Photos from the "old days"

Its been about a year and a half since we all got together a talked about the "old days", and since I have a lot of time on my hands lately, I thought I'd get this thread going again.

The "Red Wing" was the overnight train from Montreal to Boston. It was a "good looking" train that carried equipment from both the Boston & Maine and Canadian Pacific. Its last stop before Boston was Lowell, and its 8:35am arrival at North Station made it a favorite with commuters. In the mid to late 50's the "Red Wing" became the victim of three horrendous derailments, the first, was on November 12th,1954 at Nashua,N.H. Speed was a factor, causing the trailing locomotive (3820) to flip over, dragging the rest of the train into a tangled pile-up just north of the station.

Ouch. Did the head end crew survive? Was the locomotive written off or were they able to repair it?

Great pictures as always. Thanks for sharing!

MEC407 wrote:Ouch. Did the head end crew survive? Was the locomotive written off or were they able to repair it?

Great pictures as always. Thanks for sharing!

The "Red Wing" had three wrecks, 1954 Nashua,N.H. no casualties, 3820 a total loss, 1955 Lowell,Mass. no casualties switcher 1123 and F-3 4228 damaged and repaired, 1957 Medford,Mass., Two casualties - engineer and fireman, 4224a and b total loss.
I'll be posting more on the other "red Wing" wrecks in the next couple of days.

Last Week, I left you with the wreck scene at Nashua. Tonight, I'll show you the clean up and aftermath. Sadly, the 3820 was declared a total loss and cut up for scrap at Billerica Shops.

I just realized that one of the pictures on the previous page showed the underframe of what appears to be a heavyweight RPO/baggage in a way I've never seen before. Thanks...

jbvb wrote:I just realized that one of the pictures on the previous page showed the underframe of what appears to be a heavyweight RPO/baggage in a way I've never seen before. Thanks...

That RPO is number 3100.

I don't know what's more amazing these pictures of the fact you can still see both of those cranes in operation almost 60 years later.

Tonight, we have the 2nd installment of the B&M's unluckiest passenger train. The date was August 23,1955, train #325 "Red Wing" was travelling nortbound through Lowell,Mass. as a southbound road freight was setting off cars, and one of Lowell's many switchers was also working the yard. #325 struck a tank car that was out to foul from the southbound freight, sending it, and several boxcars into the Concord River, as well as a coach from #325. The rest of #325's train derailed almost burying the unlucky yard switcher in the debris.

Three photos are all you can upload per post, so here is a shot of the Lowell Switcher surrounded by debris from the wreck of #325 "Red Wing.

Ouch!

The saga of the "Red Wing", the unluckiest train on the B&M, would not be complete if I didn't show you, what I consider, the worst of the three wrecks. I was three years old at the time, the date was November 19,1957, I remember vividly, watching the Boston wrecker lifting the remains of a Central Vermont milk car into a gondola, wreckage was stewn everywhere, I was too young to know that railroad men were dead just 100 feet from where I was standing with my dad. Harvard Street bridge on the Medford-Somerville line was being repaired, a temporary track was built around the construction with a 15 mph speed restriction in place, a speed restriction the crew never got word of, for someone forgot to post the bulletin order at Woodsville and alas, the engine crew went to glory, hitting the temporary track and speed restriction at 60 mph. 4224a and b were almost airborne, killing the engineer and fireman on impact, the three CV wooden milk cars were either badly damaged or turned into kindling, next came the baggage cars, which left the rails and careened through the brick wall of the Converse Rubber factory, injuring baggageman Phil Deming, a gentleman who I came to know and respect twenty years later when I hired out on the B&M. To this day if you go to this site, or pass by on an inbound Lowell train, you can still see the new brickwork on the corner of the factory where the baggage cars crashed into it. Finally, the sleeping cars and coaches all piled into each other in a zig-zag pattern, in all, there were two dead and twenty-three injured, not to mention the massive property damage to railroad and private alike. There were also many stories of people who came within seconds of becoming casualties themselves, if it were not for fate stepping in and lending a hand. There was the woman who was driving her car under Harvard Street bridge when the lead truck of 4224 came crashing down into the street below, nearly missing her car while showering the vehicle with debris, or the woman walking under at the same time and turned around because a little girl from the school across the street knew her and called out to her, and lastly, the several Converse rubber employees who had just gone back to work after having coffee in the break room where the baggage car plowed through, these people certainly lived through a life changing experience.

So, lets get to the photos, most of them taken by the B&M company photographer. As you look at them, its hard to believe, that more people weren't killed that morning.

Because the post was too large, here are two more photos.

Damn...