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  • Portland/Boston/Mechanicville routing question.

  • Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.
Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1474361  by roberttosh
 
Was wondering around what year the B&M stopped running traffic out of Maine heading to Western connections via the Boston/Somerville yard complex and instead started avoiding Boston altogether in favor of the more direct Lowell Branch and Stony Brook routing? Also, once that shift was made what type of traffic continued to move on the Portland/Boston trains which I believe continued to run into the 70's? Thanks in advance.
 #1474370  by TomNelligan
 
The "cross country" jobs between Portland and Mechanicville via the Stony Brook branch were running in the 1940s and I assume for some years before that. As for Portland-Boston freights, into the 1960s the B&M originated and terminated a lot of freight in Boston and environs, and they handled traffic bound to or from Maine and Atlantic Canada via the MEC connection at Rigby.
 #1477837  by jbvb
 
Freight Train Symbol Book #3 (1915) shows round-trips from Portland to E. Fitchburg and Lowell, and Lawrence to E. Deerfield, but nothing running end-to-end.

Same pattern in #5 (1921), but I was surprised to find ex-Sun and Tue-Thu-Sun round-trips Salem - E. Deerfield via Lowell and ex-Sun Salem - Worcester via Lowell and Nashua. Similar pattern in #11 (1924).

FTSB #14 (1926) lists MP-2 (0430 - 2130) and PM-1 (2030 - 1630 next day).

Thank you Earl Tuson, Brent MIchiels. I will be spending some more time on http://bostonandmainerailroad.redmansef ... /index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1478522  by b&m 1566
 
Before everything was rerouted using the Stony Brook Branch, didn't the WN&P handle a lot of the east/west traffic for the B&M?
 #1481802  by cpf354
 
Indeed, at one time it was thought to be the busiest stretch of single track railroad in the country. It had it's share of cornfield meets over the years.
Last edited by MEC407 on Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: unnecessary quoting
 #1484056  by Engineer Spike
 
The question all boils down to the loss of industry around Boston. B&M always bridged cars between the NYC and D&H, to the MEC. As mentioned, there have been through jobs for a long time. The purpose of the yards in Cambridge and Somerville were to handle all the freight bound to and from Boston area customers.
 #1490284  by johnpbarlow
 
Terrific on-line article (authored by H. Arnold Wilder) of the detailed history of the Stony Brook RR from its inception to 1979. In June of 1946, shortly after the WN&P was abandoned, the Stony Brook "branch" featured 30 daily trains (Including 8 passenger trains) operating on double track CTC (1st CTC installation in New England) with a 100 car capacity controlled siding between Graniteville and Westford. The Stony Brook was also B&M's first branch to have rock ballast to facilitate 60 mph passenger train speeds! Daily train list for June 1946 is attached. A very good read!

http://www.chelmsfordgov.com/CHCwebsite ... istory.pdf
Attachments:
Stony Brook Branch trains 1946.JPG
Stony Brook Branch trains 1946.JPG (139.45 KiB) Viewed 3210 times