BOSTON, 
 
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 BY C. E. CAS WELL 
 
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BOSTON, CONCORD & MONTREAL 
 
 STORY OF THE BUILDING AND EARLY 
 DAYS OF THIS ROAD 
 
 y 
 
 M 
 
 -\ 
 
 BY C. E. CASWELL 
 
 1919 
 
 THE NEWS PRESS 
 Warren, N. II. 
 
H£ 
 
 17 <?/ 
 
 CM 
 
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 EDICATED to the memory of 
 the pioneers who made rail¬ 
 road history in the north coun¬ 
 try with hand brakes and wood 
 burning locomotives, when railroad¬ 
 ing was in its infancy.Good and 
 
 true men, the most of whom have 
 finished their work, lain aside their 
 grimy suit of blue for a robe of white 
 
 and passed to the great beyond. 
 
 Many of whose names are spoken al¬ 
 most with reverence; though they are 
 dead they yet live and their works 
 
 will never die.May their ashes 
 
 rest in peace, for “they budded better 
 than they knew.” 
 
 « 
 
 — C. E. CASWELL. 
 
 Warren, N. II. 
 
 WBHWWBEa 
 
 AUG 1 9 1993 
 
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 3 
 
 BOSTON, CONCORD & MONTREAL. 
 
 Story of the Building and Early 
 Days of This Railroad. 
 
 BY C. E. CASWELL. 
 
 The first railroad in the United 
 States was at Qunicy, Mass., from 
 the granite quarries to the Neponset 
 river, and it was run by horse-power. 
 As early ias 1782, Oliver Evans of 
 
 Philadelphia patented a steam-wag- 
 on. He built a high-pressure engine, 
 placed it on wheel's, and it trans¬ 
 ported itself a mile and a half. But 
 it was not until 1829 that a loco¬ 
 motive was actually running in Am¬ 
 erica. The first American engine to 
 be run in the United States was the 
 “Tom Thumb”, constructed by Peter 
 Cooper and placed on the Baltimore 
 and Ohio road in 1830. This was too 
 small to be of practical service; but 
 the same year the locomotive “Best 
 Friend” was built in New York and 
 put on the road between that city and 
 the town of Hamburg, being the first 
 working locomotive built in America. 
 The first actual and practical use of 
 a locomotive on an American road 
 was on a railroad built in 1828 by the 
 Delaware and Hudson canal company 
 from their mines to Honesdale, the 
 terminus of the canal, and where a 
 locomotive imported from England 
 was running in the summer of 1829. 
 
 At the New Hampshire legislature 
 in 1844 the Boston, Concord & Mon¬ 
 treal Railroad was chartered to be 
 built from the town of Haverhill to 
 Concord. The charter in part read: 
 
 “Be it enacted by the Senate and 
 House of Representatives in General 
 Court Convened,—That James Cofran, 
 Zanes Clement, John Taylor, William 
 Badger, Stephen Gale, David Pingree, 
 Warren Lovell, Samuel Bean, Ob- 
 adiah Smith, Walter Blair, William 
 Russell, Josiah Quincy, John Page, 
 
 John McClary, John McDuffee, Wm. 
 A. Woods, Samuel Ross, Daniel Pat¬ 
 terson, William V. Hutchins, Arte- 
 mus Morse, Cyrus Eastman, William 
 Brackett, James Allen, Samuel Hutch¬ 
 ins, Jacob Kent, Jr., their associates, 
 successors, and assigns, be and here¬ 
 by are made a body politic and cor¬ 
 porate by the name of the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal Railroad, and 
 by that name may sue and be sued, 
 prosecute and be prosecuted to final 
 judgment and execution, and are 
 hereby vested with all the powers 
 necessary and proper to carry into 
 effect the purposes and objects of 
 this act; but shall hold no more land 
 exclusive of that within the limits of 
 the rohd and land purchased to pro¬ 
 cure stones, sand and gravel than 
 shall be worth at the time of its pur¬ 
 chase five per cent of the capital 
 stock of the corporation. 
 
 The said corporation is hereby 
 authorized and empowered to con¬ 
 struct and finally complete for public 
 use, and keep in use a railroad, be¬ 
 ginning at any point on the westerly 
 bank of the Connecticut river oppo¬ 
 site Haverhill or Littleton in this 
 State, or any town on said river be¬ 
 tween the towns aforesaid, thence 
 passing in the direction of the Oliver- 
 ian route, so called, to Plymouth, 
 thence by a route over and in the di¬ 
 rection of the valley of the Pemi- 
 gewasset, or Winnipissiogee, or Mer¬ 
 rimack rivers, or over and in the di¬ 
 rection of said rivers or such part of 
 the valleys of either of the same, as 
 shall be deemed best to accomodate 
 the public, to any point in Concord 
 or Bow, so as to enter on the Concord 
 railroad, and having the right to use 
 the same or any part thereof, paying 
 therefor such a rate of toll as the 
 
 Legislature may from time to time 
 prescribe, and complying with such 
 rules and regulations the said Con¬ 
 cord Railroad Company may estab¬ 
 lish. Provided, that if said Boston, 
 
4 
 
 Concord & Montreal Railroad shall be 
 located and constructed so as to en¬ 
 ter the valley of the Merrimack river 
 at any point in the town of Franklin, 
 or at any point between said town 
 and the point where it shall enter in 
 and upon the Concord Railroad afore¬ 
 said the Northern railroad having 
 been first located and constructed; 
 the said Boston, Concord & Mon¬ 
 treal Railroad shall have a right to 
 enter in and upon said Northern 
 railroad at such point and have the 
 right to use the part thereof between 
 such point and said Concord railroad, 
 subject to such toll and laws as the 
 Legislature may from time to time 
 prescribe, and the by-laws and reg¬ 
 ulations of said Northern Railroad.” 
 
 The last Section of the charter says 
 “No person who is not a citizen of 
 the United States, and living within 
 the jurisdiction of the same, shall 
 ever be an officer or conductor of 
 this corporation.” The charter is 
 signed by HARRY HIBBARD, Speak¬ 
 er of the House of Representatives; 
 TIMOTHY HOSKINS, President of 
 the Senate; and Approved by JOHN 
 STEELE, Governor, December 27th, 
 1844. Seven days later Secretary of 
 State, THOMAS TREADWELL af¬ 
 fixed to the charter the state seal 
 over his signature, dating it January 
 3, 1845. 
 
 New Hampshire railroad laws at 
 that time (74) years ago, were few 
 and brief. Those on the statutes at 
 that time comprised but twenty sec¬ 
 tions. There was no difficulty in dis¬ 
 posing of stock of the new corpora¬ 
 tion sufficient to warrant the begin¬ 
 ning of construction. Previous to 
 granting of the charter a survey had 
 been made from Haverhill (Woods- 
 vilile) to Concord by John McDuffee 
 at a cost of a thousand dollars, and 
 Section 10 of the charter stated that 
 if a railroad was constructed over the 
 
 route or under the charter the cor¬ 
 poration must reimburse McDuffee to 
 that amount. 
 
 Jeremiah S. Jewett drove the first 
 stake at Concord for building of the 
 road. Later Mr. Jewett engaged in 
 the mercantile business at Warren 
 and for years made money. Later in 
 life he became a Methodist minister. 
 
 Work of building the road went 
 steadily on and the first printed re¬ 
 port the corporation issued was in 
 1848; (71) years ago. Up to that 
 time there had been expended $325, 
 608.06 and for this amount of ex¬ 
 penditure the road had been built 
 from Concord to Sanbornton Bridge 
 (now Tilton) and was then ready for 
 use. From Sanbornton Bridge to 
 Lake Village the road was well under 
 way in May of that year; but beyond 
 Lake Village not much had been ac¬ 
 complished aside from the survey. 
 The 18 miles of road from Concord 
 cosi approximately $215,176 11. The 
 cirs and engines for working the 
 road, that had been purchased and 
 contracted for up to lhat time, ac¬ 
 cording to the annual report of the 
 directors were as follows: 1 small en¬ 
 gine, for gravel train; 2 eighteen ton 
 passenger engines; 1 twenty ton 
 freight engine; 4 eight-wheel passen¬ 
 ger cars; 10 eight-wheel box freight 
 cars; 6 eight-wheel platform cars; 
 8 four-wheel box freight cars; 8 four- 
 wheel platform freight cars; 5 dump¬ 
 ing cars; 2 pairs of baggage cars. 
 Of these, at that time, the small 18 
 ton passenger engine, four passenger 
 cars, six 8-wheel platform cars, and 
 fifteen dumping cars had been re¬ 
 ceived and paid for and were in use 
 upon the road. The residue were to 
 be delivered from time-to-time, and 
 the directors in this report stated it 
 would require about $33,000 to pay 
 for them. The iron for the twenty- 
 nine miles from Concord to Lake 
 Village at this time had been obtained 
 
on very favorable terms. The pattern 
 adopted was of the weight of 50-lbs. 
 to the yard but by laying the track 
 with bearings of two feet and six 
 inches it was believed to be of equal 
 if not greater strength than a heavier 
 rail with the usual bearings of three 
 feet. A few months previous to this 
 the directors sent an agent to Eng¬ 
 land who made contracts for twenty- 
 two hundred tons of rails, at a price 
 which would lay them down in Bos¬ 
 ton at a cost no't varying materially 
 from about $60 per ton, and about 
 $60,000 were remitted in advance as 
 part payment. By the terms of the 
 contract, fifteen hundred tons were 
 to be shipped in the summer, so as 
 to allow the road to Sanbornton 
 Bridge (Tilton) to be opened in the 
 fall of 1847. This expectation was 
 disappointed by the failure of the 
 contractors to ship at the time agreed 
 upon, and in consequence the open¬ 
 ing of the road was delayed until the 
 next spring. For this delay damages 
 were claimed, and by agreement four 
 thousand five hundred dollars were 
 allowed in money, and a contract 
 taken for further quantity at a re¬ 
 duced price. Two shipments, am¬ 
 ounting to 350 tons, were lost at sea, 
 but were covered by insurance at a 
 valuation which enabled the corpor¬ 
 ation to realize a profit of nearly 
 $3,000. These two items served to re¬ 
 duce the cost of the rails from Con¬ 
 cord to Sanbornton Bridge (Tilton) to 
 about $58 per ton. 
 
