Mystery Crossing

[CannaScrews]

Definitely "Conn River". The penmanship at that time had curlicues at the ends of the capital letters. And, I've seen and had to analyze handwriting on post cards, this is a no-brainer.

According to the stamp box, the date for this postcard is 1907-1918. 1907 is the date when the backs of the postcards were split into address and message sections.

[CannaScrews]

I think the photo was taken from Bridge St, Charlestown NH looking North. Note the twin peaks at the right & the single peak at the left. The fill corresponds to Clay Brook.

Using Google Earth, you can approximate the same scene if you are in Charlestown NH, & aligning your view with the tracks. the diagonal displacement is due to Google Earth's altitude algorithm where Clay Brook is.
The attached view is close, but getting the correct view takes more time than I wished to devote to this project.

A follow-up with the USGS 1930 published 15 minute map at this location does not show the road in the foreground, however, but the date of the card is at least 12 years earlier and things do happen.

[neman2]

I think the photo is taken from River Rd (Rt 12A) bridge in North Charlestown NH. The track to the north curves in the right direction and the crossing could have been along Depot Hill RD that was eliminated. The track going to the left would have been a construction track for accessing the gravel pit closer to the river that is now the St Pierre Inc. sand and gravel pit.
I will try to post a link here-
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.301479, ... 6656?hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MaineCoonCat]

Jeeze.. I thought my handwriting was bad.. Somehow, even enlarged, I don't get "Conn" out of it.. To me, the first character looks more like a capital "G". The second certainly matches the "o" in "road". But the next character sure looks to me like a lower case "a"...

[wally]

I think the photo was taken from Bridge St, Charlestown NH looking North. Note the twin peaks at the right & the single peak at the left. The fill corresponds to Clay Brook.

Using Google Earth, you can approximate the same scene if you are in Charlestown NH, & aligning your view with the tracks. the diagonal displacement is due to Google Earth's altitude algorithm where Clay Brook is.
The attached view is close, but getting the correct view takes more time than I wished to devote to this project.

A follow-up with the USGS 1930 published 15 minute map at this location does not show the road in the foreground, however, but the date of the card is at least 12 years earlier and things do happen.

where is the single track bearing to the left? doesn't show in the topo, or subsequent topos, doesn't show on google earth. if this is the location, the road in the foreground likely remained until the realignment/creation of route 12a, which is the highway next to the rails in the google maps view. also, the bridge street elevated crossing doesn't appear to have existed until the realignment, as the crossing was located at grade on the "old springfield road". finally, the tracks in the distance (postcard) bear to the left, while the tracks at north charlestown bear to the right in the distance.

[wally]

I think the photo is taken from River Rd (Rt 12A) bridge in North Charlestown NH. The track to the north curves in the right direction and the crossing could have been along Depot Hill RD that was eliminated. The track going to the left would have been a construction track for accessing the gravel pit closer to the river that is now the St Pierre Inc. sand and gravel pit.

historic and subsequent topos don't show the track. the gravel pit didn't exist in the 1930s, it was probably developed as part of the route 12a/route 11/interstate 91 development in the 50s and 60s.

also, unity stage road runs adjacent to the tracks, then and now, but doesn't show in the photo.

[CannaScrews]

Here are a couple of cursive writing styles with different "C"'s.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0755620764" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0755620764" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0640315100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MaineCoonCat]

Here are a couple of cursive writing styles with different "C"'s.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0755620764" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0755620764" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 0640315100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've now got my aunt-in-law "on the case".. She and I both agree that we think it isn't a "C" or "c". I'm hoping her historical commission experience will help.. Another thing we find
puzzling is; is that a comma after the word in question and the word I think we all believe is "river"?

card00722_bk comma quest.jpg

[TomNelligan]

For what it's worth, here's a linkable contemporary photo of North Charlestown taken from the highway bridge.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20101 ... 316531.jpg

