Madbury NH Sand Pit

I have seen several hints that the Boston and Maine loaded and hauled gravel trains out of a sand pit in Madbury, NH. I have even seen some pictures of a trio of GP7s bringing a gravel train down the main in Madbury. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a spur line branching off from the mainline. Also, both of the sand pits that I could see on Google maps seemed rather far away from the main, meaning a substantial spur would have to have existed to reach one/them. Any ideas?

MinutemanMaroon wrote:I have seen several hints that the Boston and Maine loaded and hauled gravel trains out of a sand pit in Madbury, NH. I have even seen some pictures of a trio of GP7s bringing a gravel train down the main in Madbury. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of a spur line branching off from the mainline. Also, both of the sand pits that I could see on Google maps seemed rather far away from the main, meaning a substantial spur would have to have existed to reach one/them. Any ideas?

I do not know what ideas you'd be looking for, but yes: gravel trains used to run by FA tower in Lawrence back in the '60s. Saw them with my own eyes

There was a spur line into the Madbury pit. It was a west facing switch and left
the main line just west of the of the bridge over the Bellamy River, crossed NH
Route #155 and paralleled the road into the pit, now the road into the Madbury
Metals scrap yard, currently known at Schnitzer. I recall that there were a pair
of flashing signals, but no gates on Rt. 155.

The state of NH rebuilt Rt. #155 and the highway bridge over the river after the
gravel trains ended and much of the remains of the siding were removed. Some
of the rails may still be visible at the entrance to the scrap yard. The spur line
ran nearly the length of the pit and was extended or moved closer to the gravel
pile, as the gravel was taken out.

The gravel went to an I-95 construction project in Saugus MA, which ironically, was
never completed. In addition, the gravel removal began to endanger a town road
above the pit. The gravel company offered to relocate the road, but the town
refused the offer and that essentially ended the mining of gravel there.

I looked for some photos of Madbury pit on the web, but have not found any so far.
There are some photos in some railroad publications and I believe the B&M Historical
Society did at least one feature article on the operation.

Look up Shnitzer Steel, Madbury, NH in Google. Click the map and turn to earth view. Find the access road off of Rt 155. If the image is fall, you can see what looks to be tracks paralleing to the northeast of the road.

Schnitzer, like in "schnitzel." Or something.
If that was the former Madbury Metals, Schnitzer probably bought them up as they did with other local scrapyards in various locations.

And just so it doesn't look like I'm nitpicking on Newpy, 290 Knox Marsh Rd.