B&M depots signs: any info?

Crazygal, what's the station name? How did you restore the sign?

As Cowford suggests, the value of the sign is directly related to (1) the name of the station, and (2) condition. Major resorts, notable junctions, most cities, branch line terminals will bring hundreds. East Somerville or Hayes, not so much. I was present at two auctions about five years ago where the signs for Bretton Woods and Crawford Notch were sold. Price for BW was $710, CW almost $1000 IIRC.

PBM

Of course, if there's a bidding war and 2 guys just gotta have it as was the case 5 years ago when 2 people had to have the Hollis NH depot sign which eventually went for $4000. It's probably a $500 sign otherwise.

Since the topic is depot signs, was there a rule as regarding how many signs were on 1 depot? It seems that a depot could have up to 4 signs - one for each side but I've see pictures where it appears that as little as 1-2 were present.

I've also seen pictures were there appears to be no depot sign at all. For example, on the Y, H and B the Navy Yard and Kittery Point depots don't appear to ever had a sign in any photo I've seen of either.

Good question. I've seen several historical photos of the B&M Wells Beach station, but can't recall seeing a sign in any of them. Other stations in Wells did have signs in the pictures I've seen (Wells actually had four stations back in the day, two on the Western Route and two on the Eastern Route -- I wonder if that's a record for such a small town?)

MEC407 wrote:Good question. I've seen several historical photos of the B&M Wells Beach station, but can't recall seeing a sign in any of them. Other stations in Wells did have signs in the pictures I've seen (Wells actually had four stations back in the day, two on the Western Route and two on the Eastern Route -- I wonder if that's a record for such a small town?)

No, South Berwick had 5 - Jewett, Great Works, S. Berwick, Cummings and Agamenticus. And possible S. Berwick Jct. where the old B&M mainline met the Eastern although I've can't verify if there was any building there or not.

I did see the Wells Beach station sign at auction years ago but can't remember if that was the station off of 109 or another.

C

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

I think the number-of-depots-in-a-small-town question has been discussed elsewhere, but fwiw, I grew up (using the term loosely) in Wakefield, MA, which hosted Wakefield, Wakefield Junction, Wakefield Centre, Greenwood, Montrose, and Lowell Street. This was partly a result of the late 1800s competition between the B&M and the Eastern. I believe that at one time Middlesex and Essex counties were the most overbuilt rr/trolley counties in the US of A.

PBM

As for porcelain signs, I have three myself, one of which cost me dearly...

Things get really cloudy when you start looking at wooden signs. They may be old, they may not be. I would think that if you could find photos showing an actual painted sign on the actual station, that would help.