The first diverging track at left was the last active industrial spur on the original Springfield Terminal. In its last years as a tiny shortline, an ST crew using a leased B&M switcher after ST's 44-Tonner died would grab cars from the B&M to move them a couple hundred feet to that siding, a work rules quirk that the Guilford organization put an end to. The abandoned ST "mainline", as the photographer notes in his caption, is the weed-covered track diverging behind the second locomotive. The track diverging to the left in the background is an industrial spur that did not exist until relatively recent years. If the postcard shows this location 100+ years ago, then there was significant regrading sometime between then and when I first visited this spot in the mid-1960s because the ST track as I knew it diverged more or less on the level per this photo, while the diverging track in the postcard takes a steep downhill dive. All traces of the grade crossing were also gone by the 1960s. This doesn't mean that the postcard photo can't be the same location, but if so, the local topography certainly changed over the years.

[wally]

found a photo showing the same "railroad crossing" style warning signs. and the locomotive in the picture has "boston &" visible, but not either "albany" or "maine".

shows the contemporary time-period for the post-card photo.

[trainsinmaine]

What a great photo! - I'm guessing it's a B&M loco, the photo taken as the train is exiting the magnificent old Salem, Mass., station,1900 or thereabouts.

[trainsinmaine]

I've now got my aunt-in-law "on the case".. She and I both agree that we think it isn't a "C" or "c". I'm hoping her historical commission experience will help.. Another thing we find
puzzling is; is that a comma after the word in question and the word I think we all believe is "river"?

card00722_bk comma quest.jpg

I'm a pastor. I had an elderly deacon in one of my churches who had an alliterative name --- first and last beginning with "C", and that's exactly how he wrote the capital letter. He had beautiful handwriting.

As for the comma, I think it's intended as a period --- or it's a slip of the pencil.

[ewh]

I am a a semi-retired historian and have spent hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours reading 19th century handwriting. The caption on the post card clearly says "This Rail Road runs along the Conn river valley and is a beautiful ride." Never overlook the possibility that the writer was wrong about the location. As for my guess, could this be near Deerfield, MA?

[Ridgefielder]

I think the photo was taken from Bridge St, Charlestown NH looking North. Note the twin peaks at the right & the single peak at the left. The fill corresponds to Clay Brook.

Using Google Earth, you can approximate the same scene if you are in Charlestown NH, & aligning your view with the tracks. the diagonal displacement is due to Google Earth's altitude algorithm where Clay Brook is.
The attached view is close, but getting the correct view takes more time than I wished to devote to this project.

A follow-up with the USGS 1930 published 15 minute map at this location does not show the road in the foreground, however, but the date of the card is at least 12 years earlier and things do happen.

I don't think it's Charlestown. Two reasons;

1. The landscape in general, and particularly the valley off to the right, appears to be heavily wooded. Now the Connecticut River Valley is one of the few parts of VT and NH that is not heavily wooded, even today-- it's some of the richest alluvial farmland in New England. That was even more true 100 years ago, when New England ex-Maine was only something like 30% forested (as opposed to 80% today.)

2. According to the topo maps, the railroad in the Charlestown area is about 100' above the level of the river. Given that we are looking onto the tops of what appear to be mature white pine trees in the distance off to the left, and given that mature white pines are well over 100' tall (some around today have been measured at 180', and there are reports of old-growth trees cut down in the 1700's that were >200'), I'd say the railroad is more than 100' above the level of the valley.

[wally]

i don't know that we can surmise that there are mature white pine trees off to the left. not enough good detail for that. the pines on the hill, in the left foreground (next to the cut for the mainline) are taller than the other trees, but decidedly much less than 100' tall. more like 60', from the scale of the crossing signs, and the two people walking the rails in the cut. the trees on either side of the cut are the only ones, along with the first tree next to the branchline, that we can see the entire stem from ground to top in any detail.

the photo appears to show two grade crossings, the one in the foreground, and one after the cut (there are white structures on either side of the track, in close proximity to the ROW, which are probably another set of warning signs and fences with leaning ends (for lack of a better term - they look similar to pallets laid against the end of the fenceline). there also appears to be a pile of ties against one of the utility poles in the lower right corner of the photo.

wally