 The Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 Railroad was chartered within the 
 right to construct a railroad from 
 Concord to Haverhill, and could un¬ 
 der the charter extend the same 
 northwards to the north line of Lit¬ 
 tleton. The time allowed by the 
 charter for such work was until the 
 year 1855. 
 
 The directors in their report of 
 1848 said “it has been proposed, and 
 some efforts it is understood have 
 
 been made, by some of the kind 
 friends, who, though not themselves 
 stockholders, have been in times past 
 so exceedingly anxious to watch over 
 the interests of this corporation, that 
 the road should stop at Meredith. 
 The directors can only say, that in 
 their judgment the proposition to 
 stop at Meredith would be equalled 
 in folly only by a proposal to stop 
 all existing railroads at a point at 
 which they are now. The history of 
 railroads in this country is a short 
 one, but thus far no instance is re¬ 
 corded of a railroad being discon¬ 
 tinued at any point beyond which 
 there was a country to extend into. 
 The rule seems to be one of constant 
 progression. It is not believed the 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal Rail¬ 
 road will prove an exception.” N “The 
 idea that the people of Northern New 
 Hampshire would be content to see 
 the enterprise cut short at Meredith, 
 and left to the accommodation of a 
 mere spur or branch from the North¬ 
 ern Road, owned by a corporation 
 whose sympathies and interests are 
 not in harmony with theirs, and to 
 extend a longer or shorter distance, 
 at their will and pleasure is absurd. 
 The people of northern New Hamp¬ 
 shire wish to see our road completed, 
 and in this feeling they have been 
 sustained by a very large majority of 
 the people of the state, who have re¬ 
 peatedly expressed their views 
 through their representatives. The 
 directors do not believe that this cor¬ 
 poration itself, if disposed, could 
 prevent the extension of the railroad 
 from Meredith to Haverhill. Should 
 we abandon the upper part of the 
 route, another corporation would no 
 doubt be immediately created, to 
 build another road over it.” The 
 board of directors consisted of the 
 following gentlemen: Josiah Quincy, 
 President; E. Hasket Derby, T. Far¬ 
 rar, Zenas Clement, S. C. Lyford, Ira 
 Goodall, James M. Whiton. 
 
6 
 
 On the 22nd day of May, 1848, reg¬ 
 ular trips of passenger trains com¬ 
 menced between Concord and San- 
 bornton Bridge (now Tilton), and a 
 freight began to run the first of June 
 of that same year. On the 8th of 
 August the roiad was opened to Mere¬ 
 dith Bridge (now Laconia) and to 
 Lake Village (now Lakeport) the 
 next October. On the 19th of March, 
 1849 it was further opened to Mere¬ 
 dith Village. Thirty-eight miles of 
 the road had been opened within 
 twelve months ending on the 1st of 
 May of that year. In addition to 
 this, three miles moire of road-bed 
 had been prepared and was then 
 ready for the rails to be laid down, 
 carrying the road to -the foot of 
 Fogg’s hill in New Hampton, and 
 within nine miles of Plymouth. 
 
 During the time the cars had been 
 running up to May 1, 1849, a period 
 of only twenty-two days of one year, 
 the directors stated it worthy of note, 
 that in only one instance had there 
 been a failure to meet the connecting 
 roads at the proper time, occasioned 
 at the time of a heavy snow in the 
 winter by an irregular transmission 
 of orders. Up to that time no acci¬ 
 dents had occurred on the road, no 
 life had been lost, nor so far as could 
 be learned had any material injury 
 occurred to any person or to the 
 property of the company. The am¬ 
 ount paid for damages to that date 
 was $22.76 for a cow destroyed by 
 one of the locomotives the previous 
 October. 
 
 At the session of the legislature of 
 1848 a charter was granted and a 
 company soon organized for the pur¬ 
 pose of building a steamboat to ply 
 on Lake Winnipesaukee. This en¬ 
 terprise insured a large increase of 
 travel over the road during the sum¬ 
 mer months. The railroad aided the 
 new company in building such a 
 steamboat to the extent of $5,000 and 
 the side-wheel propelled Lady of the 
 Lake was built. 
 
 The directors in their report this 
 year mentioned the fact that depot 
 buildings and station houses had 
 been built as needed. They were of 
 neat appearance and conveniently ar¬ 
 ranged. The repair shop was at 
 Lake Village, a most convenient point 
 and affording, at comparatively little 
 cost all the facilities for keeping the 
 railroad machinery in a most effec¬ 
 tive state. 
 
 The final survey started for the 
 roadway between Meredith and Ply¬ 
 mouth. By a re-survey a saving was 
 made in crossing the Summit in Hold- 
 erness of some $20,000 or more by the 
 change in the location of the line on 
 one section alone. Between the Sum¬ 
 mit and the Pemigewasset, an entire 
 change was made and another im¬ 
 portant saving thereby effected. The 
 re-surveys between West Rumney and 
 Wentworth village resulted in the 
 abandonment of a route through the 
 Buffalo Pass, by which it was claimed 
 was effected a saving of not less than 
 $13,000, even supposing 'the line had 
 gone through the Pass at a 60 foot 
 grade and no rocks encountered. At 
 that time it was estimated that the 
 saving by a re-survey from Meredith 
 Bridge (Laconia) to Wentworth was 
 not less than $75,000, while the dis¬ 
 tance had not been increased half a 
 mile. 
 
 Up to this time the road had three 
 18-ton passenger engines, tw r o 20-ton 
 freight engines, one gravel engine, 
 four box freight cars, nine section or 
 push cars, eight hand-cars for track¬ 
 men, besides the equipment of rolling 
 stock on hand the year before. There 
 were ready for delivery early in the 
 summer of 1849 two new passenger 
 cars and one new locomotive. 
 
 Right here it would not be out of 
 place to publish a paragraph from 
 the Boston Daily Advertiser, of Feb¬ 
 ruary 1, 1849, giving the number of 
 passengers over several of the prin¬ 
 cipal railroads in Massachusetts, av¬ 
 eraged, per train during that year. 
 
These roads all terminated in Bos¬ 
 ton. Boston & Maine, averages per 
 train 64 passengers; Boston & Low¬ 
 ell, 60; Boston & Worcester, 60; Bos¬ 
 ton & Providence, 48; Fitchburg, 
 4714; Old Colony, 4314- 
 
 During the year of 1849 contracts 
 were made for about 30,000 sleepers 
 to be delivered on the line of the 
 road for 15 cents for hemlock, and 
 oak or ash at 18 cents. Bridge tim¬ 
 ber for two bridges over Baker’s riv¬ 
 er, amounting to about 80.000 feet 
 at $11 per thousand; the freight and 
 passenger depot at Wentworth, was 
 also finished at a cost of $500. The 
 freight and passenger depot at War¬ 
 ren, also engine house and car house 
 was gotten under way and a little 
 later completed at a cost of $1,350. 
 All the fencing from West Rumney 
 to W T arren was done at 85 cents a 
 rod. In 1849 the Boston. Concord & 
 Montreal property and equipment was 
 as follows: Track from Concord to 
 Plymouth, 51 miles and 480 feet; side 
 tracks, 2 miles, 373 feet; blacksmith 
 shop at Concord; depot and wood 
 shed. East Concord; depot, Canter¬ 
 bury; depot and two wood sheds at 
 Northfield; freight depot and engine 
 house at Sanbornton, (Tilton); de¬ 
 pot, Union Bridge; passenger and 
 freight depot, Meredith Bridge (La¬ 
 conia); Lake Village: repair shop, 
 engine house, waste house, car house, 
 wood shed, freight house, passenger 
 depot; depot at Weirs Bridge; de¬ 
 pot at Steamboat wharf, Weirs 
 Bridge; Meredith Village: passenger 
 depot, freight house, engine house 
 and wood shed; depot at Holderness; 
 Plymouth: passenger depot, freight 
 
 depot, car house, wood shed, engine 
 house; six car houses at sundry 
 places for hand cars and road tools, 
 turn tables at Sanbornton, Meredith, 
 Lake Village and Plymouth; depot 
 furniture, clocks, scales, safes, etc., 
 valued at $1,530.32; road tools, hand 
 and gravel cars, etc., costing $6,045.- 
 
 28; machinery and tools in shop, 
 $11,113.44; four 1st class passenger 
 18 ton engines, two 1st class 20-ton 
 freight engines, 1 second-class gravel 
 engine; 7 eight-wheel long passenger 
 cars, 4 eight-wheel baggage and post 
 office cars. Of the freight equipment 
 there were 133 freight cars including 
 box and platform cars. There were 
 15 gravel or dumping cars, 10 hand 
 cars, 7 section cars. 
 
 With reference to free passing over 
 the system during the month of April, 
 I860, passes were issued ias follows: 
 22 agents, 23 directors, -wood agents 
 and clerks 27, road master and resi¬ 
 dent engineer 18, freight agent 6, 
 paymaster’s clerk 4, engineers 6, 
 contractors 18, officers of steamboat 
 company 18, railroad commissioners 
 5, relatives of a Mr. Dearborn, a B. 
 C. & M. brakeman killed at Lowell, 6, 
 section men, shop hands, station 
 agents, conductors, brakemen, etc., 
 117 
 
 At this time (1849) there were em¬ 
 ployed in the running department 
 two passenger conductors each re¬ 
 ceiving a salary of $500 a year; three 
 passenger brakemen at $1.25 a day; 
 two passenger engineers each re¬ 
 ceiving $55 a month; two passenger 
 firemen each receiving $1.25 per 
 day. General ticket agent $500 per 
 year. 
 
 Freight conductors received $550 
 per year and there were three of 
 them; one freight engineer at $50 a 
 month and one fireman at $1.25 per 
 dqy. 
 
