Yet Another Mystery Photo

Hi all
Well here is a map of Athol, Mass showing roundhouse and yard and overpass , Pat

Yep, it's a map of Athol, but the railroad photo is of Athol Junction in Springfield.

I know the area this map depicts. As you look at it, the directions are reversed: the top is south, the bottom north, the left east, the right west. The tracks of the old B&A branch to Springfield are on the top, along with the roundhouse and freight house. The bridge to the left is an underpass, not an overpass, unlike the photo. It's the Sanders Street underpass, which the B&M still crosses. The long, long dormant B&A track is, believe it or not, still lying there, with trees growing up through the middle of it, right up to the westerly abutment that used to carry it over the street.

It's been confirmed that the photo depicts Signal Tower No. 38, Athol Junction on the Boston & Albany --- this from a definitive list of the B&A's Interlocking Towers prepared on July 9, 1970 by George E. Ford, Jr., and the Boston rail historian Norton D. Clark, who co-authored Boston's Commuter Rail, volumes 1 and 2, in 1986. The info. was forwarded to me earlier today by my railfan friend Chris Coyle of Athol.

Hi
I forgot I had this , and this will clear things up, taken from a B&A rule book dated June 17th 1895.Pat

Looks like we have our answer! While we're on this subject, can anyone tell us when the semaphores were replaced with color lights?

This page lists Tower 38 at Athol Junction with a link to the same photo: http://northamericaninterlockings.com/s ... ada_8.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

caduceus wrote:This page lists Tower 38 at Athol Junction with a link to the same photo: http://northamericaninterlockings.com/s ... ada_8.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The blurring of the ties in the foreground of the image make me think this was taken from a moving train. If the 1929 date is correct, that makes it almost certain it was taken from the rear end-- it would be unlikely, to say the least, that a photographer was riding the pilot beam of a steam locomotive.

Did any B&A trains in the '20's-- the Boston section of the 20th Century Limited, for instance-- carry observation cars?