Boston & Maine History

I found a site today that gave a pretty good detail on how the B&M started and grew.
Click here http://www.answers.com/topic/boston-and-maine-railroad
Some of you may have already known of this but for those of you who didn't I think it’s a good site.
From the information already on the site can anyone add more information? I didn't have time to click on all the hyper links but one thing I notice was missing was the more up to date information as far as abandonment’s goes. I'm also in the process of trying to get a list of all the locomotive power ever used by the B&M and what there fate turned out to be. (Well I know that's a pretty big task for trying to get all the locomotive power so maybe just diesel local motives for now.)

For a railroad its size, there have been a vast number of books written on the Boston & Maine (including two by myself back in the 1980s), but for detailed history you have got to start with Ronald Dale Karr's "Rail Lines of Southern New England" and "Rail Lines of Northern New England, available through Branchline Press http://www.branchlinepress.com/rail_titles.html, and then pick up as many copies as you can find of the Bulletin of the Boston & Maine Historical Society. There's a ton of stuff in print on the B&M if you want to look for it (including complete steam and diesel rosters published by the B&MRRHS, the former in the form of a book).

Find a copy of The Formation of the New England Railroad Systems by George Pierce Baker, published 1937 by Harvard University Press, and republished by Greenwood Press in 1968. Warning - it ain't easy to find, and if you find it, it will be expensive. Easier to find, less expensive, less detailed, but more approachable as a narrative, is Steelways of New England by Alvin F. Harlow, Creative Age Press 1946. There are other works out there, but these are the most useful IMHO, with Baker being the principal reference for New England.

High Green & The Bark Peelers is an excellent book about the B&M.

Answers.com is a mirror of Wikipedia, which is editable - the B&M article is here. I wrote most of that article; the general idea was to cover the early history and details of the main line in that article, and details of other lines in their own articles. There's definitely room for more in the B&M article though.

Thanks for the information.
There was a website that had a list of all the B&M diesel motive power. I found the site a while back but have yet to find it since. At the time I found it, I didn't pay to much attention to it because at the time it was not what I was looking for. I only wish I paid more attention to it.

b&m 1566 wrote:There was a website that had a list of all the B&M diesel motive power. I found the site a while back but have yet to find it since. At the time I found it, I didn't pay to much attention to it because at the time it was not what I was looking for. I only wish I paid more attention to it.

Not sure if this is the site you found, but here it is anyway:

Boston & Maine (Pre-Guilford) All-Time Locomotive Roster: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/bm.html

Indeed it is
Does anyone know what units were scraped? I seem to be running into a mix up of what was and wasn't; example I have seen websites listing the GP7 1566 (my screen name) as being scraped but others list it as still around. So which one is true? Granted I do keep in mind that some sites maybe off a little given the fact there not official website, but more so being a personalized website.

The 1566 was retired in 1990 and scrapped in 1995. Thanks to John Joyce for the info.

Here is another B&M all-time diesel roster. This one, however, also has disposition information not contained in the one I posted yesterday.

http://home.comcast.net/~railimages/bmros2.htm

Thanks again to John Joyce for sending me the link.

So there was a(n) F7 A unit number 4267.

4267A F7A EMD 8477 3/49 Returned to EMD 2/61.

I never new there was a 4267 A unit, I only thought there was a B unit. Are there any pictures of it?
Why was it returned to EMD? It would be nice to know if it was still around, but knowing three of the four B&M F7's are still around is something to be happy about; one of which is still operational, though not used very much.

b&m 1566 wrote:Why was it returned to EMD?

It was a trade-in on the B&M's GP18 order that year. In those ancient times, railroads generally traded in older locomotives for credit on an order for new ones. Frequently, some durable parts were re-used. Another example is that most of the B&M's FT fleet went as trade-ins on the GP9 order.

Is it true that the B&M’s F7A 4266 was the last train of its kind (F units) to be used buy the B&M? When was it retired? Did it sit on the dead line at Iron Horse Park waiting to be scrapped, or was it sold to the 470 RR Club and moved to N. Conway for restoration shortly after its last run for the B&M?

Did the B&M ever have any BL2's? I remember seeing one with MEC lettering but not B&M. Saw a picture of one at this link http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... d%20Museum

b&m 1566 wrote:Did the B&M ever have any BL2's? I remember seeing one with MEC lettering but not B&M. Saw a picture of one at this link http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... d%20Museum

B&M had BL2's, numbered 1550 - 1553

There is some good photos of one at North Station in the book Equipment of the Boston & Maine Volume 1: Diesel Switchers and Road Switchers