 At Plymouth there was a general 
 freight agent receiving a salary of 
 $750 a year, and two assistants at 
 $1.00 a day. The station agents re¬ 
 ceived $1.25 a day, with three or four 
 exceptions where the pay was $1.12 : ^4 
 At Canterbury the duty of station 
 master was performed by the section 
 gang. There was one switchman at 
 Concord and he received $1.25 a day. 
 The paymaster and general bookkeep- 
 
if 
 
 er received a salary of $600 a year. 
 Superintendent of the repair shop at 
 Lake Village received $800 a year; 
 he had three machinists who were 
 paid $1.50 a day each, one $1.25 and 
 another who received $1.00. The 
 foreman of the blacksmith shop got 
 $2.00 a day. There were three assist¬ 
 ants whose pay were $1.00, $1.17 and 
 $1.50 per day. The foreman of wood 
 shop received $2.00 a day while seven 
 wood workmen each received $1.50. 
 There were two watchmen who also 
 acted as switchmen at $1.00 a day. 
 The shop’s time keeper was paid $1.00 
 a day. These prices are given that 
 may be noted the contrast in wages 
 paid 70 years ago and the prices of 
 the present day. At the time of these 
 prices the road had nine sections of 
 about six miles each, and the section 
 foreman worked for $1.25 a day and 
 'the other trackmen received $1.00 a 
 day; in all, nine men at $1.25 and 
 eighteen men at $1.00 per day. There 
 was one engineer of gravel trains 
 working at $1.50 and his fireman for 
 $1.00. 
 
 It was in June 1851 the road was 
 completed to Warren and opened for 
 business. At the annual meeting on 
 the 27th of May, 1851 the directors 
 were instructed to proceed with the 
 remaining division between Warren 
 and Wells River, at a cost estimated 
 at $500,000. Work was started at 
 once and rushed to completion as fast 
 as possible. 
 
 In the month of August, 1846 
 ground was first broken in Concord 
 for the building of the Boston, Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal Railroad. On the 
 tenth day of May, 1848, the cars pass¬ 
 ed over the first section of the work, 
 from Concord to Sanbornton Bridge 
 (now Tilton) 18 miles. The road 
 was further opened to Meredith 
 Bridge (now Laconia) in August, and 
 to Lake Village in October, of the 
 same year; to Meredith Village in 
 March, 1849; to Fogg’s Hill in July 
 
 of the same year; to Plymouth in 
 January, 1850; to Warren in June, 
 1851; and on the 10th day of May, 
 1853 the road was opened for public 
 use to its terminus at Wells River—• 
 93 miles from Concord. 
 
 In 1852 the road met with some re¬ 
 verses. There were unusually heavy 
 expenses for repairs that year in¬ 
 cluding a wreck at the Weirs the fall 
 before, and a number of freight cars 
 had to be replaced. A number of 
 freight cars were broken up by being 
 derailed on the Manchester and Law¬ 
 rence road the February before. 
 
 The first serious, wreck to occur on 
 the road took place in October, 1852 
 near the Weirs, which resulted in the 
 loss of six lives, and injuries and 
 bruises to some forty persons. 
 
 In those early days that discipline 
 and strict rules in many particulars 
 were maintained is evident, for in the 
 annual report of the directors for the 
 year 1852 they had a special message 
 to the stockholders as follows: “The 
 proper precautions for safety to the 
 trains, passengers and freight, have 
 at all times had the most anxious 
 consideration of the directors and 
 superintendent. The discipline of 
 the road has been as rigid, it is be¬ 
 lieved, as can possibly be carried in¬ 
 to effect. Under our system an em¬ 
 ployee is uniformly discharged for 
 negligence, or neglect of orders which 
 might possibly cause an accident, 
 even if none should occur. In¬ 
 stances of neglect or disobedience 
 have been rare but, when they have 
 occurred, the discipline has been 
 
 strictly enforced, even in one instance 
 to the removal of a valuable man, 
 whose duties were governed by time, 
 for allowing his watch to stop. Care 
 is taken to employ none but men of 
 correct moral habits, and no person 
 known to use ardent spirits is al¬ 
 lowed to be employed about the road.” 
 
 t 
 

 Mr. James N. Elkins, who from the 
 start had been connected with the 
 road as sort of general manager, 
 performed his last day of active ser¬ 
 vice May 10, 1853 on the day of the 
 annual meeting of the corporation at 
 Woodsville depot, which was the day 
 the first train ran in to that station. 
 Mr. Elkins passed away a few days 
 later. By request of the directors, 
 Mr. James M. Whiton, who had since 
 the road was chartered, served on the 
 board of directors, was appointed to 
 assume the superintendence of the 
 road pro tern and held the position 
 for a number of years. 
 
 In 1854 the road owned fourteen 
 first-class engines and the operation 
 of the trains was being carried on 
 with promptitude and dispatch. 
 Twelve of the locomotives were made 
 by the Boston Locomotive Works, 
 one by the Globe Works, at South 
 Boston, and one was constructed in 
 the railroads’ own shops at Lake Vil¬ 
 lage. Besides these fourteen loco¬ 
 motives there were ten long passen¬ 
 ger cars, and about four hundred and 
 fifty freight cars. 
 
 Accidents were few and far between 
 in early days and this fact was a 
 matter of gratification to the railroad 
 people as well as the public in gen¬ 
 eral. In the winter of 1853 a freight 
 conductor was considerably injured 
 by the displacement of timber on a 
 freight car in the month of January. 
 Another accident which was un¬ 
 avoidable on the part of the train 
 crew is told of a person said to have 
 been intoxicated who lay down on the 
 track near Lake Village one evening 
 of the same year as mentioned above, 
 and was run over in the darkness by 
 a freight train and so much injured 
 that he survived but a few hours. 
 The freight conductor mentioned 
 above was W. B. Douglas, who was 
 on one of his trips, in Northfield was 
 
 9 
 
 struck by a stick of timber by some 
 means working loose, carried off the 
 top of the saloon car, and broke 
 both of Mr. Douglas’ legs. Mr. Doug¬ 
 las afterwards recovered and was 
 made station agent at Woodsville 
 In March of that same year George 
 Randall, (nicknamed Bobbie) fire¬ 
 man, in attempting to leap from an 
 engine at Lake Village, struck the 
 ice and fractured his thigh. Randall 
 recovered, and for many years ran a 
 locomotive between Woodsville and 
 Concord. He was said to be one of 
 the most faithful employes the road 
 ever had. 
 
 Here follows some facts with ref¬ 
 erence to locomotives owned by 
 
 the road in 1854 which have never 
 before appeared in any newspaper or 
 history, and published in this vol¬ 
 ume that future generations may 
 realize in a measure the appearance 
 of the early wood burning engines. 
 
 The Old Man of the Mountain, was 
 a passenger engine with four drivers 
 5y 2 feet high, and weighed 22 tons. 
 
 Lady of the Lake, was the same 
 weight but her drivers were six inch¬ 
 es smaller. Both the above machines 
 were inside connections. 
 
 Granite State was a freight engine 
 with four and a half foot drivers, and 
 outside connections. Her weight was 
 23 tons. 
 
 McDuffee was the same size and 
 weight. Likewise she was a freight 
 engine. 
 
 Old Crawford was a passenger en¬ 
 gine with five and a half foot drivers. 
 She weighed 22 tons and her connec¬ 
 tions were inside. 
 
 Josiah Quincy weighed 23 tons with 
 the same size drivers and likewise in¬ 
 side connections. 
 
 Peter Clark was the same size in 
 every way, but was used 'as a freight 
 engine most of the time. 
 
 Moosilauke had 5 foot drivers, and 
 weighed 24 tons. 
 
I 
 
 10 
 
 James N. Elkins was a 23 ton pas¬ 
 senger machine, with 66 inch drivers. 
 
 Winnepesaukee was a freighter of 
 24 tons and 5 foot drivers. 
 
 Pehaungun was the same size, 
 weight and almost identically the 
 same pattern as the “Winnie”, as the 
 boys used to call her. 
 
 Ahquedauken, a passenger machine 
 of 22 tons, and 66 inch drivers and 
 inside connections. All the above 
 machines had four drivers. 
 
 Pony was a light gravel engine, 
 having only four wheels, those 4y 2 
 feet high, and she weighed only 14 
 tons. 
 
 Paugus was a gravel engine of the 
 same size, but weighed four ton more 
 'than the Pony. She likewise was a 
 four wheeler, and those four wheels 
 were the drivers, which were only 4% 
 feet high. The Paugus was built in 
 the company’s shops at Lakeport. 
 
 During the year 1855 another mach¬ 
 ine was built at the company’s shops 
 at Lakeport; 'this locomotive was 
 named the Chocorua, with outside 
 connections, five and a half foot 
 drivers, and weighed 23 tons. 
 
 Joseph A. Dodge was appointed as 
 general freight agent in the spring of 
 1852, and superintendent in 1860, and 
 general manager on the death of 
 John E. Lyon. In his young days he 
 commenced work on his father’s farm 
 summers and teaching winters. Be¬ 
 coming dissatisfied with this method 
 of obtaining a livelihood, he went to 
 Boston and commenced railroading 
 on the Boston & Lowell as shipping 
 clerk in the freight depot under the 
 venerable R. Sherburne, who was at 
 that time master of transportation 
 When the B. C. & M. road opened up 
 Mr. Sherburne was appointed freight 
 agent of the road. He sent Mr. Dodge 
 up as station agent at Sanbornton 
 Bridge (now Tilton). When the road 
 was completed to Lake Village, Mr. 
 Dodge moved up and took charge of 
 
 that station, and also broke in agents 
 at intermediate stations. When the 
 road reached Meredith Village, Mr. 
 Dodge moved up and managed that 
 station. In January, 1850, the rails 
 were laid to Plymouth and Mr. 
 Dodge was again moved up the line 
 and took charge of that station. He 
 remained as a citizen of that town up 
 to the time of his death. It was 
 largely owing to the untiring ener¬ 
 gies of Mr. Dodge that the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal Railroad and its 
 branches enjoyed the prosperity they 
 did at the time of being taken over 
 by the Boston & Lowell, soon after 
 by the Concord Road and later by the 
 Boston & Maine. 
 
 Mr. Dodge died at the age of 75 
 years, leaving an estate of $100,000. 
 
