Friday Night Steam

A look back in time. Steam in the 50's .......

Once upon a time there was a Boston & Maine Railroad.

Into the 1980's, it was over 1400 miles long and operated in six states. Its main line went from South Portland, Maine, through the famous Hoosac Tunnel, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Secondary lines stretched out from Boston throughout eastern Massachusetts and into New Hampshire. An important branch ran 123 miles up the Connecticut River valley from Springfield, Mass. to White River Junction, Vermont. Important interchange points along the main line were at East Deerfield, MA and Mechanicville, NY. In the modern era, the road was operationally divided between the Boston (eastern) and Fitchburg (western) divisions.

The B&M got off to an early start: The Boston & Lowell opened 25 miles of track in 1835. About the same time, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts corporations were formed, then united by 1843 as the Boston & Maine, to build a link between Maine and Wilmington, Mass. Two years later an extension went into Boston. An early competitor was the Eastern Railroad which built its own Boston-Portland link via Salem, Mass. The rivalry ended in 1884, when the 207-mile B&M would lease the Eastern. The B&M would grow to 2285 miles by 1900.

The Boston & Maine and the Boston & Lowell were brought together in 1887. This added numerous branches in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire to the system. The Connecticut River Railroad was leased in 1893; the Concord & Montreal in 1895; and the Fitchburg in 1900. This round of expansion left the B&M as the major northern New England road.

1907 to 1913 saw the New York, New Haven & Hartford controlling the B&M. The New Haven went bankrupt in 1913 because of overexpansion. This same problem then hit the B&M in 1916. By 1919, a simplified structure let the B&M emerge from bankruptcy. The B&M was hit early by highway competition. It formed a bus a truck subsidiary in 1924. Economic development in northern New England peaked well before the depression. The highest volume of freight was 30 million tons in 1918. Almost 40 million passengers in 1901 had halved by 1937 and down to commuter-only by 1967.

The 1920's saw an upgrading of track and installation of CTC; but it also brought early branch line sales and abandonments. The B&M survived the Depression, made money in World War II, and held out until 1956 when Patrick B. McGinnis moved in to the presidency, fresh from the New Haven. He introduced several innovations, including the TALGO train which didn't exactly work out,

There was a lot of deferred maintenance in the 1960's. This resulted in many slow orders which contributed to further loss of business. Many branch lines were cut in this period. One example was the 1973 sale of the Worcester to Gardner, Massachusetts line to the newly re-incorporated Providence & Worcester. There were 1531 miles of track in 1969. About two-thirds of all revenue came from the main line and the Connecticut River line.

There were several attempts at merger. The Boston & Maine almost joined the D&H and the Lackawanna in the Norfolk & Western. Later, the B&M decided not to join CONRAIL; instead following its own reorganization plan.

The B&M became insolvent in 1970. The economy of the northeast was worse than the rest of the nation ever since textile mills moved south. The B&M was a bridge line. It not only competed against the D&H, New York Central, and the CN-CV; but it also depended upon them for its connections.

The B&M participated in the revival of passenger service in the greater Boston area. It operated the country's largest fleet of Budd RDC's. The D&H Alco PA diesels worked this service about a year. Later, rebuilt GM&O F3's (renamed FP10's) were used. In 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) made its first assistance payment to the B&M for operating commuter trains. In 1975, the MBTA purchased the B&M's locomotives, cars and physical plant used for commuter service. The B&M continued to operate the system and later took over the service that was formerly operated by the New York Central and the New Haven. Outside of Boston, Amtrak's "Montrealer" ran on the Connecticut River line.

Most B&M tonnage was received from connecting lines and terminated on the B&M. Therefore, a lot of effort was spent moving empties off the property. The B&M made a lot of headway reducing high per-diem charges by good car utilization.

Right into the modern era, ball signals protected diamond crossing at some B&M locations. At White River Junction, one ball allowed the Central Vermont (Northern Division) to cross. Two balls allowed trains from the B&M Concord line while three balls gave the go ahead to B&M trains from Berlin. Four balls was for the Central Vermont (Southern Division). Another ball signal was with the Rutland in Bellows Falls. Rules stipulated that trains stop 1000 feet from the crossing then proceed at yard speed. Vermont inflicted a $100 penalty on the engineman for each violation.

Because the B&M was built early on in an older section of the country, there were numerous public grade crossings. Many of these were not automatic and required a crossing watchman. If a train crossed outside of the scheduled hours of protection, a "traveling crossing watchman" was required. Other crossing gates (for instance, the branch to Marblehead) were operated by the train crew.

The 4.7 mile Hoosac tunnel had many special and some unusual rules. Passenger trains could not follow or be followed. Telephones were located in manholes. The manholes were indicated by boards about four feet above the rail with figures burned in showing distance in feet from East Portal. Trains running through the tunnel had to display night signals. Traffic in the tunnel was controlled by North Adams Tower. Inflammables could be handled, but only when tunnel workers were properly notified. Explosives could only be handled when for the U.S. government.

There was a special set of rules to handle the joint (with D&H) track between Mechanicville and Crescent. Other interchanges with the D&H were at Troy and Scotia. When Mechanicville was still active for both the B&M and D&H, there were numerous special rules for operation of that yard.

The history of what had been traditionally known as the Boston & Maine ended in 1981 when Timothy Mellon purchased the road and created a more unified "New England" system by combining it with the Maine Central and D&H. In addition, he purchased several old New Haven branch lines in Connecticut - a state the B&M had never operated in.

