Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society EWSLETTEJK BUDDY WINIARZ, Editor JEFF URSILLO, Production & Distribution NP.O. Box 2936 P.O. Box 4117 Wobum, MA 01888 Boynton Beach, FL 33424-4117 Meeting/Membership Telephone Number (617) 628-4053 March/April 1995 Opinions expressed in the signed columns or tetters of this Nensferferare those of their respective authors and do not necessarfly represent the opinions of the Society, Its officers or members with respect to any particular subject discussed in those columns. The mention of commercial products or services In this Newsletter Is for the conve• rgence of the merrtoership only, and in m way constitutes an endorsement ct said producer service by the Society or ary of Society be responsble tor the performance of said commercial suppBers. We reserve the right to edtt all material, ether due to length or content, submitled for publication. — B&MRRHS CALENDAR — MARCH 11,1995 Mr. Bob Poore will be showing us "LIFE IN A CAMP CAR ON THE MAINE CEN• TRAL," plus other M-of-W Equipment. APRIL 20,1995 This will be our Annual Joint Meeting with the Mass Bay RR Enthusiasts. This year we will meet at their place in Newton at the Newton Highlands Congregational Church. The meeting will begin at 8:00 PM. Entertainment to be announced. (NOTE—this date may change—more next issue). THERE WILL BE NO REGULAR MEETING IN LOWELL DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL. Newton Highlands is easily reached by taking Route 9 east from Rte. 128, or by taking the MBTA Green Line's Riverside Line. MAY 13,1995 John Alan Roderick will be showing some New England and other rail subjects from the early and middle 1980s. SINCE WE HAVE NOWHERE TO GO... It seems hard to believe, but the winter season is upon us once again, and here in New England we all know what that means! In the event of inclement weather on the day of the B&MRRHS meeting, please tune your AM radio to either WBZ- Boston or WHDH-Boston to see if the meeting has been postponed or cancelled, or call the B&MRRHS answering machine at (617) 628-4053 after 11 AM on the day of the meeting. CHANGE OF MEETING TIME... "There's No Business Like Show Business..." Unless otherwise noted, all membership meetings are held on the second Saturday of any given month at If you or someone you know would like to do a slide or 7:30 PM at the Patrick Mogan Cultural Center, 40 movie presentation for the B&MRRHS, please contact French Street, in Lowell, Mass. (This is diagonally our Program Chairman, Jim Byington. He can be across from the Lowell High School, in the Boott Mills reached through the Society's telephone at (617) 628- area.) The change in meeting time has been necessi• 4053, or by dropping a line to Jim at the B&MRRHS P.O. tated by changes in the Park's Security requiring us to Box in Woburn. finish up by 9:30PM. B&MRRHS Newsletter Page 1 BARTLETT AND BACK!!! N. CONWAY, N.H.—12-17-94—What started out as a cold freight house, we all detrained and Rep. Bill Zeliff and and wet day in southern New Hampshire turned into a snowy District One Executive Councilor Ray Burton offered congrat• but nice day at North Conway. Upon arriving at the Conway ulatory speeches to Conway Scenic. Unfortunately, I did not Scenic's station I was greeted by Gary Webster, operations get to hear them as I was busy shooting photos of the #4266 manager of CSRR. He handed me my boarding ticket for the make its reversal on the wye. After hooking-up we made our inaugural run to Bartlett on the old Mountain division of the way back to N. Conway. Our nip back was highlighted by the Maine Central, now called the "Crawford Notch Line of inclusion of a cab ride of the #4266. Unfortunately at Intervale Conway Scenic Railroad." it was back to our seats. The snow kept falling and there was Our "VIP" train was pulled by ex-B&M #4266 F-7A unit and talk among the passengers of the ski trains. Railroading and consisted of the Parlor Observation car "Gertrude Emma", seasonal songs were sung by Mary Johnson and Dennis dining car "Chocorua", coaches #1109, #1140 and #3202. O'Neil during the trip. At every crossing and in many places I choose to sit in coach #1140 because it had a coal burning along the way people stopped to wave and give "wide eyed stove and seemed to make for a more nostalgic atmosphere. stares" as we rolled on by. At 10 AM the "ALL ABOARD" was given and we began our Arrival at the station