 To connect the country farther 
 north with the outside world the 
 White Mountain Railroad was char¬ 
 tered in December, 1848, and opened 
 from Woodsville to Littleton in 1853. 
 In 1858, by authority of an act of the 
 legislature, the White Mountain Rail¬ 
 road was sold at auction for $24,000 
 and debts. It was bid off by mort¬ 
 gage holders, who organized a new 
 company under the name of the 
 White Mountain N. H. Railroad. 
 This road was at once leased to the 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal for five 
 years at a rental of $10,000 per year. 
 The rental was increased to $12,000 
 in 1864 and the lease extended twenty 
 years. 
 
 In 1869 the construction of an ex¬ 
 tension of the White Mountain Rail¬ 
 road beyond Littleton was under¬ 
 taken, and in 1872 the track from 
 Wing Road towards the base of Mt. 
 Washington was begun. In 1877 the 
 original White Mountain Railroad 
 between Woodsville and Littleton 
 was taken over by the Boston, Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal, by exchanging 
 $300,000 6% bonds for the capital 
 stock of the reorganized road. 
 
11 
 
 In 1880 the extension to Groveton 
 was completed, and in 1883 the con¬ 
 struction account of the line from 
 Wing Road to the base of Mt. Wash¬ 
 ington was closed at $446,000. 
 
 With the building of the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal Railroad from 
 Concord to Groveton Junction, 145.45 
 miles there was encountered much 
 opposition by the Northern Railroad 
 and experienced great financial dif¬ 
 ficulties in carrying forward the 
 work. A heavy floating debt was in¬ 
 curred on which excessive rates of 
 interest were paid and some secur¬ 
 ities were sold at less than par to 
 obtain money to carry on the work. 
 The construction account was closed 
 in 1856 and the property account 
 then stood at $3,045,226.67. The road 
 was in the hands of trustees in 1857- 
 8-9 and was turned back to the 
 stockholders in improved financial 
 condition, but no dividend was de¬ 
 clared until 1867. From that date to 
 1885, 6% was paid on the preferred 
 stock. 
 
 A few words with reference to the 
 present day branches of the old B. C. 
 & M., will be of interest to the old 
 time railroad men as well as of his¬ 
 toric value. 
 
 Whitefield & Jefferson Railroad. 
 
 This is a single track line from 
 Whitefield to Berlin, 30.58 miles. 
 
 The line from Whitefield to Jeffer¬ 
 son, 10.68 miles, was chartered in 
 1878 and completed in 1879. This 
 road had existed to some extent for 
 some time as a lumber road, and was 
 owned jointly by the Brown Lumber 
 Company, and the Boston, Concord 
 & Montreal Railroad. The original 
 cost is placed at $100,000. Many im¬ 
 provements were made in the road, 
 including the substitution of steel 
 for iron rails in 1881-2-3, and the 
 cost of the road and equipment in 
 1888 is given as $189,504, capital 
 stock $200,000. 
 
 In 1889 the Concord & Montreal 
 bought the one thousand shares of 
 the Brown Lumber Company for 
 $100,000 and thus became the sole 
 owner of the road. The extension to 
 
 Berlin was begun in 1890 and com¬ 
 pleted in 1893 at a cost of about 
 
 $617,000. In 1892 a branch was built 
 from Jefferson Meadows to the 
 Waumbek House, 3.48 miles. 
 
 Profile & Franconia Notch Rail¬ 
 road runs from Bethlehem Junction 
 to Profile House, and Bethlehem, 10 
 and 3.33 miles respectively., The 
 line to the Profile House was char¬ 
 tered in 1879. It was built for sum¬ 
 mer travel and the guage was three 
 feet. The branch to Bethlehem was 
 completed in 1882. This was also 
 narrow guage. About the year 1900 
 this road was re laid to broad or 
 standard guage. 
 
 Pemigewasset Talley Railroad. 
 
 This is a single track line from 
 Plymouth to Lincoln, 22.93 miles. 
 
 The original charter for the line 
 to North Woodstock was granted in 
 1874, and the road was opened in 
 1883. The cost of the road and 
 equipment was $529,585. In 1895 
 the road was extended to Lincoln, 
 and in 1896 the cost of the road and 
 equipment was $541,262. The cost 
 to date is $581,860. 
 
 This road was leased to the Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal Railroad on com¬ 
 pletion, at 6% on its cost, for the 
 term of ninety-nine years from 1883. 
 
 Tilton & Belmont Railroad. 
 
 This is a single track line from 
 Belmont Junction to Belmont, 4.17 
 miles. This line was opened in 1888 
 and the 472 shares of stock issued 
 were all bought by the Concord & 
 Montreal Railroad for $48,550. 
 
 Franklin & Tilton Railroad. 
 
 This is a single track line from 
 Franklin to Tilton, 4.95 miles. 
 
 
12 
 
 The line was built in 1890 at the 
 joint expense of the Northern and 
 Concord & Montreal Railroads. The 
 original cost was $245,708, which had 
 been increased to $268,249 in 1911. 
 It was operated by the Concord & 
 Montreal Railroad, to which it was 
 leased in 1895 for the term of ninety- 
 one years, at the nominal rental of 
 $1 annually, with such additional 
 sums as may be necessary to keep up 
 the organization of the lessor. On 
 the same date this lease was assigned 
 to the Boston & Maine Railroad. In 
 referring to the building of this line 
 the report of the railroad commis¬ 
 sioners in 1891 says: “We know of 
 no other case in which so much mon¬ 
 ey has been spent to so little pur¬ 
 pose in a railroad project.” Con¬ 
 ditions are now improved and the 
 road appears to be doing a consider¬ 
 able business. 
 
 Having dwelt at some length on 
 the building of the old road, in jus¬ 
 tice to those who helped to make 
 railroad history on the Boston, Con¬ 
 cord and Montreal thirty to fifty 
 years ago it is but fitting that at least 
 mention be made of the good and 
 faithful men of those early times. 
 
 First I will mention Ed Sanborn. 
 Mr. Sanborn was not the oldest man 
 on the road by any means, but the 
 writer has fond recollections of him, 
 and there certainly was but one Ed 
 Sanborn. In the Warren News of 
 December 27th, 1918 there appeared 
 the following: 
 
 Word has been received that Ed 
 Sanborn was killed in a head-on col¬ 
 lision of two trains last Monday, 
 (Dec. 23) at McCrook, Nebraska. 
 He was an engineer on one of the 
 fastest expresses in the west with 
 headquarters at Lincoln, Neb. Ed 
 Sanborn will be remembered by old¬ 
 er people hereabouts up and down 
 the line, as thirty-five years ago in 
 the old Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 
 days he used to run a way freight be¬ 
 tween Boston and Woodsville as con¬ 
 ductor. He later went west and se¬ 
 cured a railroad job and soon after 
 there was a general strike of loco¬ 
 motive engineers on the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy; Sanborn hav¬ 
 ing had more or less experience here 
 in the east with the old wood burn¬ 
 ers claimed he could run a locomo¬ 
 tive and was given a chance, made 
 good, and for more than twenty-five 
 years he run- a locomotive on the C. 
 B. & Q. A little while after Sanborn 
 went west it was his good fortune to 
 buy some real estate at a nominal 
 price at a certain point on a prairie 
 on his run. Later someone needed 
 a side track there; it was built and 
 known as Sanborn’s Siding; time 
 went on and a flag station was built 
 there. Engineer Sanborn bought 
 more real estate thereabouts and a 
 hamlet grew up in the vicinity. 
 Sanborn invested more, built a block 
 as the town grew, and today if you 
 look at a map of the state of Nebras¬ 
 ka, follow the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy Railroad out some forty 
 miles from Lincoln, you will find the 
 thriving town of Sanborn, named for 
 Ed Sanborn, one of the old time 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal con¬ 
 ductors. 
 
 The following week there came 
 from Ex-Supt. George E. Cummings, 
 Woodsville, an interesting letter with 
 reference to the early days of the 
 
 road. This letter and quite a few 
 
 others were published in Warren 
 
 News from time to time, and for their 
 historical value follow that of Mr. 
 Cummings’: 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 We read with interest the news of 
 the death of Ed Sanborn in the War¬ 
 ren News of Dec. 27th, which you so 
 kindly sent. Reading the article 
 
 brings to mind the old B. C. & M. 
 and the many changes that have 
 occurred in the fifty years we have 
 
been a part of the working force. 
 We recall but one employee of the 
 White Mountain,, division of fifty 
 years ago now living, and that is 
 George Hutchins. Hutchins left the 
 B. C. & M. to work for the White- 
 field & Jefferson road, coming back 
 a few years later when that road was 
 leased and turned over to the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell. 
 
 Who now remember the old days 
 when Warren was the principal sta¬ 
 tion north of Lakeport; the days 
 when all freight trains took wood 
 and water there? Then Arthur Knapp 
 had hundreds of men and scores of 
 teams constantly in the wood, lum¬ 
 ber and bark business. Mrs. Knapp 
 was the best cook in the country and 
 besides feeding her own family pnd 
 help, was always ready to give the 
 trainmen a good meal. Morrill 
 Sanborn was station agent and he 
 had to go up to Jerry Jewett’s store 
 to telegraph. Then Sam Hoitt mend¬ 
 ed rails in the old engine house 
 which was later moved across the 
 track and is now the freight depot. 
 Dave Marsh kept the hotel and fur¬ 
 nished food*to travelers and drink to 
 all who had the cash to pay for it. 
 John Butler run the stock train, Bill 
 Rollins and Dave Fergurson the pas¬ 
 senger trains. George Eastman, fat 
 and jolly, with Bill Kimball who al¬ 
 ways “got there” for years with what 
 was known as Eastman’s train. Far¬ 
 rar, the way freight conductor had a 
 sign on his caboose door indicating 
 that he also dealt in butter and eggs 
 for the Boston market. 
 
 In those days the offices were in 
 Plymouth, Mr. J. A. Dodge was in 
 command, with Jim^ Rogers, Will 
 Brackett and Charles Whittier to 
 help him. Those were happy days; 
 but all these have joined the innum¬ 
 erable caravan which moves to that 
 mysterious realm where each shall 
 
 take his chamber in the silent halls 
 of death. 
 
