Mystery Photos New England?

[B&M 1227]

I purchased these photos yesterday from a big collection of New England photos. Was curious if anyone had any leads as to what the locations are. The steamers appear to be narrow gauge, possibly a two footer.

[Mikejf]

The Narrow gauge is not two foot. If it is even Narrow Gauge. Nice photos though. That station shot has a lot of detail.

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

The upper pix of the station and surroundings is standard gauge, a double track main with a siding where a hopper car is sitting. Based on what? Well, since a standard railroad tie is 8 1/2 feet wide, if you look at the pix with this dimension in mind, everything falls into place in perspective. Also, the end steps on the hopper conform to normal standard gauge spacing. Where this is, I haven't a clue.

The lower photo of the two engines and combine is two-foot gauge, again based relative to human proportions and the large overhang of the combine car body and end platforms. The locos appear to be fueled with coal, and the stacks are straight The couplers appear to be early knuckles, with a slot to accommodate log trucks. This would put the date probably after 1900 and before the 19-thirties.There appears to be a lake in the background.This could be a logging company railroad that ends in the middle of nowhere, except that there weren't many that had passenger equipment of any type. Blowing up the picture in a jpg file, the lettering on the sides of the tenders has four or five characters and possibly begins with the letter B. Wild guess - Bridgton & Harrison in Maine, or some logging outfit.

PBM

[MEC407]

My wild semi-uneducated guess for the second photo was going to be Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, or Phillips & Rangeley Railroad, based on the appearance of the locomotives and the passenger car, and the number of characters on the tender. Strictly a guess, though!

[Ridgefielder]

Given the complete absence of evergreen trees and the way the land lies, I'd put the location of the top picture as somewhere in Southern New England, either Connecticut, south/central Mass or northwestern Rhode Island (anywhere close to the coast, you'd have scrub pines in the picture).

The platform track appears to curve left in the middle distance and join the middle track. The platform ends right by the station door. There's no train-order signal mast. And it looks like the telegraph line ends at the station. To me that all suggests we're looking at the terminus of a branch line somewhere, with the switch from the platform track leading to a tail track that would allow a locomotive to run around the train.

The New Haven didn't have that many branches that were *built* as stub-ends (as opposed to through routes that were cut back.) I can tell you which ones it is *not* because the setting is wrong: Ridgefield; New Canaan; Litchfield; South Manchester; Wilson's Point. That leaves Suffield, Watertown, Rockville and Colchester, CT; Hope, RI; and Southbridge, Williamsburgh, and Turner's Falls, MA, on the NYNH&H. Also in Connecticut would be the Chapinville branch off the CNE (in Salisbury) and the Fitchville and Uncasville branches off the Central Vermont (although I think both of the latter ended in mill complexes).

[bunky]

That second picture is not two foot gauge. The passenger car is too wide and tall.

[Cowford]

I agree with Bunky. It may not be standard gauge, but that track sure doesn't look to be 2-ft gauge. The car's door width is noticably narrower than the gauge.

It also looks to me that the loco and particularly the gon to the right actually have link-and-pin pockets and not couplers. I believe locomotives had several pocket heights to address car compatibility issues, which is why it looks different.

[MEC407]

Were there any 3-footers in New England?

[frrc]

Were there any 3-footers in New England?

The Worcester and Shrewsbury RR Was a 3' gauge

-Joe

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

3-footers: Profile & Franconia Notch.

PBM

[TomNelligan]

Also three foot gage was the West River RR in Vermont, which became the Central Vermont's Brattleboro-South Londonderry branch.

That leaves Suffield, Watertown, Rockville and Colchester, CT; Hope, RI; and Southbridge, Williamsburgh, and Turner's Falls, MA, on the NYNH&H.

From personal experience from back when there were tracks, it's not Suffield, Watertown, or Turner's Falls, unless the look of things changed an awful lot by the 1960s. The hills don't look big enough for Williamsburgh, and I believe that the Southbridge branch ended in a mill complex (as did both the B&M and NH branches to Turner's Falls).

[Ridgefielder]

That second picture is not two foot gauge. The passenger car is too wide and tall.

I don't know about that. Look at the door handle. Unless it's set high on an oddly tall door, it should be about 36" off the floor. That means the door is roughly 6-6.5" tall. And compare the car to Wiscasset & Quebec #3: http://www.wwfry.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If I'm right about the size of the door, the rails most certainly aren't 4' 8.5" apart.

[Mikejf]

I will say it again, the 2nd photo is not two foot. There is nothing two foot about it. I have been working on , in, under and around two foot equipment for years. The wheels on the pushcart for one. Too far apart. The locomotives do not match anything that the SR&RL had, and they were the only Two foot RR with more than one tendered steamer.

That has got to be one of the 3 footers mentioned. But the photo may even be from out of state.

[H.F.Malone]

Bottom photo-- could be Surrey, Sussex & Southhampton, a 3-ft line in the south. A 2-6-2 from that road survives at PIne Creek RR in New Jersey.

[Ridgefielder]

Also three foot gage was the West River RR in Vermont, which became the Central Vermont's Brattleboro-South Londonderry branch.

That leaves Suffield, Watertown, Rockville and Colchester, CT; Hope, RI; and Southbridge, Williamsburgh, and Turner's Falls, MA, on the NYNH&H.

From personal experience from back when there were tracks, it's not Suffield, Watertown, or Turner's Falls, unless the look of things changed an awful lot by the 1960s. The hills don't look big enough for Williamsburgh, and I believe that the Southbridge branch ended in a mill complex (as did both the B&M and NH branches to Turner's Falls).

So, using the old USGS maps at historical.mytopo and Google street views, I can *positively* say it is not Colchester (station is wrong), Rockville (town was very built up even in Victorian days, judging by the architecture), or Chapinville (hills are wrong) on the New Haven. South Londonderry, VT on the West River RR is also out-- once again, the station is still standing and looks nothing like the building pictured. I'm *fairly* sure it's not Hope, RI (too built up) or Readsboro, VT on the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington (once again, the hills are too gentle.)

So that leaves the top photo as-- what? Could this be one of the B&M's branches in southern New Hampshire? The trees (elms and maples) and the architecture of the buildings in the background make me 95% certain this is somewhere in New England.

It also strikes me as odd how lifeless the top photo is. There are no cars, horses or people on the road in the background, there's nothing on the station platform, the track is in rough shape. Could this be one of the towns that was flooded out when they built the Quabbin Reservoir in the '30s?