Last B&M — MEC Steam Operations

The New England forum currently has a thread discussing the last B&M steam operations in Boston. For the sake of posterity I thought it might be interesting to have a discussion thread detailing what we believe to be the last steam operations on the B&M. I'm not interested in just final revenue freight and passenger movements. I'm also interested in what truly was the "last fire". Where and when did the last firing of a steam locomotive on the B&M, for any purpose, occur?

I have edited the title to include the Maine Central as well.

Good question. I was wondering the same thing.

"Maine Central in Color Vol.2" (Plant and Melvin, 1999) page 23 states MEC 0-6-0 #168 was
last regular steam on railroad, covering yard shifts at Waterville into May 1954. Other references
in same book say PT steam was gone in 1950 and only occasional steam in road service by
summer 1952.

S1f3432 wrote:"Maine Central in Color Vol.2" (Plant and Melvin, 1999) page 23 states MEC 0-6-0 #168 was
last regular steam on railroad, covering yard shifts at Waterville into May 1954. Other references
in same book say PT steam was gone in 1950 and only occasional steam in road service by
summer 1952.

I didn't realize that Maine Central had terminated all of their steam operations before 1955. Although many of us have certainly heard of how #470 was the last passenger run under steam I didn't realize that this was also part of a system wide pattern. I guess I sort of had the vague impression that the passenger steam operations were phased out first with freight following within a year or two.

The following comes from my father's notes.
The last stronghold of B&M steam was the Marblehead branch which had regular scheduled passenger service with 3600 class Pacifics at least until July 1956.
The Central Mass. Branch service with 1400 class Moguls lasted into the Spring of 1956.

K class Consolidation 2730 made the last run of steam on local freight WX-1 Worcester to Bellows Falls on Jan.22,1952.

B class Mogul 1458 hauled the last steam powered local freight on the Hillsboro Branch on Feb.27,1952.

K class Consolidation 2403 made the last steam passenger run from Stoneham to Boston on July 7,1954, she was replaced that same afternoon by ALCO S-5 865 in passenger service!

The last steam passenger runs from Lowell and Haverhill to Boston were both hauled by P class Pacific 3672.
The last run from Lowell was on May 5,1955 and the last run from Haverhill was train #156 on May 23,1955.

After making the "Farewell to Steam" roundtrip to Portland on Apr.22,1956, 3713 and 0-8-0 switcher 622 were kept on standby at Boston Engine Terminal for the winter of 1956-57 for Snow Melter service, 3713 was used for Snow Melting service in the Boston Terminal district many times before, but it is unknown if they were ever used this late in time.

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this old advertisement from the Times Record, Troy, NY April 25, 1952. Old newsprint doesn't scan very well and it's almost a full page ad... and for some reason, I can't get the top of the ad to load above the bottom.

Cool!

The general public actually cared about such things in those days. A far cry from today.

MEC407 wrote:Cool!

The general public actually cared about such things in those days. A far cry from today.

Oh, heavens, 2000 people in Freeport (on a summer weekend!) and you avatar seem to say otherwise....

Couldn't resist showing everybody this neat photo of train #156, the last steam hauled passenger train awaiting departure from Haverhill,Mass. on May 23,1955, that's the mayor of Haverhill wearing the tophat and tails in the center of the photo.

Great photo! People still knew how to dress in those days.

One reason people and city governments took note in Haverhill and Lowell was that a lot of roundhouse jobs ended when dieselization was complete, and in cases like Haverhill, the buildings and servicing structures got torn down too, removing them from the tax rolls.

I know where the turntable and roundhouse for Haverhill was located but where was the turntable and roundhouse located in Lowell? Since Lowell was an interchange point with NH? Was the turntable and roundhouse shared or were there two?

The New Haven originally had it's own facilities in Lowell. Someone posted a valuation map link not long ago and they were north of the wye IIRC. Various B&M predecessors had their own facilities, but I've never seen maps. By 1940, I believe all B&M and NH engine service was concentrated at the B&M facility at "Middlesex", between Lowell and North Chelmsford (although I think it was inside Lowell's city limits). Middlesex didn't last long after the end of steam; there was an article about it in the B&M Bulletin in the past couple of years but I don't have it handy.

This thread is most interesting to me as I grew up next to the Stoneham Branch. Our family moved there in 1948 when I was just a year old. I have vivid memories of a time when all trains on that branch, passenger and freight were steam- hauled. There was a switch near our house for cars going to the E.L. Patch plant and I could see the switching movements from our house as well as all the trains that passed. I was too young to know what engine type they were using for the midday freight, but I remember it went diesel some time before the commuter trains did. I'm guessing the last steam engine on the Stoneham Branch freight was around 1952 or 1953. I remember hearing this strange sounding horn and then seeing this most strange looking (to me) engine pulling the frieght. I was too young to understand that I was witnessing the beginning of the end for steam. Our family was out of town when the last steam engine left Stoneham in July 1954. Soon after, RCD's appeared on the line.

For most of my life I had assumed that 1954 was about the end of Steam on the B&M, so it is quite interesting to know that steam actually lasted until 1956. Wish I had seen some of those last runs. it would have blown my mind.

Thanks for all this great information!
Bob Shoring