Who gets tank cars at Portsmouth?

Thanks Dick for the info. on the old Eastern transload facility. Yes, it was Simplex, and I can recall the spur, as I started teaching and coaching in 1967. Always had to stop our school bus(did that too as part of my job!) for the Eastern "spur" when I was taking my football or baseball teams to play Berwick Academy.

Saw cars there, and if I recall right, the Eastern spur was a place to set off cripples, and the siding(part of old double track) that ran from N. Berwick to Bragdon Rd(still there) was used as a runaround for local freights doing work at N. Berwick(Hussey Mfg. & D'Auitel(sp) ,millwork up by the Rt. 4 crossing, were still getting cars in late 60's and N. Berwick had a "piggyback ramp", and Hussey sent many a load of stadium/ arena seating out in TOFC's for delivery right to the building getting their sets.

Can't recall the explosion, but around that time, there was B&M "incident" at the Bragdon Rd. end of the long siding; think it was a human error running into a cut of cars way too fast.

Also recall a horrible mistake at Prime Tanning in Berwick, from that time period, I think when a tank truck driver, who had never delivered there, hooked up to the inlet for the "wrong tank", and the chemicals "mixed", causing deadly fumes that killed at least 1 inside the tannery. I guess Prime, used to transload chemicals and hides just across the river in Somesworth, as well as sending out finished leather , and I can recall a number of cars there(plus those for GE) in the early 60's, when I used to visit a friend there.

Bud

It's amazing to hear about just how much business there was in all these small towns way back in the day. I had a friend that used to work the freight house in Biddeford back in the 40's and 50's and you would never believe such things as blankets, clothing, furniture, produce, etc were all handled by the carload at yards like that. I heard that at one Point there were actually carloads of Potatos unloaded at Old Orchard Beach for all the restaurants there - could you imagine that now!!

My first job was at Dan's Supermarket in Dover in 1956 , which was the first supermarket in the area. Every now and then Dan's would get a carload of Campbell's tomato soup and a group of us bag boys would be sent down to the pubic delivery track at Dover, where the Downeaster station is now, to unload it into a tractor trailer.

As Bud mentioned, Prime tanning in Berwick ME got materials delivered to a siding in Somersworth, just across the bridge on Market St. They used to get hides in open gondolas and run fork lifts back and forth to the plant in Berwick. Let me tell you, the aroma around there in the summer time was awful. Sure would not be tolerated today.

The GE plant in Somersworth used rail a great deal and there were several tracks on the plant property. They even had a GE locomotive of their own, a 25 tonner I think. The NHN has a siding just north of GE that could be used by GE, if necessary, but I don't think they ever have used rail since the NHN took over the Conway branch...

Dick