 With all the compliments of the 
 season, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 G. E. CUMMINGS. 
 
 Woodsville, Dec. 30, 1918. 
 
 The following communication writ¬ 
 ten by Mrs. White of Wentworth, a 
 lady between eighty and ninety years 
 old, will interest many and is quite re¬ 
 markable for one in her advanced 
 years. 
 
 Editor News: 
 
 I was much interested in the Mr. 
 G. E. Cummings’ article in the News 
 last week. It brought to my mind 
 an instance when Ed Sanborn was 
 conductor in the old B. C. & M. days. 
 Trains were few and only one pas¬ 
 senger train a day, so it was quite 
 convenient to ride on a freight now¬ 
 and-then for the rules were not as 
 strict in those times as now. On this 
 particular occasion Ed Sanborn was 
 conductor, Frank Johnson, brakeman, 
 John Marsh, Sr., engineer, and Geo. 
 Sherwell, fireman on a certain 
 freight. It was nearly fifty years 
 ago when one day I was called to 
 Concord by the illness of a lady who 
 was engaged to marry George Sher¬ 
 well the fireman of the freight. Sa¬ 
 rah Morey of Orford accompanied 
 me, day was cold and freight late. 
 To make matters worse some of the 
 pipes about the engine froze, water 
 got low and they had to melt snow 
 to continue the trip. At Lakeport 
 (then Lake Village) conditions were 
 somewhat improved, but we nearly 
 froze, the caboose was so cold. I 
 recollect Mr. Sanborn gave us his 
 bunk and we went to bed to keep 
 warm. At 5.30 the next morning we 
 arrived at Concord—twelve hours 
 ride from Warren. 
 
 The lady I went to Concord to care 
 for recovered and was afterwards 
 married to George Sherwell. The 
 
14 
 
 Sherwell family and myself are the 
 only ones now living who recollect 
 that trip. 
 
 Mr. Cummings mentioned John 
 Butler. I knew him well and was 
 on the train by which he was killed 
 about forty years ago. He caught 
 his foot in a “frog’' and was unable 
 to extricate himself, the train bore 
 down upon him cutting off both legs 
 and he died soon after. 
 
 MRS. C. D. WHITE. 
 Wentworth, N. H., Jan. 5, 1919. 
 
 Since considerable is being said 
 wiith reference to the old Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal days, when rail¬ 
 roading was carried on vastly dif¬ 
 ferent from today, and as Mr. Cum¬ 
 mings recently made reference in his 
 communication to ‘‘the old wood 
 burners”, the writer’s mind reverts 
 back a few years at least; forty or 
 more, when the railroad men whom 
 Mr. Cummings mentioned were in 
 their prime and doing their bit 
 towards developing the north coun¬ 
 try and making railroad history in 
 the White Mountains. 
 
 Many of the older people look back 
 with interest to the locomotives of 
 their youthful days, brilliant with 
 gay color and shining brass and each 
 with a name. Every engineer then 
 had his locomotive all to himself. 
 Nobody else used it. It was the en¬ 
 gineer’s own and he took great pride 
 in it and its appearance. In those 
 early days of the B. C. & M., its 
 power equipment consisted of about 
 a dozen locomotives at first, and 
 others were purchased as time went 
 on and business increased. These 
 additions continued from time to 
 time until the road was taken over 
 by the Boston & Lowell in the early 
 80s. The early wood burners were 
 insignificant contraptions compared 
 with the present day locomotive, as 
 much so as the first automobile was 
 a contrast from a Pierce-Arrow or 
 Packard of the automobile creation 
 
 of today. The locomotives each bore 
 a name and number, the latter be¬ 
 ing on a round disc on the smoke 
 oven front of the boiler and on the 
 rear of the tender. The former was 
 artistically painted on the sides be¬ 
 neath the windows of the cab. 
 
 When a lad the writer used to take 
 pride in being able to repeat from 
 memory the names and numbers of 
 each locomotive on the entire sys¬ 
 tem; but forty years or more has 
 practically blotted from memory the 
 number of each with the exception 
 of possibly half a dozen, while the 
 names have always remained with 
 us. 
 
 Here is a list of the old wood 
 burners as we remember them: 
 Granite State, McDuffee, Lady of the 
 Lake, Crawford, Peter Clark, Pau- 
 gus, Winnipesaukee, Pehaungun, J. 
 N. Elkins, Ahqueduken, Littleton, 
 Chocorua, Belknap, Laconia, Moosi- 
 lauke, \Ftanconia, Lancaster, Ply¬ 
 mouth, Ammonoosuc, Carrol, Gilford, 
 Coos, Northumberland, Tilton, Fab- 
 yan, Profile, Stranger, Tip-Top, Mt. 
 Washington, Ashland, Bethlehem, 
 Lisbon. In early history of the road 
 there was Mountain Maid, Josiah 
 Quincy, Jennie Lind and Old Man of 
 the Mountain, mention of which is 
 made elsewhere. 
 
 Later there were Warren, Haver¬ 
 hill, Campton, Thornton, Northfield, 
 Canterbury, Wentworth. These last 
 machines if my memory serves me 
 correctly were purchased by the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell, and were not all wood 
 burners, possibly with one exception, 
 the Warren. There were also sev¬ 
 eral machines taken over from the 
 Brown’s Lumber Company with the 
 Whitefield & Jefferson Road, among 
 them being Star King, Kilkenny, 
 Waumbek and one or two others. 
 
 Captain and Triumph were two 
 machines put into commission by the 
 Boston & Lowell. Soon after, the 
 names were removed and numbers 
 substituted. The old “tubs” lost 
 
their identity and one by one went 
 to the scrap heap. 
 
 As the years came and went wood 
 became scarce and two of these lo¬ 
 comotives were changed from wood 
 to coal burners, as an experiment. 
 These machines were the Warren 
 and Haverhill. The change proved 
 very unsatisfactory for the fact that 
 maintaining steam with coal re¬ 
 quired greater skill than with a wood 
 fire and experienced coal firemen 
 were not available, and after a few 
 months the grates were changed 
 back for wood. A year or two later 
 however more modern methods were 
 adopted and eventually all the en¬ 
 gines were remodeled to coal burn¬ 
 ers and the obsolete wood burning 
 locomotive was no more. 
 
 The exhaust of the “old timers” 
 was uneven and appeared to say as 
 they laboriously climbed the hills, 
 “catch-a-nigger, cateh-a-n i g g e r, 
 catch-a-nigger;” or in more modern 
 terms, “fish-and-tater, fish-and-tater, 
 fish-and-tater.” Only the passenger 
 engines were equipped with air 
 brakes; the freight engines had to 
 depend on the hand tender brakes to 
 bring the machine to a stop when 
 the steam was shut off. The War¬ 
 ren, Haverhill and Wentworth were 
 bought and put into service at prac¬ 
 tically the same time. When the 
 Warren made its first trip north a 
 stop was made here and Mrs. Knapp 
 placed an elegant bouquet on the 
 flag staff on the pilot. The Tilton, 
 Tip-Top, Coos, Carrol and Elkins 
 were built for passenger service with 
 unusually large driving wheels and 
 designed for speed. Any of these 
 could attain far greater momentum 
 than the freight engines and were 
 used almost exclusively for passen¬ 
 ger work and could accomplish but 
 little in the handling of freights on 
 the hills. 
 
 One of these machines once made 
 a quick run, rushing a doctor from 
 Concord to Woodsville in record 
 
 15 
 
 time. It was a case of life and 
 death. The line was cleared and 
 the engineer given orders to “get 
 there”, which he did! Never before 
 or since has a locomotive made the 
 same run as quickly as that trip was 
 made, and that without a mishap. 
 
 It appears many of the locomotives 
 were named for towns and mountains 
 along the line. 
 
 Many of the engineers of those 
 early days, like most of the other 
 railroad fellows, were “characters”, 
 and had their own individual pecu¬ 
 liarities. There was uncle John 
 Marsh, who drew freight for many 
 years between Woodsville and Con¬ 
 cord who probably had as many if 
 not more friends along the line than 
 any other trainman of early times. 
 Uncle John was a typical Yankee, a 
 good man and a devout Christian. A 
 friend of his, John Hook, at Concord 
 claimed he felt to pray for uncle 
 John on one of his trips in particu¬ 
 lar—he prayed. John Marsh that 
 day was in one of the worst railroad 
 wrecks that had up to that time ever 
 taken place on the road and came 
 through it without a single scratch. 
 Two locomotives were demolished— 
 the Moosilauke and Franconia—and 
 a greater portion of the train he was 
 drawing was smashed to kindling 
 wood. This accident was unavoid¬ 
 able and the circumstances made a 
 marked and lasting impression in the 
 lives of many of the trainmen, and 
 the life and example of Uncle John 
 Marsh] remains after nearly fifty 
 years even to the present day. 
 
 Then there was another engineer, 
 whose name we will not mention, 
 who one time thought the boiler was 
 about to “blow up” jumped, desert¬ 
 ing his engine. He lost his job and 
 never again pulled a throttle. 
 
 Another man who has long since 
 retired followed by his good works 
 and an upright life, on many a dark 
 and stormy night when his eyes 
 could not penetrate the darkness 
 
16 
 
 even along the running board to the 
 pilot and fifty feet ahead has made 
 his “run” from Woodsville to Con¬ 
 cord literally riveted to the foot¬ 
 board with one hand on the reverse 
 lever and the other on “the air”, his 
 mind fixed on God for safety of the 
 thousands of human lives trusted in 
 his care; and many a time would 
 admit to his associates that of him¬ 
 self he was unable to withstand the 
 responsibility without divine aid— 
 this was Milo Annis. He did his 
 work well and lived a life none 
 should be ashamed to pattern. 
 
 Another old timer was Sid Russ, 
 who for many years run the mail 
 train. Everybody along the line 
 forty years ago knew Sid Russ. Be¬ 
 fore the rhilroad was built he was a 
 stage driver between Boston and 
 Canada. 
 
