Boston & Maine Locomotives

By Bruce D. Heald Ph.D.

Boston & Maine Locomotives is a fascinating history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant railway line.

The Boston & Maine Railroad has long captured the hearts of rail enthusiasts, and its locomotives are models of the majesty, power, and romance of American rail. The Boston & Maine was a railroad dynasty running through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and many still remember hearing the whistle blow as a Boston & Maine locomotive spewing smoke and steam pulled into the station. Boston & Maine Locomotives, the third volume in Arcadia's trio documenting the Boston & Maine Railroad, is a history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant line. The Ten Wheelers, the Mastodons, the Pacifics, and the other classes of locomotive are seen here as they pull passengers and freight throughout the Northeast. The Boston & Maine was one of the last railroads in the area to continue naming its locomotives, and those engines, from nineteenth-century steam to twentieth-century diesel, are recorded here. The Portland, the Newburyport, the General Sherman, and more ride New England's rails once again in Boston & Maine Locomotives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Aug 28, 2002
• ISBN: 9781439611630

Bruce D. Heald Ph.D.

Bruce D. Heald, Ph.D., has written extensively on New Hampshire�s history. In this book, he has assembled a rare collection of images from the archives of the White Mountain National Forest.

Book preview

Whitney.

INTRODUCTION

The history and legacy of the Boston & Maine Railroad began in the earliest years of New England railroading. Its oldest direct predecessor, the Andover & Wilmington Railroad, was chartered in l833. The competitor-turned-lessee Boston & Lowell Railroad received its charter in l831. The Boston & Lowell was one of the initial three railroads chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The 1840s found New England severely afflicted with railroad fever, and lines were being promoted or started throughout the region. Some were but a few miles in length, and others were built on grandiose schemes or solely for the purpose of being bought out or leased by their rivals. During its 150 years of independent existence, the Boston & Maine bought, leased, absorbed, or otherwise controlled more than 145 individual railroads.

Such a plethora of lines and individual railroads’ master mechanics meant that the Boston & Maine’s locomotive roster was anything but staid. American-type 4-4-0s shared track and roundhouse space with 2-6-0 Moguls and 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers of numerous lineages and design as the Boston & Maine expanded and the 19th century waned. Specific designs and accessories aside, a substantial majority of locomotives came from local builders, such as the Manchester Locomotive Works in New Hampshire or the Schenectady Locomotive Works in New York.

Under the control of the New England transportation monopoly created by J.P. Morgan and Charles S. Mellen, the Boston & Maine reached its peak in the pre–World War I years of 1907 to 1914. Only the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, used by Morgan and Mellen as their base of operations and cash cow, exceeded the Boston & Maine in power and influence across the region.

In 1910, the Boston & Maine received four huge 2-6-6-2 compound steam locomotives to keep the trains rolling through the four-and-three-quarter-mile Hoosac Tunnel. They were quickly replaced in 1911 by five electric locomotives that would not asphyxiate crews and passengers alike. Who would have thought that the conservative Yankee Boston & Maine would share the new technology of mainline electrification with the mighty New Haven, Pennsy, and Milwaukee Road lines! The decade also saw delivery of the majority (90) of Boston & Maine’s 4-6-2 Pacific-type locomotives.

In the 1920s, aging 4-4-0s, 4-6-0s, and 4-4-2 Atlantics were joined by expanding fleets of 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 switchers, 10 additional 4-6-2 Pacific passenger locomotives, and 24 massive 2-10-2 Santa Fe–type locomotives. The majority came from American Locomotive Company, or Alco, which was created in 1901 by the merger of Manchester, Schenectady, Brooks Locomotive Works, and several other builders. However, in 1928–1829, competitor Lima Locomotive Works delivered 25 Super Power 2-8-4 Berkshire-type freight locomotives. The mid-1930s found delivery of 10 4-6-2 Heavy Pacifics from Lima and 13 4-8-2 Mountain-type dual-service steam locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works. Gas-electric cars, early diesel-electric switchers, and the stainless-steel diesel-powered Flying Yankee rounded out the eclectic roster of a proud and profitable Boston & Maine.

The final new Boston & Maine steam locomotives (R1-d class 4-8-2s No. 4113–17) arrived from Baldwin in June and July 1941, just in time for the war effort. Although steam did yeoman service during World War II, it was dangerously overburdened. In 1943–1944, the War Production Board allotted the Boston & Maine 12 A-B-B-A sets of 5,400-horsepower FT freight locomotives from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD). The power, efficiency, and more than 97 percent availability of the diesel-electric road locomotive was a dooming combination for steam. In 1946, a large order of diesel freight, passenger, and switching locomotives arrived from EMD, with the streamlined passenger and freight road locomotives clad in the new gold-and-maroon Minuteman paint scheme.

The following year, the Boston & Maine proudly announced that it was 70 percent dieselized and the first New England railroad to dieselize an operating division (the Fitchburg). Between 1948 and 1955, Alco delivered 36 of its RS-2 and RS-3 road-switchers, sending more steam locomotives to scrap. The end of 123 years of Boston & Maine steam operations came in 1956, when aged 2-6-0 Moguls and 4-6-2 Pacifics were replaced by diesels and Budd cars in Boston commuter service.

In 1956–1957, the Boston & Maine traded its 48 old 1,350-horsepower FTs to EMD for 50 new (built with some remanufactured parts) 1,750-horsepower GP-9 road-switcher locomotives. Arriving at Boston & Maine clad in President McGinnis’s new blue, black, and white paint scheme, they were quickly nicknamed Bluebirds. In 1961, six new 1,800-horsepower GP-18s followed—the last pre-bankruptcy locomotives bought by the Boston & Maine as business declined and deficits grew.

By 1960, the age of the automobile and the jet aircraft was in full bloom. Passengers had abandoned the Boston & Maine in droves, lured by the siren song of the interstate highway and the Boeing 707 jet aircraft. Freight business also slumped as heavy industry continued to leave New England.

The Boston & Maine declared corporate bankruptcy in March 1970. The new court-appointed management team ultimately accomplished an income-based reorganization, at 13 years the longest in post-Depression railroad history.

In late 1972, 12 new 2,000-horsepower GP-38-2 road-switchers came from EMD, followed by 18 3,000-horsepower GP-40-2s in late 1977 and early 1978. GP-40-2s No. 300–317 were the final flowering of a motive power saga stretching back 140