Looking for photos of amusement park trains

If you do a search on Yahoo or Google for Smokey Joe Railroad there are good pictures and story of a 1940-1950 train in North Hampton NH. I rode it many times as a child

RRBUFF wrote:If you do a search on Yahoo or Google for Smokey Joe Railroad there are good pictures and story of a 1940-1950 train in North Hampton NH. I rode it many times as a child

Can't help but mention... At Clark's trading post there's and engine just like that on display.

Just like you said found this site off of googles.com Some intrusting stuff!
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/hi ... keyjoe.htm

Wasn't there also some amusement park train in Middleton along Route 114 at some point in time?

Mike,

That was the stored equipment from the defunct Joy Town RR which used to be located at the Topsfield Fairgrounds. Most of it ended up in private hands. It never was set up or run at Middleton (Santa's Lookout).

In downtown Danvers, there is a Friend Box Co., and I believe that Lester Friend owned it. In the back, out into the marsh near 128, he had a small scale RR set up, that crossed some of the water on a bridge or bridges. My friend told me about this as his dad works for the company, he also told me that until recently, some track and equipment from it was up in the attic of the building, but they tossed it out at some point.

You can still see the posts that held the bridge in the marsh if you are heading on 128 South and look to your right after you go over Route 62.

The railroad behind Friend Box Co. was the old New England Live Steamers club track. It was started in the 1930s and lasted until the mid-1950s. I rode it several times, as I knew someone who was a member. They had a couple of big "meets" each year when hobbyists from all over the country would come to run their locomotives. The track was dual gauge and could accommodate both 3/4" and 1" scale equipment. It was built on trestlework so you had to ride "side-saddle" with your feet hanging over on the inside. The track originally occupied just the area behind the box factory, but later on they expanded to the vacant land across the Porter River, with the bridge which you can still see the abutments of from Rt. 128. There are apartment buildings there now. The track had a large covered shed which protected the steaming area where fires were lit and the engines prepared for operation. Lester Friend marketed a line of locomotive kits under the name Yankee Shop, and the present package store adjacent to the box factory was the building which was used as a machine shop for producing those "kits" and finished locomotives.

We walked the entire site last summer, and found virtually nothing left except the 2 bridge abutments in the Porter River. We spoke with the current owner of the box company, but they have nothing. He knew about it, but had never seen any of it.

You can find pictures of the track in the Walker Transportation Collection at the Beverly Historical Society & Museum.

Thanks for clarifying that- I had no idea the whole setup was that involved.

My friend had told me about the stuff in the attic because he used to work there too about 10 years ago, he said he found it all up there himself, but then the company got sold to a new owner at some point...or something???