 Then there was Dan Foley, who 
 run one of the way freights opposite 
 Ed Sanborn. Foley was a jolly good 
 fellow with nearly 300 weight of ob¬ 
 esity and carried a large “bay win¬ 
 dow” under his vest front. He was a 
 devout Catholic. Uncle Jed Bean, 
 “Ausie” Bedean and “Bobbie” Ran¬ 
 dall were other good and faithful 
 men in whom the officials had impli¬ 
 cit confidence and have not been “out 
 of the harness” very many years 
 George Hutchins' well known to 
 many today has spent nearly half a 
 century in the cab. He served as 
 mayor of the city of Berlin and 
 hauled a passenger train on the Ber¬ 
 lin branch during the term of his ad¬ 
 ministration. 
 
 Below is an interesting letter from 
 George Hutchins of Berlin, who is the 
 oldest in years of railroad service of 
 any employe and the only man now 
 in the railroad service who was 
 working fifty years ago. Mr. Hutch¬ 
 ins is interesting to converse with 
 on the subject of early railroad days 
 
 and “the boys” who kept things mov¬ 
 ing fifty years ago. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 I was reading a communication in 
 your paper from G. E. Cummings in 
 which he writes of my being the old¬ 
 est employe on the White Mountain 
 Division I began firing in June 
 1866—52 years ago. Previous to that 
 I worked on a section about three 
 years. The engineers who were 
 running at that time were Patch 
 Clifford, Henry Little, Alfred (Bogy) 
 Drake and Ike Sanborn on the pas¬ 
 senger trains. 
 
 The freight engineers were Geo. 
 Randall, W. D. Sargent, Geo. Eaton 
 and John Leighton. Charlie Greene 
 run “Duffy”, the helper at Woodsville 
 and was also conductor on a freight 
 from Woodsville to Littleton. 
 
 Passenger conductors were Sid 
 Russ, Ed Fisher, Bill Rollins, Tom 
 Roby. George Eastman run what 
 was known as “Eastman’s Train”, 
 and Dave Furgerson run the cattle 
 train. 
 
 Firemen at that time were Bill 
 Clement, Wesley Lyons, Henry Ran¬ 
 dall, Bert Randall, Bill Kimball, Osie 
 Burdean and C. M. Burleigh. 
 
 Freight conductors were Nat 
 Batchelder, John Butler and 0. R. 
 Farrar. 
 
 In the winter of ’69 and ’70 I run 
 the snow plough one time six days 
 and six nights with but six hours of 
 sleep and did not have my clothes 
 off during that time, and for that 
 week I received $24. To wind up, 
 Saturday night I went to Littleton 
 and ran an extra passenger train 
 with J. A. Dodge (the superinten¬ 
 dent) and directors to Plymouth. 
 Web Stearns was the conductor. On 
 returning we drew the snow plough. 
 On the way Sid Davis (road master) 
 and Ezra Mann played a game of 
 cards to see who should pay for an 
 oyster supper and it fell to Sid. 
 They came over on an engine and 
 
asked me if I would stop at Warren 
 for supper. I said, “yes, I am al¬ 
 ways ready to eat!” We stopped af¬ 
 ter 11 o’clock at night and went in 
 the hotel to see Dave Marsh. He 
 said we could have the supper, which 
 we did, with plenty to eat and drink. 
 Anna Jackson was table girl. 
 
 The general officers at that time 
 were: J. A. Dodge, superintendent; 
 J. L. Rodgers, master of transporta¬ 
 tion; Ripley, ticket agent; Charles 
 Whittier, pay master. Those I have 
 mentioned who are yet living are, 
 Ezra B. Mann, C. M. Burleigh, Wes¬ 
 ley Lyons, Bert Randall and Henry 
 Randall. 
 
 I am still at work, running be¬ 
 tween Berlin and Whitefield. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 GEO. E. HUTCHINS. 
 
 Berlin, N. H., Jan. 12, 1919. 
 
 CORRECTION—Last line on page 16 should 
 read: They came ever on the engine and 
 
 Ahqueduken, Passenger, C. M. Bur¬ 
 leigh. 
 
 Chocorua, Passenger, C. Leonard. 
 Tip-Top, Passenger, Berdeen and 
 Swasey. 
 
 Ammonooisuc, Fgt., Frizel & Onley. 
 Granite State, Fgt., Ayer & Bean. 
 
 Moosilauke, Fgt., Whiting & Bean. 
 McDuffe, Shifter, Jack Lawler. 
 
 Franconia, Fgt., George & Marsh. 
 Belknap, Fgt., C. F. Sanborn. 
 
 Laconia, Passenger, Isaac Glynn. 
 
 Stranger, Fgt., Bother & Swain. 
 
 Winnipesaukee, Fgt., Various. 
 
 Pehaungun, Helper, H. B. Fa mum. 
 Gilford, Fgt., Kimball & Onley 
 
 Tilton, Fgt.-, Various 
 
 Carrol, Passenger, Various. 
 
 Ashland, Fgt., Wore Dearborn. 
 
 Littleton, Fgt., M. V. B. Perkins. 
 
 Bethlehem, Pas., Swain & Bailey 
 
 Lisbon, Fgt., Sherwell & Dearborn. 
 Warren. Fgt., Burleigh & Badger. 
 Haverhill, Fgt., C. W. Adams. 
 
 * Whitefield, Fgt., Various 
 
 * l S'tar King, Fgt., 0. D. Parker. 
 
 In the earlier history of the road 
 there were the following three loco¬ 
 motives, Josiah Quincy, Jennie Lind 
 and Old Man of the Mountain, two of 
 which were burned in a repair shop 
 51 years ago. 
 
 Below is a list of the locomotives 
 
 * This machine was bought of the 
 Brown’s Lumber Company 40 years 
 ago. 
 
 Here is a letter from Mr. Cum¬ 
 mings containing some circumstances 
 new to many, even some of the old 
 timers. 
 
 and the engineers in the summer of 
 1882—37 years ago. First is given 
 the name of the locomotive, service 
 she was in and names of those in 
 charge. 
 
 Plymouth, Passenger, Geo. Pebbles. 
 Lancaster, Helper, Annis & Gordon. 
 I.ady. Passenger, J. M. Boynton. 
 Mt. Washington, Passenger, John F. 
 Marsh. 
 
 Crawford, Passenger, W. H. Moore. 
 Profile, Passenger, Various. 
 
 Peter Clark, Passenger, J. Qulmby. 
 Fa'bvan, Shifter, F. W. Lougee. 
 
 Elkins, Passenger, W. R. Kimball. 
 Coos. Passenger, Charles Holt. 
 
 Northumberland, Passenger, Geo. B. 
 Randall. 
 
 Friend Caswell:—Am much inter¬ 
 ested in your article regarding early 
 dsvs on the old B. C. & M. Please 
 allow this slight correction in your 
 list of the old wood burners. 
 
 The first locomotives to be used 
 was the Jenny Lind, then came the 
 McDuffe and the Granite State. I do 
 not know the end of the McDuffe, but 
 the Granite State ended her work at 
 Sanborn’s track in’ 1881 when Nelson 
 Bedell coming out from Park’s mill 
 at Loon Pond run into Eastman’s 
 train at the switch, badly damaging 
 the Lady, which William Kimball 
 was running, and knocking one side 
 of the Granite State all to nieces sr> 
 
she was hauled to the shop and 
 scrapped. 
 
 The Mountain Maid weighed only 
 18 tons but did all the work north of 
 Woodsville for years. Ike Sanborn 
 left the road rather than run her. 
 She continued in service some years 
 after he left, and ended her days 
 drawing logs on the Gale River rail¬ 
 road where John Marsh run her. 
 After that road was thrown up she 
 stood for a year or more opposite the 
 Wambek (Mills in Bethlehem, until 
 one day Mr. Dodge sent me up there 
 to get her. I hired a man with two 
 yoke of oxen and we hauled her in 
 the highway to Bethlehem Junction 
 albout half a mile, got her on the 
 track and she went to the scrap heap. 
 
 After McDuffe came the Old Man 
 of the Mountain and the Josiah Quin¬ 
 cy. These last two were burned in 
 the shops at Lake Village in 1860 and 
 never rebuilt. 
 
 Clarence Adams was engineer at 
 the time he lost his foot, and Frank 
 Congee was firing for him. lit was 
 at Lisbon. We were out with a train 
 and crew of men picking up old ties 
 for fuel. 
 
 George (Hutchins run the first en¬ 
 gine into the town of Lancaster, and 
 I think it was the Granite State. His 
 fireman was Sam Kimball. Bill Clem¬ 
 ent run the McDuffe as helper at 
 Woodsville, on snow plow, etc., and 
 Charlie Ho it was his fireman. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 G. E. CUMMINGS. 
 
 John Marsh, Jr., run the Mt. 
 Washington six months and all it 
 cost to keep her in repair was $1.83; 
 at the same time John Buckley and 
 Jack Lawler run McDuffe six months 
 as shifter and only $9.09 were ex¬ 
 pended for her repairs. 
 
 Old time railroad men are very in¬ 
 teresting in reminiscence. The man 
 who worked on the railroad half a 
 
 18 
 
 century or so ago has lived through 
 substantially the whole development 
 of railroading in this country. His 
 experiences go back to a time of 
 candles or kerosene and wood stoves 
 for passenger cars, to locomotives 
 brilliant with brass and paint, to the 
 time when trainmen had no reports 
 to headquarters to bother them, and 
 when there were no inter-locking 
 switches, self-coupling cars or block 
 signals. 
 
 Here follows in succession two let¬ 
 ters, neither of which were written 
 by railroad men bat are quite inter¬ 
 esting nevertheless. Writer of the 
 Concord letter was evidently a lad 
 thirty or more years ago who at¬ 
 tended Littleton high school in those 
 pioneer days from up north, going 
 to and from Littleton by train.' An¬ 
 other is from Mr. Page, a Littleton 
 resident which speaks for itself. 
 
