Surviving equipment

Unfortunately I am like you when it comes to what happened to passenger cars in Mexico... the vast majority were scrapped after passenger service ended which included many rare and unique cars. Oddly enough, now the Mexican President is having to start from scratch to restore passenger service... what all those old cars could have saved them if they had been retained... B (

Last time I was there, there was an old wood coach preserved next to the also preserved depot in Contoocook NH.

gokeefe wrote:Almost a year ago, while sitting in my bunk one night in the barracks at Bagram Airfield I was doing online research in some of the photo archives when I noticed an uncanny match between two photos taken decades apart. When I realized the potential significance I was surprised to say the least. In the interests of preserving a potentially significant find I chose not to post this information for some time until I could consult with some of the experts in Maine who have worked with these cars. That having been done I am very happy to announce the following tentative addition to the list of Surviving Maine Central Passenger Equipment.

MEC #10, Parlor-Buffet, Spruce

Here is a picture of the car as baggage MEC #336. This conversion appears to have been widely reported and is considered reliable information. I believe that the car is sitting in Thorndike at the former B&ML and is the ex-MoW car currently numbered MEC #948. By sheer coincidence the current picture is taken from a nearly identical angle as the photograph depicting MEC #336.

Here is a list of spotting features that I believe confirm the car's identity when using the picture of MEC #336 for comparison.

Aside from car body style (heavyweight steel with clerestory roof), we can see the following:

1. 2410A, six wheel trucks.
2. Notice what appears to be a marker light bracket at the end of the car
3. Position of air tank
4. Position of some kind of valve manifold next to air tank
5. Notice the ladder and handrailings at the close end of the car. The handrailings are a dead match and the custom ladder is as well.
6. Notice in the more recent photo that the paint is peeling in the areas where the baggage doors used to be. I think this is a result of the priming process (or lack thereof) and may also be a result of the difference in the grade of metal used to close the former baggage door opening.

I could go on but for the moment these spotting features are extremely strong indicators in my opinion. I am very interested in the opinions of the members of the forum on this matter and in particular in the interior condition of the car. Although one would expect the old parlor finishes to have long ago been stripped out they may have simply been covered in sheet metal and left largely intact.

Also look at the odd spacing of the roof vents - the gaps are the same size and location in each photo - no vents over the baggage doors.

I didn't see it mentioned in this thread but at Landscapers Depot on route 125 in Kingston, NH they have a blue and red B&M caboose, a blue B&M boxcar, and a yellow MEC box car. Not sure if these are original or just painted to look the part.

Z31SPL wrote:I didn't see it mentioned in this thread but at Landscapers Depot on route 125 in Kingston, NH they have a blue and red B&M caboose, a blue B&M boxcar, and a yellow MEC box car. Not sure if these are original or just painted to look the part.

All of Landscape Depot's equipment is genuine. The MEC boxcar is #140, the B&M caboose is #432 former, C-32, and I don't know the number of the B&M boxcar.
They also have another B&M caboose, a C-100 series car, way up back in unrestored condition, number unknown, it was for sale a couple of years ago.

On my way up north via Route 3 to Stratford, Monday, I noticed this caboose. Was running on short time, due to family constraints. Any idea if it is of heritage to the B&M or something local?

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.5202162 ... 312!8i6656

I'll defer to local knowledge, but the modern windows & cupola give me the impression of a 1960s or 1970s International product. The body looks a little long and asymmetrical to be one of the C-100 to 137 1959 rebuilds of the 104600 series.

I was surprised to see this photo online. I think it shows the ex-RDG/MEC cars on their way to Korea.

Yes. A number of cars were sold to Korea once most of the passenger service was discontinued. Oddly enough, express service lasted a few more years.

The Colebrookdale Railroad in PA purchased a coach from the CSRX and it was moved out of North Conway by truck recently.
See CSRX thread. viewtopic.php?f=126&t=90306&start=930" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have not confirmed by sighting, but the car is reported to be MEC 2001. Details here.

http://farmtown3.rssing.com/browser.php ... item=12544" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting. I'm assuming they want to restore it to operation?

I believe the MEC's ex-RDG cars were purchased more or less simultaneously with the B&M's, though I don't know if it was the 1946 purchase or the 1952. I think the intention was similar, to scrap wood/SUF passenger ASAP, with priority to services where the wood/SUF cars were used at passenger speeds in trains with steel passenger cars. So the more progress the Main Turnpike made, the less they were needed.

There is a B&M caboose next to Rte 26 in Sumner, Me. if I can get close to it w/o cheesing off the property owner I will make inquiries and post some pics.

I don't have any railroad literature but was there any track between Paris and Sumner?

The Buckfield Branch Railroad chartered in 1847 to run from Mechanic Fallls to Canton.
According to "The Rail Lines of Northern New England" by Robert M Lindsell (2000),
the stations on the line were Mechanic Falls, West Minor, East Hebron Buckfield,
East Sumner, Hartford and Canton. The line south of Canton was abandoned in
1952 by the MEC.

Run the URL below and scroll down to "Rangeley Branch"
for a complete listing of the stations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumford_Branch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There was probably one person more than anybody else responsible for the demise of most of the old equipment from the Boston and Maine of years past. I have a lot of old timetables both public and employee from the better days of the B & M. Some of them date back to the early 1930's. It is simply amazing that the B & M timetables got so thin in the late 50's and through the early and mid 1960's. I am sure that a fair number of these trains were losers but all of them, i am not so sure about that. In less than 10 years Boston - Portland went from 9 daily trains to none, Boston - Concord went from 9 daily trains to none, Springfield - White River Junction went from 7 daily trains to none, the Conway Branch went from 2 or 3 daily trains depending on the season to none, Portsmouth from 8 or 9 to none (I'll bet they wish they had them today. Public timetables went from a large folder something like the Amtrak system folders of today to a single sheet of paper with a couple of folds for the through trains and a separate leaflet type folder for the locals out of Boston. Often it was necessary to change trains half way through a trip and sometimes connections were missed probably intentionally. Boston - Montreal in a Budd Car with nothing for food although knowledgeable folks could avail themselves of a decent diner right next to the station at White River Junction during the 15 or 20 minute stop there. I remember train 76 (The Ambassador) enroute from Montreal to New Haven when we went from a nice smooth and on time to the minute ride on the Central Vermont to White River Junction then a very bumpy ride on the B & M when we had to lose maybe 15 to 20 minutes enroute to Springfield where the connection to New Haven train 59 was lost by maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we had to wait for 97. McGinnis tried his best to kill all of the remaining passenger service in New England and he was probably the most single person responsible for not only the end on the Boston and Maine but probably the Maine Central and the Bangor Aroostook as well. Boston to Caribou, Maine meant a change at both Portland and Bangor and nothing but Budd Cars between Boston and Portland. Mcginnis also tried to ruin the passenger trains on the New Haven as well but he got the boot before he had time to finish the job. In 1958 the B & M changed the format of their employee timetables to a very difficult to read small print and in a hodgepodge fashion, I wonder how their crews were able to get through them. McGinnis got off too easy with a few months in Federal Prison for robbing the kitty on the B & M. I wonder how much he robbed from the New Haven? In any event looking at these old timetables is very interesting. They had one entire employee timetable that was in effect for only three days and then superseded by another complete timetable, I have copies of both. In any event looking at these old timetables is both interesting and refreshes my memory.
Noel Weaver