Railroad Forums
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Mattydred wrote:It's gone, B&M Guy. It looked almost identical to the station in Dover from the 1950s, before Amtrak's arrival. There's a supermarket and a large parking lot where Concord depot once stood. And, 1566 was right. That site is well worth investigating.Actually there were a number of structures similar to the one in Concord around the B&M, as the railroad demolished many of the older, larger stations and replaced them the standard one story brick buildings. Off the top of my head you could find them at Lowell, Ayer, and Fitchburg, as well as Dover. I'm guessing there were others at Nashua and Manchester, and I think Lynn had one as well. Some survive to this day. Ayer's is still there, next to the tower. Fitchburg's survived for years as a bussiness, and I'm not certain if it was demolished to make way for the MART Transportation facility or not. Dover was around for years as a MOW office until it was torn down for the Downeaster station. It's an overlooked chapter in B&M history, probably because it was all too depressing, but an interesting one anyway.
citystation1848 wrote:In terms of Nashua and Manchester having McGinnis stations, they did not. Nashua's Union Station was torn down and replaced with Nashua's first fast-food joint, which is the building now home to the Nashua Diner.I've been told by various people who seem to have been in the know that the small, one story building that houses the Bookberry and a martial arts studio was at one time the Ayer station. Perhaps not? Its visible in this photo
So far my list that I know of based on photos is:
(not including commuter rail stations of McGinnis style)
* Concord
http://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/newhamp ... ordMcG.jpg
* Lowell
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20040 ... 627267.jpg
* Dover
http://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/newhampshire/doverp.jpg
I can say pretty certain that Ayer does not have anything standing except the tower and the section houses. If it had one, I don't know.
Matt
cpf354 wrote:I don't think that building was ever a station, otherwise it should have signs of a platform. It could've been connected to the current platforms used by the MBTA, but there would be signs of a door to the walkway to the platforms on the side with the mural, but that wall only seems to have a small window. The building is also set back away from the tracks in relevance to the tower, so there could've been a platform, but most likely the concrete signal base there would've also been removed when the platform was torn out. It also seems odd that the Hollis Branch would run directly through the parking lot of the station.citystation1848 wrote:In terms of Nashua and Manchester having McGinnis stations, they did not. Nashua's Union Station was torn down and replaced with Nashua's first fast-food joint, which is the building now home to the Nashua Diner.I've been told by various people who seem to have been in the know that the small, one story building that houses the Bookberry and a martial arts studio was at one time the Ayer station. Perhaps not? Its visible in this photo
So far my list that I know of based on photos is:
(not including commuter rail stations of McGinnis style)
* Concord
http://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/newhamp ... ordMcG.jpg
* Lowell
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20040 ... 627267.jpg
* Dover
http://www.lightlink.com/sglap3/newhampshire/doverp.jpg
I can say pretty certain that Ayer does not have anything standing except the tower and the section houses. If it had one, I don't know.
Matt
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... key=grs945
Its the building on the right with the murals.
RedLantern wrote:I don't think that building was ever a station, otherwise it should have signs of a platform. It could've been connected to the current platforms used by the MBTA, but there would be signs of a door to the walkway to the platforms on the side with the mural, but that wall only seems to have a small window. The building is also set back away from the tracks in relevance to the tower, so there could've been a platform, but most likely the concrete signal base there would've also been removed when the platform was torn out. It also seems odd that the Hollis Branch would run directly through the parking lot of the station.Yes, that building in Ayer (or the track-side part of it anyway) was used as the passenger waiting room in the 1970s. Yes, it was set way back from the tracks. There were short paved platforms on both tracks that disappeared when the area was completely rebuilt... what's there now is all relatively new. And yes, the Hollis Branch ran through the parking lot and crews sometimes had problems with autos parked too close to the tracks.
jbvb wrote:Concord stopped classifying through freight when the WRJ - Boston through freights were discontinued (IIRC) in 1972. The active part of the yard shrank over the years as traffic fell off, but I believe the main freight yard north of the tower was still pretty much intact as of the Guilford takeover. I don't know when they sold it off, but it was probably about the same time the New England Southern took over local switching - late 1980s?The yard and tracks are still owned by the Boston & Maine (Pan Am). According to Peter of New England Southern the tracks were removed from the rail yard in hopes of selling off the land for development (as freight traffic shrunk of course); as you can see that never happened. There was suppose to be 2 to 3 other tracks left in the yard north of the tower for New England Southern per contract but that never happened (according to Peter). For the line between White River Jct. and Concord, I always though regular service ended in 1978 not 1972. There was 3 or 4 days where it was used again in 1982, 3 or 4? to bypass a derailment. Peter said it was almost used again when he threaded to go north to receive freight for his customers during the last strike (1986??). Shortly after that Guilford removed the rail from Boscawen on north; not sure how much of the rail was removed though. Also New England Southern started operations in 1982.
