• Manchester, NH Station Demolition Date?

  • 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

  by B&Mguy
 
Hey everyone, I was in Manchester, NH this past weekend, and was able to find the site of the former B&M passenger station. Really not much evidence of anything left, as a bank and a parking lot now occupy the site. Can anyone tell me when the old station here was torn down? I'm guessing roughly around the same time as Concord, Nashua and Portland, ME, but I was curious of the specific time.

Such a shame that so many of these beautiful buildings were torn down in such a short time span. Did the B&M coordinate the demolitions of these buildings, or did they all just happen to be demolised during this time?
  by TomNelligan
 
Such a shame that so many of these beautiful buildings were torn down in such a short time span. Did the B&M coordinate the demolitions of these buildings, or did they all just happen to be demolised during this time?
If you're not familiar with the late 1950s administration of notorious B&M President Patrick McGinnis, you should look him up. He sold off a huge amount of B&M real estate including the stations you mention in a move to boost short-term profits. He also gutted B&M passenger service outside the Boston commuter territory and sold off all non-RDC passenger equipment. One of the latter transactions eventually landed him in Federal prison for accepting kickbacks on the sales.
  by ferroequinarchaeologist
 
Manchester station was demolished in 1960.

PBM
  by Bethlehem Jct.
 
Were any passenger facilities erected, such as a shelter, to serve passengers for the last 7 years of service. I know that "McGinnis" stations (masonry shacks really) were built in Concord and Lowell to replace those stations. In Nashua, a portion of the back of Union Station was left standing to serve as a waiting room for passengers until the end of service. The 1965 aerial view of Manchester shows what appears to be a couple of structures close to the tracks, just south of Granite Street, where platform canopies had been.
  by Aerie
 
I believe there was a small square flat-roof cinder-block station erected. I think the B&M Bulletin had a picture of it showing the Manchester signboard. I believe it became a rental car office when service ended. I don't think it's still there though.
  by Bethlehem Jct.
 
Below is a link to an aerial, part of a series of the Amoskeag Mills in Manchester. Can anyone confirm if the small trackside structure in the lower left hand side of the photograph was the "replacement" station for the former station that was demolished in 1960?
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/nh/n ... 5108pv.jpg

Below is another angle. The structure in question in lower right of photograph:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/nh/n ... 5110pv.jpg

According to the LIbrary of Congress' website, the photographs were "created/published" (using their terminology) in 1967. It was on June 30 of that year that the last passenger train left Manchester.