Former B&M Stations in MA and NH

truman wrote:

Jonny Bolt wrote: I believe the other station at the nuke plant location was called "Smithtown". I know there was Atlantic and Smithtown.

YOu mentioned the last rebuild of the tracks to Seabrook being done for the construction of the nuke plant......do you know where I can find the photo article of this? I checked the rails in early Spring, and they said made in Germany in 1927 lol. I wonder why they would lay such old rail if they "rebuilt" this section so they could haul in stuff for the building of the nuke plant. I have asked many folks about info on this section of rail, and have also inquired about the time when the nuke plant was being built, I but nobody that was around for it seems to remember much about the line being used to haul in stuff for Seabrook Station

Thats the old Krupp rail imported in the 1920's, it was found to be brittle and broke easily, so it was relegated to yards and branches. (Find a copy of High Green and the Bark Peelers).
From what I remember of rebuilding the branch for Seabrook, the extent of the rebuild consisted of undercutting or raising the bridges for more clearance as some of the components were really really big. Some ballast was put down, but that was about the extent of it. About the same time, Portsmouth yard was reconfigured to the track layout you see today. This seemed to be a housekeeping move more than anything, as there were dis-used tracks going every which way. The Portsmouth Herald made a big deal about it because even then cars were falling of the rails every five minutes, and the Heralds offices were right across the street and that made the railroad an easy target. They did a big write up with pictures.

Yup, thats it, Krupp. Thanks! I forgotten the name. Down where the old Hampton Falls station used to be, at the depot, there is a section where all the rails were torn up, and laid in a pile parallel to the ties. Who would've done this? Was it the railroad, or was it the town, State DOT? Just seems weird that there are a few sections of rail removed with the rails left next to the railbed lol.

My guess would be that the railroad pulled the tracks up and rather than waste time and money transporting the rail to a central storage location, simply deposited it in an accessible location should it ever be needed again.

Incidentally, a review of the 1923 B&M directory of officers, agents and stations show two stations in Seabrook NH, Atlantic, and Seabrook.
Smithtown was a streetcar transfer point near the corner of Walton road and U.S. Rte 1.

Atlantic Station was located on the north side of Rt. 286 on the east side of the tracks. Seabrook Station I believe was located off of Railroad Ave. just south of the Power Plant.

Not much to do with stations but instead of starting a thread I'll post it here. Its located at Fabyans Station!!!
http://www.thebluecomet.com/mec409fabyans.jpg
The conveyer rig next to the white building; was that used to off load the coal onto a truck for the Cog Railway? It looks to me like there is coal on the ground in the area. Now that I think of it, there is coal on the ground in that area today, with some kind of whole under the ties where it looked like the conveyer rig went.
Also what was that white building in the back ground?

Nice photo!

b&m 1566 wrote:Not much to do with stations but instead of starting a thread I'll post it here. Its located at Fabyans Station!!!
http://www.thebluecomet.com/mec409fabyans.jpg
The conveyer rig next to the white building; was that used to off load the coal onto a truck for the Cog Railway? It looks to me like there is coal on the ground in the area. Now that I think of it, there is coal on the ground in that area today, with some kind of whole under the ties where it looked like the conveyer rig went.
Also what was that white building in the back ground?

Those conveyers were quite common in the old days, every home heating fuel dealer had one, and they could be found at every general delivery siding in almost every town that had a fuel dealer. I remember seeing the remains of two of them in Somersworth NH, just south of the GE plant not very many years ago. Its very possible though that the Cog got fuel this way after the spur to the base station was taken out, and before delivery went completely to trucks.

Ron Newman wrote:This Google street view shows a former railroad station between Washington Street and Magoun Avenue in Medford, Massachusetts. There are no longer any tracks anywhere near this station.

That is the former Park St. Station. You can see it on this 1898 Stadly map. It's the pink building at the top center, just below the Ball # 3. (You can keep clicking on the station to zoom in on it.)

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Section ... S-7494.htm

Here's another view of the station. You would be looking right across the tracks at the station from Washington St. in this view. Trains heading toward the yard and the terminus of the branch in Medford Sq. would be traveling left to right.

http://tinyurl.com/33xdp7

(Okay, can somebody recommend a good program to reduce links like this to a much more forum-friendly format? TIA.)

(Edited by the moderator: TinyURL (tinyurl.com) works great for making long links small!)

A320 wrote: (Okay, can somebody recommend a good program to reduce links like this to a much more forum-friendly format? TIA.)

(Edited by the moderator: TinyURL (tinyurl.com) works great for making long links small!)

Thank you, Moderator.

Rockingham Racer wrote:There used to be a small yard there in Methuen, believe it or not. Also, the Salem, NH station was right there at the tracks and Rt. 97. The building's still there, and I think it's the original station, with another major do-over or three along the way.

One thing I'd like to do [if I still lived there] is follow the old Northern Route between Concord and White River. It'd be interesting to see if any of those stations or freight houses are still standing. US rt. 4 out of Concord would do the trick for that excursion.

Last Summer I took a road trip and followed the former Northern Line from White River Jct. to Concord. US highway 4 runs alongside it for most of the route, and even though the rails are gone, there are still plenty of interesting things to see. The Station at White River Jct is very nicely maintained, and a great place to explore and watch trains. Heading south, a freight house stands at West Lebanon (Westboro). I think a small waiting station also stands at Lebanon, but I have not seen this for myself.

Enfield Station still stands and is in decent shape. Canaan also still has a station and a freight house even though the freight house is very dilapidated, and the station has been extensively modified as a laundromat. Grafton and Orange no longer have stations standing, and Danbury was moved south to Boscawen where it's now a private residence. Potter Place in Andover is by far the nicest station on the Northern, and is definitely worth a visit. South of here, there's not too much left. Andover, Franklin and Boscawen are all gone, although the rundown Gerrish Station might still be standing alongside US route 3. Concord of course is long gone too.

Definitely a neat drive with a lot to see.