It was a low-density line which was sold to a short line operator in the 1940's. The Saratoga & Schuylerville Railroad operated for years as a branch of the Boston & Maine Fitchburg Division. The line ran between the two towns, with an arm running down to Mechanicville where it connected with the main line. This branch was built in 1882-1883 as part of the Boston, Hoosic Tunnel & Western RR. It later became part of the Fitchburg RR, then the Boston & Maine and was operated as a Boston & Maine branch until 1945, when it was sold to Samuel M. Pinsly of Boston, MA. Pinsly incorporated the S&S and ran it with two 45-ton GE diesels. As an independent operation, the line was a marginal operation and petitioned for abandonment in 1954. This was granted by the ICC, and service ended in 1956. The tracks still remained, though dormant, into the '60s. The S&S did not connect with the D&H main line at Saratoga. It came into the city from the east end and had a station and a freight yard (some of the buildings are still standing), and while it came to within a mile of the D&H, the two didn't meet. The S&S crossed the northern part of Saratoga Lake on a trestle. This is the branch which went to Mechanicville. The Schylerville branch diverged from the main line at a place called Dyer Switch. This is in close proximity to a place called Staffords Bridge. They have built a nature trail on the old roadbed running from the switch point back toward Saratoga and route 29.

The D&H was also in Saratoga Springs but interchange was at Mechanicville. Rotterdam Junction interchange was the New York Central. Only the line to Rotterdam Junction remains. The Rotterdam Junction line of the B&M was the first to be fully dieselized. Mostly F units in maroon with yellow striping. Passenger service went to Troy until 1958, then cut back to Williamstown, Mass. The last years were Budd RDC-1's mainly(the B&M had the world's largest RDC fleet). Primarily a freight line, it carried many long freights to Mechanicville for re-classification to D&H and NYC. Before the disaster of Guilford, there were 4-5 thru freights, each way, between Mechanicville and Portland, Lawrence, MA, Lowell, MA, Concord, NH and East Deerfield. Later power was almost always three or four GP40-2/GP38-2 "bluebird" units. Line was also all CTC.

Troy passenger service went in the late 1950's with freight soon after. The Rotterdam Junction NYC/B&M connection is on the former West Shore side of the railroad, at the old RJ tower interlocking. It is where the Hoffmans Branch also connects with the West Shore, since called the Selkirk Branch by Conrail. The Chicago Line, or the former NYC main line, is on the opposite (East) side of the Mohawk River/Barge Canal, and connects to the West Shore via the Hoffmans Branch. The Troy branch was abandoned for freight service in the summer of 1971. There were actually two separate lines. The Troy and Boston RR was built first in 1851-52 to Bennington and to the Hoosic tunnel site. After the tunnel was opened in the 1870's, another line, the Boston, Hoosic Tunnel and Western RR was built from the Vermont-Massachusetts line west to Rotterdam Junction, partly on the grade on the long gone Albany & Vermont RR. The BHT&W line from Vermont to Johnsonville was abandoned over a half-century ago, and only the Troy and Boston one was left. In Troy was the Troy Union RR, which owned the passenger station and the tracks connecting the B&M with the New York Central and the D&H. It was abandoned in 1963, leaving the B&M with no connections in Troy. Its yard was just north of Hoosic Street in Troy. After the Rutland RR abandoned its line from Bennington to Chatham in 1952 they ran their trains from Bennington via Eagle Bridge and the B&M through Troy to connect with the New York Central.

Adjacent to the Thruway, Conrail/CSX continues to South Amsterdam on the stub of the old New York Central West Shore and serves a large quarry and several other industries. This line now ends a few short miles from Rotterdam Junction, but you can see where the tracks went (old trestles, etc) all the way to Herkimer. Until a few years ago, this line went to Fort Plain. In the early 1970's, the line had been cut between Fort Plain and Ilion (by Penn Central). The remainder was torn up by Conrail when the Beech-Nut business in Canajoharie dried up. As late as 1965 there was an east-bound and a west-bound freight every day except Sunday between Rotterdam Junction (Tower "RJ": mile marker 159.6; open day and night in 1961 but closed by 1965) and Harbor (mile marker 226.2; connection to NYC mainline near Utica). Canajoharie (mile marker 190.3) was the only station open on the line. From Harbor, this line continued through Clark Mills, Vernon, Canastota (interchange with the Lehigh Valley) to Kirkville Junction (Syracuse Division). The line between South Utica and Vernon was cut between 1961 and 1965. Before 1961, the line between Canastota and Kirkville Junction was abandoned and connection to the main line was at Canastota. Additionally, the Lehigh Valley branch to that point was abandoned. The line through South Utica to a junction with the NYC mainline at Harbor was cut after 1965. Near this point, industrial trackage which served the old textile mills in New York Mills left the West Shore. In 1949, this line was double tracked and had a 35 MPH speed limit. By 1961, it was single tracked and had a 15 MPH speed limit. Now it is gone. The line from RJ to Canajoharie was substantially upgraded by NYSDOT after the formation of Conrail. Later DOT and CR became engaged in a dispute over operation of the line and for a while there was strong indication that the B&M was going to become operator. CR blocked this effectively by not permitting trackage or operating rights (or charging extortionary rates for privilege of doing so) for B&M to crossover and reach the WS. Net result: line abandoned. The West Shore was one of the first railroads in the US to use an automatic block system, with semaphore signals spaced every 3 miles or so. The connection to the NYC main at Hoffmans, as well as the reconfiguring and separation of grades between there and Fullers, were part of the Selkirk/Castleton bypass project -- altogether a huge investment for the prosperous NYC of that era.

By Ken Kinlock at kenkinlock@gmail.com