 Mr. Rich in his letter mentions 
 the Manns and wonders if their 
 father was not a railroad man also. 
 No, their father George W. Mann 
 was never connected with the rail¬ 
 road but was a prosperous lumber¬ 
 man and farmer over in the little 
 town of Benton, quite well known in 
 political and legislative circles in his 
 day. His boys were however, nat¬ 
 ural-born railroad men. Some of 
 the others mentioned by Mr. Rich 
 had not been forgotten or over¬ 
 looked, but were coming into this 
 article at some future time. 
 
 Editor News: 
 
 Among some other papers I found 
 one of yours on early days of the B., 
 C. & M. R. R. Some of the facts are 
 a little hazy in my mind at this time. 
 However wish I had a copy of the 
 issue before this and the following 
 one. Haven’t the date of issue con¬ 
 taining the article I have reference 
 to. George E. Hutchins, the jovial 
 engineer and once mayor of Berlin, 
 
the first one,—I think his letter is in 
 this issue. 
 
 You spoke of the Star King and 
 several other engines from Brown’s 
 Lumber Co. Were there more than 
 three, including the original Dr. Ord- 
 way with two drive wheels instead 
 of four? Her motion was like a 
 grasshopper bobbing along. 
 
 Forty-five, six and seven years ago 
 scholars from Whitefield, Lancaster 
 and other stations attended Littleton 
 high school. Who were more inter¬ 
 ested in railroad men than the boys 
 and girls of those days? One old 
 time conductor you or George missed 
 was Demick who run opposite Rol¬ 
 lins. B. C. & M., men with the name 
 of only one of the Mann family 
 seems incomplete. What of George 
 (Henry) k Ed and all the others? 
 Wasn’t the father of all the Mann’s a 
 railroad man? A little later there 
 was George Moulton, George Smith, 
 Smith U. Clark, “Nate” Knights, 
 “Dick” Langdon, Greene, Van Eng¬ 
 lish and others. On the Mt. Wash¬ 
 ington branch there was Ed Judkins, 
 John Horne, the Randalls, Jim 
 Hirsch, and Sam Butterfield. “John¬ 
 ny” Marsh was engineer on the Mt. 
 Washington. Henry White was on 
 the P. V. 
 
 DONALD RICH. 
 
 Care Economy Drug Co., 3 Pleasant 
 St., Extension, Concord, N. H. 
 
 Littleton, N. H., Jan. 31, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 I am much interested in this rail¬ 
 road talk. I was living down on 
 Red Oak hill a number of years be¬ 
 fore the railroad ever struck War¬ 
 ren. Mr. Cummings says Jenny 
 Lind was the first to be used. That 
 may be so, but there was the first 
 Peter Clark and the Pony also. 
 When the track was laid up to the 
 bridge by the Clough school house I 
 used to sit by the kitchen window 
 
 19 
 
 and see them throw off rails and 
 stringers at the bridge. When the 
 road was finished to Warren depot 
 I was there with my father to see 
 the first passenger train that ever 
 reached Warren. It was a great day 
 in the history of the old town. I am 
 an old man, now nearing my 74th 
 milestone, but I never shall forget 
 that day or my old home town as 
 long as I live. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 A. T. PAGE. 
 
 The following letter from Frank 
 Lougee is full of interest from start 
 to finish and will be eagerly read. 
 
 My dear friend Caswell: 
 
 I wish to acknowledge' receipt of 
 the two papers you sent me on my 
 arrival home last night. I have been 
 very much interested in your articles 
 of the old Boston, Concord and Mon¬ 
 treal days. There are only a few 
 of us left to tell what happened in 
 those days. I think some of us 
 would not like to have put in print 
 some things that happened back 
 there in those days. 
 
 I noted in one of your issues you 
 spoke of Joe Ayer, known as “Hook¬ 
 er”. Mr. Ayer is still alive and liv¬ 
 ing on his farm about two miles out 
 from Lakeport, and while his hair 
 has turned very grey he is the same 
 old “Hooker.” He steps off like a 
 boy of 20 and yet he is 78 years old; 
 my last firing was for him on the 
 way freight between Lakeport and 
 Woodsville. I also notice you have 
 not made mention of W. D. Sargent. 
 Mr. Sargent was one of the first en¬ 
 gineers. He run the local freight 
 between Lakeport and Woodsville a 
 good many years and his last run¬ 
 ning was the White Mountain ex¬ 
 press between Concord and Woods¬ 
 ville. The last twenty years he was 
 round-house foreman at Woodsville. 
 I also notice that Seth Greenleaf’s 
 
name has not been mentioned. Mr. 
 Greenleaf run the mail train a good 
 many years and wound up his ser¬ 
 vice as agent at Fabyan. In regard 
 to the old Granite State that Mr. 
 Cummings speaks of: That was in a 
 wreck with the Eastman train at 
 Sanborn track. This engine was 
 taken to Lakeport and cut up for 
 scrap. We had an engine named the 
 Marshfield which was bought for the 
 Montpelier and Wells River road but 
 was never assigned to that road. 
 This engine took the name of Gran¬ 
 ite State and is the engine that was 
 in the wreck at North Haverhill when 
 Conductor Stone was killed. Fred 
 S. Whiting was running the Granite 
 State at that time. The Peter Clark, 
 Paugus, Pehaungun and Chocorua 
 were cut up back of the engine house 
 at Lakeport and put into scrap. I 
 was the last man to run the old Pe¬ 
 ter Clark. I have a picture of this 
 engine taken at Plymouth when she 
 had the old drop hook that was in 
 use before the link motion came in¬ 
 to play. I have also a picture of the 
 Winnipesaukee. If you would like 
 these pictures to put in your paper 
 I would gladly loan them to you. In 
 1876 they built the road between 
 Fabyan and Base of Mt. Washington. 
 I was firing for John Swain at that 
 time. There were four engines do¬ 
 ing the work—the Belknap, Pehaun¬ 
 gun, Winnipesaukee and Paugus. 
 We had the Pehaungun and this was 
 the first engine that run a passenger 
 train over that road. Dr. Ordway’s 
 party from Lowell. We had only 
 one car and that was all this locomo¬ 
 tive could handle. Mr. John E. Ly¬ 
 on and Mr. J. A. Dodge were riding 
 on the engine at that time. They 
 had a new engine built named Mt. 
 Washington to run on this road and 
 when they opened it up in July this 
 engine was put onto the train; Geo. 
 
 A. Ferguson was engineer and John 
 F. Marsh, fireman. They run this 
 
 20 
 
 engine in the summer months and in 
 the winter it was taken to Lakeport 
 (then Lake Village) and stored on 
 account of being too heavy to run on 
 the main line. If this engine was 
 here today it would be stored on ac¬ 
 count of being so light it could not 
 handle the trains. In one of your 
 issues you say that the shops at 
 Lakeport were burned in 1860. This 
 is a mistake as the shops were 
 burned January 31, 1857. This was 
 a very cold night, 15 below zero. I 
 was not there as I came into this 
 world four days after this fire, but I 
 have often heard my father tell about 
 it as he was employed in the shops 
 at that time. 
 
 I wish to thank you very much for 
 the papers you sent, and if you 
 would like these pictures I have L 
 mentioned will send them to you. 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 F. W. LOUGEE. 
 Plymouth, N. H., Feb. 4, 1919. 
 
 Next is a letter from -an old boy 
 down beside the Merrimack at Sun- 
 cook. The writer of this letter like 
 many a young fellow of forty years 
 ago had “railroad fever”. When one 
 of his chums, Frank White lost an 
 arm “making a hitch” the “fever” 
 left him forever. 
 
 C. E. Caswell: Enclosed find $1.25 
 for The News another year. I find 
 these talks on old B., C. & M. very 
 interesting, as I lived beside the old 
 track a good many years and knew 
 most all of the train men. I used to 
 know all the engines which ran past 
 my home, and could tell most of 
 them by the sound of their whistle, 
 even before they came in sight. 
 The Peter Clark reminds me of a 
 story that came from the office of the 
 superintendent, J. A. Dodge. An old 
 man who used to tend the gates at 
 the crossing above Plymouth station 
 
21 
 
 went into the office one morning and 
 said to Mr. Dodge: 
 
 With grief and shame, 
 
 I come to say, 
 
 The Peter Clark 
 Came down in the dark 
 And took your gate away. 
 
 Mr. Dick Langdon, another old- 
 time passenger conductor is living 
 here in Pembroke; am well ac¬ 
 quainted with him. I have helped to 
 “wood up” those old wood burners a 
 good many times when we boys used 
 to “hang around” the station. I re¬ 
 member the time Frank White lost 
 his arm by the old fashioned couplers 
 and “bumpers” at West Rumney. I 
 then and there gave up the idea of 
 being a brakeman as I had no arms 
 to spare. I will not take any of 
 your time. Keep the good old talk 
 going. 
 
 J. EAMES. 
 
 Suncook, N. H., Feb. 1919. 
 
 Russell T. Bartlett, Register of 
 Probate for Grafton county makes a 
 good suggestion which if carried out 
 no doubt would be of interest and 
 value to coming generations. He 
 writes as follows: 
 
 Woodsville, N. H., Feb. 7, 1919. 
 Dear Caswell: 
 
 It seems to me your articles in The 
 News on the “Early days of the B. C. 
 & M.’’ are worthy of preservation, 
 and I would suggest you print them 
 in a pamphlet form if it can be done 
 without too great a cost. I think 
 there are many people that would be 
 glad to avail themselves of a copy 
 for its historical value if they had an 
 opportunity to do so. 
 
 Yours truly 
 
 R. T. BARTLETT. 
 
 Here comes a letter from an “old 
 timer,” who first saw daylight at 
 Meredith Bridge (Laconia), and as 
 
 he grew up, like many an ambitious 
 boy, got a job “firing” an old wood 
 burner, ffie soon got something bet¬ 
 ter and ever since has hauled traffic 
 up and down the line from iMt. Wash¬ 
 ington to the capital city with fewer 
 accidents than any other man in the 
 service today with 47 years to his 
 credit. 
 
