won't argue; my records were not the best in those years." |
| Below Left | The location is South Deerfield. | |
| 181 | Below Right | Donald Robinson writes: "This train is 712 not 72. It and its northbound counterpart 717 had CV crews between White River Junction and East Northfield, with CV power White River Junction-Springfield and a mixture of B&M-CV-NH equipment. I saw Pacifics only a few times (and once with a Consolidation) but from the late 40's to the end of steam the power was usually a Mountain (with an air horn - ugh!). |
| 183 | Above | Donald Robinson writes: "Technically this location is West Claremont, and the station was just north of the bridge. The south abutment of the old bridge is visible under the locomotive." An old pier is visible under the B&M "American Flyer" coach. |
| 187 | Left | This is perhaps CP train 904. From Dave Engman. Donald Robinson: "More likely 908, as the shadows show it is late afternoon." |
| 195 | Far Right,
Bottom | The location of the trestle is Gorham not Berlin. From Donald Robinson. |
| 196 | Below | The train number is 4301, not 431. From Donald Robinson. |
| 197 | Right | Donald Robinson writes: "Station name is Bretton Woods-Fabyan (not Fabian). The original Bretton Woods was about a mile east, and while it existed, this station was called just plain Fabyan. The MEC Bretton Woods station was a platform behind and part of a summer hotel while the B&M station was a platform across the road from the front of the hotel. Neither had a separate building although the B&M's did have benches and an awning. Service was seasonal, and I know nothing about ticket sales." |
| 198 | Donald Robinson writes: "As a point of interest the CN RPO was lettered 'U.S. Mail.' They had several such for international trains although, to the best of my knowledge, no mail was sorted in Canada. International RPO routes were designated between: Boston-Alburgh, New York-Alburgh via Rutland; and Boston-St. Albans, New York-St. Albans via CV (there may have been others). | |
| 199 | Caption | The correct spelling is Mt. Hermon. From Alden Dreyer |
| 202 | Paragraph 2
Line 4 | Carl Byron writes that the locomotive is a GP-9. |
[Robert's address and phone number intentionally omitted from web version]
| Version | Date | Who | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 18-Oct-2002 | KG Akerboom | Initial release |
