With “Search the Commidty” not working, here is a new thread for the "Round-the-Mountain 1950 NRHS fantrip, wih two B&M Moguls that took the train of wood open-platform coaches from Concord, NH, to Clairmont Junction, and then up the Connecticut River Line to White River Junction, where a Pacific took us back to Boston. Here the train is on the Connecticut River Line, used by both CV amd B&M, pointed north just south of the Junction.
Now that’s pretty darn cool. Moguls on the B&M in 1950, and just how much longer would they survive from that time of the picture?
World-Famous White River Junction! Quite the place in it’s day with plenty of railroad action and picturesque buildings.
How long did the Moguls last? Excuse me while I run and check the book…
Thumpity-thumpity-thumpity, thumpity-thumpity-thump.
OK, I’m back. The Moguls lasted right to the end of steam on the B&M, 1955, still putting on a show in Boston commuter service and other places until the fires were dropped.
You know, about two years ago I bought a book on the Boston & Maine by Robert Willoughby Jones. I’m not a B&M fan but the book is so well written and beautifully illustrated I couldn’t pass it up. The price was right too, which made it even better. Fascinating railroad!
1955 for a Mogul is pretty darn good for a Class 1. CNR and CPR exceptions. Thanks for that Wayne.
You’re welcome Vince!
The late Don Ball said that the B&M’s Moguls looked like they belonged exactly where they were, in the picturesque towns, hills, and countrysides of New England. They just seemed to fit perfectly.
The towns, hills, and countrysides are still there but alas, no more Moguls.
The Concord to Clairmont line had a number of wooden covered bridges, and the line was generally restricted to moguls.
Ok, that explains it. There was a quite a bit of those types of scenarios scattered around the country. CPR’s 4-4-0’s in New Brunswick, Wabash last 2 steam holdouts on account of a bridge, New York Central CASO St. Clair branchline and others. Many lines were abandoned or the steam replaced by SW1’s or other conforming Diesel.
So thanks to as-built engineering limitations giving us some extra time with the small simple steam locomotives.
How did the RRs handle the fire protection for covered bridges ? Especially this one ?
There were large cans of water available, nothing else and no reason to be any different than the large number of timber trestles that nearly every large railroad had. Engineers may have had special instructions to avoid sparks up the stack, but such were very rare after coal replaced wood as fuel.
Anone care to post some covered-bridge photos?
Forgot! Some under-maintained diesels produced lots of sparks!
Actually the main line of the C&C was quite well-maintained, serving as an occasional detour route through WWII for the New Hampshire route (Northern RR) Main Line. On detours some larger B&M locomotives, including Pacifics, were used. The main reason for the Moguls wasn’t the C&C “main” but a couple of branches which were very lightly built.
The C&C had a daily except Sunday mixed train and a daily gas-electric car right up to the sale to Sam Pinsly in 1955 (Pinsly got the Claremont Street Railway at the same time). Pinsly kept the gas car for another year, and leased some B&M moguls until his own 44-tonners arrived. The remaining portion of the C&C west of Pleasant Street in Claremont is now owned by New England Central (G&W).
I’m pretty sure Dave’s picture was taken at Bank in White River Jct., which was the south end of the B&M yard, just about where I-89 crosses over the Conn River today. The wooden road bridge is long gone. The interlocking signal protected the junction of the CV main (right hand track) and the B&M yard lead. Today’s Bank is a couple of hundred yards further south, where Vermont Rail Systems’ Washington County Railroad (from Newport and St. Johnsbury) joins NECR’s ex-CV main. NECR has Claremont-Concord’s rights to the ex-B&M Westboro yard in West Lebanon NH, across the Connecticut River.
Steam on the North Station commuter fleet was not completely replaced untiil the massive order of Budd RDCs replaced coaches and locomotives, then mostly GP7s and RS3s, but with some Pacifics and more Moguls still in use, in 1955, with the reassigned GP7s and RS3s replacing the last freight steam operations. Also, wood open-platform coaches were still in use until the RDCs took over the suburban operation.
Posted a few years ago, here again was the northbound Ambassador photographed from across the tracks from the first picture:
And after the engine change to a CV Mountain:
And our fan-trip train, with the Pacific on the south end to take our train back to Boston:
From the book The Concord & Claremont Railroad by Edgar T. Mead, p.35:
“Sometimes a wreck or washout on the high-class Northern line between White River Junction and Concord would force mainline trains over the Claremont Branch. Although big Pacifics were theoretically able to travel the branch, in practice the mainline engine would be replaced at Claremont Junction with doubleheaded Moguls for the run over the mountains.”
Edit: In 1961 F. Nelson Blount brought in an ex-CN 4-6-4T, which would have had to travel over some of the covered bridges, but the excursions didn’t cross the bridges.
I took some photos in 2001 of the Contoocook bridge when I visited my old hometown, but they were pre-digital. I found a couple of sites that had photos of this bridge, and another.
Post-raii-abandonent, but good to see anyway. I tried improving the color picture, and you can judge for yourself if there is an improvement:
Still not satisfied, so:
There are photos of Pacifics in Sunapee, which was bracketed by covered bridges (Contoocook on the east, Newport on the west). It seems to have depended a lot on whether moguls (and crews) were available. Claremont Jct.'s turntable was too small to turn the bigger engines. The south leg of the wye, since removed, was pretty tight.
Once thought this photo was to far-gone to rescue, but a day’s work removed the scratches, well most of them. But now I don’t identify where the ex DL&W Pacific was taking water. Also White River Jc.?
And is it possible that some classes or a class of B&M Pacifics were allowed between Concord and Caremont Junction and others not?
The fantrip Pacific was ex-DL&W. and the B&M had some fairly modern and heavy Pacifics built, I think, in the late 1930s.
Besides the light bridges, there was a lot of 75# rail on the C&C.