Interesting and unique photos of New England railroads

[RealAmerican1776]

When one thinks of American railroads, what comes to your mind? Union Pacific? Southern? Rock Island? What about New England? This region that is very dear to my heart certainly has its railroad history. One of the very first railroad in America was the Granite Railroad in the Boston area opened in the early 1800s. You also have some big name railroads like the New Haven, Providence and Worcester (you gotta say it in the New England accent so its Woestah!) Boston and Maine. Here, I show some interesting and unique railroad photos from one of America's most historic regions.

First up, here is Engine #1 of Rhode Island's Newport and Wickford Railroad. #1 was actually the ONLY locomotive that the Newport and Wickford owned.

[Matthew]

#1 was actually the ONLY locomotive that the Newport and Wickford owned.

I have never seen a locomotive like that before! Apparently it's called a Forney locomotive and it's a type of bogied tank engine. It looks weird to me, but I guess if you grew up in Newport or Wickford it would have seemed very normal.

[RealAmerican1776]

It looks weird to me, but I guess if you grew up in Newport or Wickford it would have seemed very normal.

Rhode Island yes. I spent a few years in Middletown which is north of Newport but on the same Aquidneck Island, but I spent most of my childhood in Warwick which is north of Wickford but Rhode Island is just such a small state (it's the smallest in the country) that it doesn't take very long to get somewhere. But the N&W was a railroad from the turn of the last century. The line was brought by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 'bout 1909. Rhode Island doesn't have a lot of railroads left, we have Amtrak, we have the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (commonly called the T), we have Providence and Worcester, and CSX.

[RealAmerican1776]

Today, we have Nantucket Central Railroad's 'Bug'. A little gasoline powered locomotive that served the island for about ten years from 1907 to 1917 when the railroad was scrapped and most of it's equipment when overseas to help the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War One.

Someone thought that it was so unique, that he wrote a little poem about 'Bug.'

Oh, that funny little Bug,
Hear his coughing chug-a-chug!
See him swing his little tail
as he canters o'er the rail
From Nantucket to his bughouse by the sea!
He's a nightmare, he's a dream.
And his appetite is keen,
For he feeds on gasoline
And his like is yet known by historee.

Every now and then he tries to
Skid along the rotten tires to
Shorten up his journey from Nantucket,
And his single eye gleams red
when he rounds Tom Nevers Head
And he sees his little shed -
He is lucky if he doesn't kick the bucket
But he does the best he can
Over seven miles of sand,
though they they tell me that he sometimes leaves his tail!

Every day this fiery dragon
with his typsy little wagon
like a sailor with a jag on
Comes careening o'er the crooked iron rail.
And through rocky as to gait
And occasionally late,
He is sure to keep his date,
And he never yet forgot to bring the mail!
J.L. Wood's 'Ode to "The Bug."

[RealAmerican1776]

Today, we have Maine's Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railroad Engine #4. A 2 foot narrow gauge rack locomotive that the railroad used from 1902 to 1937. Maine, Vacationland actually had quite a few narrow gauge railroads, mainly serving the state's rich logging industry. The WW&F hauled everything from lumber to potatoes, and passengers.

[RealAmerican1776]

Today, we have Berlin Mills Railway #7, an unusual 2-4-2ST (unusual because here in the States, we don't have a lot of tank locomotives, the only other saddle tank locomotive that I'm aware of was used by the U.S. Navy) that worked on the industrial railroad (Berlin Mills) in New Hampshire from 1911 to 1944.



On a side note, I was coming back from a camping trip over the weekend here in Nevada, we got stuck behind a railroad crossing with what I believe were EMD GP's being used by the Union Pacific Railroad. The locomotives were pulling six or seven oil tank cars probably going to the Fort Churchill Power Plant. I wish I got a picture.

[RealAmerican1776]

Today, we have something different because it's not a locomotive but an old boxcar operated by the old New York and New England Railroad. This boxcar was owned by the Narragansett Brewing Company today on Tockwotton Street in Providence Rhode Island though when this picture was taken, the brewery was in Cranston. The purpose of this boxcar, to carry nothing but beer. By the way you can still find the Narragansett Lager in supermarkets in the Ocean State today.

[RealAmerican1776]

Here's something unusual. It's Boston and Maine's Engine number 77 nicknamed "Boston." It's an inspection engine that was originally built for the Fitchburg Railroad in Vermont in 1873. In the 1890s it became the inspection engine and was used by the Boston and Maine until a fire scrapped the engine in 1901.

[RealAmerican1776]

Continuing with Vacationland, here is Maine Central #1201, it's a monster 2-6-6-2. It's an articulated locomotive so what I understand with these, the front and end wheels of the locomotive operate independently from each other.

[RealAmerican1776]

Today, we have Boston and Maine's number 9, a classic 4-4-0 American locomotive built way back in 1846! The B&M used 'Massachusetts' for thirty odd years until being scrapped in 1878.

[wlindley]

Here's a bit of an ugly duckling from 35 years ago: An ex-Santa Fe CF7 (converted from an EMD F7) lettered for Amtrak, at Boston's South Station in 1987.  My photo.

[RealAmerican1776]

That IS unusual, I didn't think AMTRAK had CF7's, and is that still in Santa Fe livery?

[wlindley]

That was the switcher assigned to South Station, and was still in Santa Fe "Warbonnet" freight colors. Was quite a surprise when I first saw it! I haven't been to South Station since the early 90s; much has changed, I understand, including extension of the New Haven's electrification to there.

[RealAmerican1776]

That was the switcher assigned to South Station, and was still in Santa Fe "Warbonnet" freight colors. Was quite a surprise when I first saw it! I haven't been to South Station since the early 90s; much has changed, I understand, including extension of the New Haven's electrification to there.

My cousin and her husband lives in Boston and when I went two years ago, I was actually able to ride the 'T' from Boston Logan to their house like five minutes away from the airport. But I've never been to South Station. By the way, her husband (I'm not going to say his name for safety reasons) just became a cop for Boston P.D.

[RealAmerican1776]

This one is unusual, it's a Montreal Locomotive Works M-420 operated by the Providence and Worcester. This photo was taken back in 1974 in Pawtucket Rhode Island which is north of Providence, capital of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. But what makes it unusual is that MLW is a CANADIAN company and you don't see a lot of Canadian built locomotives this far south other then Canadian National, Canadian Pacific and there child companies. Actually I was reading and MLW exported only seven M-420's outside of Canada, some of the went to the P&W as we see here, others went down south to South America.

[RealAmerican1776]

Today we have a beauty. It's the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's Class I-5. A streamlined 4-6-4 and the NYNH&H owned 10 of these beauties starting in 1937. Pictured here is an I-5 hauling the, 'Yankee Clipper.'
Let me just say that they really don't make them like they used to!