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  • Fate of B&M steam locomotive #827?

  • Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.
Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.

Moderator: MEC407

 #708678  by NellsChoo
 
Hi all

I have a vintage photo of B&M steam engine #827 derailed at an unknown location. Judging by the people's clothing and cars in the background, I'd say it is from the 'teens. I have looked online and, as usual, can't find anything even close to what I need for info. No in-depth steam rosters...

Did locomotive #827 "die" in a derailment? It looks repairable in the photo. All I can see for location identification is a building with a sign that might read "HOAG & WALDON" on it.

Can anyone possibly help with this mystery?

Jonelle
 #708698  by jaymac
 
Jonelle-
The late Harry A. Frye's 1982 Minuteman Steam shows 1911-numbered 827 as a 6/29/88 Taunton 4-4-0 built for the Fitchburg and classed A-29 by the B&M. The 827 is shown as scrapped 7/1913, and there are no notes that indicate a wreck.
A Google of "Hoag & Waldon" brought up, besides your post, a photo of Hoag & Walden on Commercial Street in Lynn. In the background is a grade crossing apparently protected only by a wedge sign on a pole. Check Google to see if the structures in its photo match yours so you can confirm location.
Whatever the incident was, it wasn't serious enough to make into any of the ICC accident reports for 1911, 1912, or 1913 archived on the DOT library site.
Minuteman Steam shows only four members of the A-29 class, all 1888 Taunton products for the Fitchburg, one scrapped in 1912, the 827 in 1913, and the remaining two in 1916, so the 827 didn't have a significantly shorter life than its classmates.
The book has photos of the 826 and 828, but not of the 825 or 827.
 #708727  by NellsChoo
 
VERY GOOD!! I always forget to try Google...

The photo of the shoe factory at first looked like an exact match, but then I got my photo and alas, not a match. Very similar, but not exact. Your photo shows a wood building, mine shows a similar building but of some kind of stone/brick. There are a lot of other wood buildings in my view, though. But I also found that at some point the shoe company had a fire. The description of the fire mentions grade crossings and parallell tracks. Sooooo, I think you might have hit the nail on the head. Maybe the building you found was replaced, or was just out of view in my photo.

I'd love to confirm the location. But so far you've helped a lot!! :-D

Jonelle
 #1461903  by NellsChoo
 
Yesterday I decided to try once again to pinpoint the location of the B&M derailment photo I mentioned here way back in 2009.

The location is West Lynn MA, the accident was in March 1910. I have added a page to my blog covering the discovery: https://newenglanddepot.blogspot.com/20 ... maine.html

Since this accident was in 1910, and #827 was scrapped in 1913, this means this accident most likely did NOT kill off the locomotive!

JD