was meet by a large crowd waiting for trip. It started to snow lighdy as we left the station. After the next ride up to Bartlett. passing through the yards and over the trestle at River Road The scenery along the route is worth the price itself. When the Santa and his crew were waiting for us to pass and gave us a line to Faybans and Whitefield is completed it should be a big wave. We passed over the Saco River several times and sight to behold. Hopefully this will be done by the year 1998. Rt. 302/16 several times also. Passing through Glen we got a On behalf of the B&MRRHS I would like to thank Gary nice view of the B&M's #6000, the Flying Yankee. Webster for the invite and wish Conway Scenic the best of Upon arrival at Bartlett's Hodgkins park across from the luck with their endeavor. (BW) TEAM BACKS TRANSIT SCHEME NEW STAMP WILL FEATURE Salem, Ma.—Extending the Blue Line to Lynn, Salem and COG RAILWAY ENGINE Peabody may be the best way to improve public transportation CRAWFORD'S PURCHASE, N.H.—This spring a piece on the North Shore. This from the findings by a team of five of Granite state history will be immortalized when the US "experts" from around the country called in by the MBTA last Postal Service issues a 20-cent stamp of the Cog Railway's November ('94) to study the "Coastal Corridor Plan." locomotive, the Cloud. While stopping short of recommending a Blue Line exten• This engine had a distinctive boiler that remained level as sion, their report stated "the overall concept is a viable one," the engine climbed the Northeast's highest peak. and its projected cost, at $410 million, is $200 million less The stamp will be issued June 9, 1995 in Dallas, Texas as than the MBTA projected. part of the postal service's long-running transportation series. This plan would extend the Blue Line rapid transit service from The stamp will be able to be put on postcards but may not see Revere to Newburyport and Rockport, using the existing com• wide spread circulation, because it will be issued in coils of muter rail lines. The tracks would be electrified and North Shore 100,500 and 3,000. commuter trains would be replaced by Blue Line subway cars. The "Cloud" began plying the three-mile track that ascends An offshoot of the main track in Salem would connect the western side of Mt. Washington in the 1870's, a few years Peabody and the Northshore Mall to the rapid transit system. after the "Peppersass" reached the top on July 3,1869. It was The experts wrote that upgrading the track north of Salem, built by Walter Aiken of Franklin, N.H. rather than converting to a Blue Line system would be the (Union Leader) Sj!^18™8 best alternative for service improvement. Geoff Slater, director of planning for the MBTA said "the peer review group did a very good job." He also stated the "we never said the plan wasn't viable but that it was a ques• tion of costs. We had to come up with numbers that everyone can live with." Slater said the MBTA will decide before summer whether to advocate a Blue Line extension. He acknowledged, however, 410 TEE-SHIRTS that Transportation Secretary James Kerasiotes "is very inter• We have 410 tee-shirts available in both Teal and ested " in the possibility. Even if the plan is endorsed by the Paprika in sizes Medium, Large, X-Large and XX- secretary and the MBTA, funding may be difficult to obtain. Large. Shirts are $12.00 each with printing on both Millions of dollars in costs overruns with the Central sides. All proceeds from the sale of these go Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project in Boston, coupled with toward the restoration of B&M 0-4-0 No. 410. They the new conservative majority in Congress, could make trans• may be ordered through the P.O. box in Wobum portation dollars hard to come by. (please include $3.50 P&H for up to 2 shirts). (Condensed from the Salem Evening News) Page 2 B&MRRHS Newsletter TRAILS BY RAIL The town of Hancock is rich in railroad history while boosting mill, run by Rev. J.W. Coolidge. This soon became a shipping of three railroad stations/depots within it's boundaries. point for the Hancock area, handling grain and freight, incom• The Peterboro & Hillsboro RR had the first steel to be laid ing and outgoing. in Hancock. It was on the Greenfield side (southeast) and put At Elmwood Junction the M&K crossed the old down in 1869-70. However, this was just the beginning of the Peterborough & Hillsboro RR.