 Concord, Feb. 14, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: — 
 
 Your issue of Feb. 14 at hand and 
 Lougee’s letter noticed. It was 
 good reading and brought to my at¬ 
 tention that things happened in the 
 old days that we would not care to 
 have put in print at this time, but I 
 have one thing to criticise in his 
 letter and that is that John F. 
 Marsh did not fire for Ferguson the 
 first summer that the road was 
 opened to Base. (Ferguson and I 
 went to (Mianchester and received the 
 Mt. Washington from Blood Locomo¬ 
 tive works and fired that locomotive 
 that summer between Fabyans and 
 Base with Joe Prescott conductor 
 and Harvey Dexter brakeman. I 
 have some nice pictures of the Mt. 
 Washington taken at Base, also a 
 dandy of the Littleton taken at 
 Woodsville; also one of the Haver¬ 
 hill as she looked after being blown 
 up at Nashua on her trial trip after 
 being put through shops at Concord, 
 F. A. Clifford engineer and Bean 
 fireman. Bean jumped into man 
 hole in tank as he was badly scalded, 
 and Clifford’s hearing was impaired 
 from that day until his end came 
 years later. In regard to R. T. Bart¬ 
 lett’s suggestion for a book form, no 
 doubt the old timers would take one 
 but can’t assure you if it would make 
 you whole but we have to take a 
 chance sometimes in our lives. If 
 you could get these -pictures in i: 
 would take I think very well. 
 Would be glad to loan them to you 
 They certainly would be historical. 
 
There was Manus Perkins and the 
 old General, and the service he did 
 with the old horse at Woodsville 
 should not be forgotten. Charlie 
 Hoit was run over at south end of 
 passenger station at Concord, Aug. 
 26, 1894, and lost a leg; freight 
 
 backed down upon him. Some of us 
 have certainly seen a good many 
 changes in our railroad days, of 
 officials and power; old ties and 
 slab-wood to burn, and hand brakes 
 with links and pins for couplings; 
 but we got there just the same, and 
 all were keyed up to the minute. 
 The men of today do not realize, and 
 some seem to doubt, what we went 
 through years ago and pay we re¬ 
 ceived with twenty-four hours for a 
 day, but we were a good happy crowd 
 of boys. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 F. S. WHITING. 
 
 Here appears a letter from J. F. 
 Leonard, an old time railroad man 
 who is now postmaster at Woods¬ 
 ville. Thirty years ago the name of 
 Fred Leonard was a household word 
 up and down the line so popular was 
 he. As the years have come and 
 gone he has in no wise lost his pop¬ 
 ularity and the people of Woodsville 
 hold in high esteem their genial post¬ 
 master, and despite the fact that 
 Father Time has furrowed his brow 
 and sprinkled his dome with traces 
 of honorable gray, Fred Leonard is 
 still a boy with the rest of us, with 
 optimism bred in the bone and pro¬ 
 poses to retain the elixir of youth 
 until he goes on his long vacation. 
 
 Woodsville, N. H., Feb. 14, 1919. 
 My dear Caswell: 
 
 I have read with much interest 
 your articles about the old B., C. & 
 M. R. R. I think Friend Bartlett’s 
 suggestion to have your articles 
 printed in pamphlet form is a good 
 one and if you do this you may set 
 me down for one. Frank Lougee in 
 
 this week’s issue speaks of the Mt. 
 Washington which was built to op- 
 perate the trains between Fabyans 
 and the Base and which was kept in 
 storage in the winter. I recall one 
 spring when she was to go to the 
 Mountains it was decided to try the 
 experiment of pulling a train with 
 her from Lake Village to Woods¬ 
 ville. Everything was made ready 
 and the train started one morning 
 with Al. Haynes as conductor and 
 Geo. Poor and the writer as brake- 
 men. We arrived at Woodsville 
 around 6 p. m., and if I remember 
 aright had fifty-four cars. This was 
 a wonderful train for those days and 
 we felt rather proud that we made 
 the trip without mishap. You speak 
 of Joe “Hooker.” It is true that he 
 used to put his feet on the throttle, 
 lean back in his seat and drop off 
 into a gentle slumber but he was a 
 light sleeper and had the happy fac¬ 
 ulty of waking up at the right time 
 and never had any serious trouble. 
 He used to carry a long whip on the 
 old Belknap and whenever she got 
 to going slow on a hill or got to 
 slipping bad he would open the front 
 window of the cab and lean out and 
 lash her with the whip I broke be¬ 
 hind him on way freight for some 
 time and got pretty well acquainted 
 with his ways. Later I run way 
 freight when we made the trip from 
 Woodsville to Boston, leaving Woods¬ 
 ville at 3 p. m., and being due in 
 Boston at 1 a. m., the next day. Most 
 of the cars at that time had the brake 
 on one truck frame only and some 
 of them had no brakes and it was 
 not an infrequent occurrence to ride 
 a car into some mill track with a 
 piece of 3x4 shoved over the tread of 
 the wheel and under the frame of 
 the car, and by sitting on the end of 
 the stick one got leverage enough to 
 control the speed. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 J. F. LEONARD. 
 
23 
 
 Following is a letter from Oscar 
 Drake, ex-mayor and leading citizen 
 of Manasquam, N. J., who for half a 
 score of years has ibeen connected 
 with the auditing department of the 
 New York and Long Branch railroad. 
 Mr. Drake was born and raised at 
 Lake Village, now Lakeport. Thirty- 
 five years ago the writer attended a 
 district school one winter, taught by 
 Mr. Drake, and his pleasant, genial 
 and painstaking methods of impart¬ 
 ing knowledge are yet fresh in our 
 mind and his efforts will tell through 
 time and eternity. Mr. Drake later 
 married, moved to New Jersey and 
 has made good. Many of the old 
 time railroad fellows will remember 
 him as a lad. 
 
 Manasquam, N. J., 
 Feb. 9, 1919. 
 
 Dear Caswell: 
 
 'Please accept my thanks for the 
 copy of Warren News of January 
 24th. I know you thought the article 
 on the early days of the B. O. & M. 
 would interest me and it surely did. 
 Most of those old locomotives were 
 familiar to me in my boyhood as 
 they used to spend much of their 
 time in the repair shops at “Lake Vil¬ 
 lage.” I well remember when the 
 Mt. Washington was purchased and 
 what a seven days’ wonder it was. 
 What a toy beside the modern heavy 
 locomotives. 
 
 The Alfred Drake mentioned was 
 my uncle and I think the Lancaster 
 was the last engine he ran. He used 
 to run the express between Concord 
 and Woodsville and was stricken with 
 paralysis when completing his run to 
 Woodsville one day and. though he 
 lived many years after that, he was 
 never able to work again. 
 
 I am still working for the R. R., 
 having been in the auditing depart¬ 
 ment of the N. Y. & L. B. R. R. for 
 the past ten years. 
 
 I am glad to know that you are 
 still in existence and congratulate 
 
 you on the paper you are putting out 
 in the trying times we have been 
 going through. 1 am still interested 
 in the education of our young people, 
 having served on the Board of Edu¬ 
 cation of this district for the past 
 nine years. We have a graded school 
 and high school and employ a prin¬ 
 cipal and seventeen teachers with a 
 payroll of over $15,000 per year. 
 
 We have seen some of the war 
 preparations here and aeroplanes 
 have ceased to be a wonder as they 
 were flying over about every day all 
 summer. We hear the big guns when 
 being tested at Sandy Hook and the 
 big fire and destruction of the shell 
 loading plant at Morgan gave us some 
 idea of a bombardment when the ex¬ 
 plosions of shells was continuous for 
 twenty-four hours and the exploding 
 magazines were breaking out plate 
 glass windows over twenty miles 
 away. We are 2 miles from (Morgan, 
 but the explosions of T. N. T. were 
 terrific. We are glad the war is over 
 and the Huns beaten and we hope the 
 peace terms will make it impossible 
 for Germany to ever come back as a 
 great military power. 
 
 The reconstruction of business will 
 bring its troubles and failures, but 
 we hope our country will success¬ 
 fully accomplish the change from 
 war work with its tremendous ex¬ 
 penditures to peace work and normal 
 times. 
 
 With best wishes for you and yours 
 I remain, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Oscar Drake. 
 
 Here follows a letter which is 
 timely, and like the many others, ex¬ 
 ceedingly interesting. The writer of 
 it is the oldest railroad man in active 
 service on the system today and has 
 seen the railroad grow from a small 
 beginning to its present magnitude 
 under governmental supervision. 
 
24 
 
 Berlin, l N. H., Maxell 9, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 We are having a March blizzard 
 here today, which reminds me of a 
 great storm the 17th of March, 1870. 
 
 I left Woodsville with engine Duffe 
 and the snow plough at 3 o’clock in 
 the morning ahead of the way freight. 
 There was about six inches of snow 
 when we left Woodsville; when we 
 reached Warren there was a foot; 
 at Plymouth a foot and a half. Patch 
 Clifford’s train ha dnot left Plymouth 
 when we arrived. They started a 
 plough out from Lake Village coming 
 north in about two feet of snow. At 
 Hadley’s cut, about a mile from there 
 the plow went into the snow and 
 could not “spin a thread.” The crew 
 sent back to Lake Village for all the 
 men they comld get to shovel them 
 out. Mr. Dodge (the superintendent) 
 gave us orders to go down from Ply¬ 
 mouth with our plough, hitching 
 Franconia in with the Duffe. We 
 started for Lake Village. Our pilot, 
 Sid Davis did not know the road south 
 of Plymouth, so Mr. Dodge sent John 
 L. Davis, an old-time engineer to 
 take charge of the plough. 
 
 We went into the snow at Hadley’s 
 cut and got stuck. We backed up 
 and tried it the second time. When 
 we stopped in the snow, the plough 
 and engine Duffe were off the track. 
 This was about 2 p. m„ and we did 
 not get on track and cut until about 
 midnight. Mail train was following 
 with 3 engines. We sent three men 
 back to stoj) them. They passed 2 
 without seeing them. The third man, 
 John Davis, stopped them. The snow 
 was seventeen feet deep each side of 
 track, blowing in almost as fast as 
 three men could shovel it out. When 
 we came back, hitched Duffe with 
 snow plough on mail train. After 
 having breakfast at Pemigewasset 
 House about 3 a. m., this being the 
 first we had to eat since six o’clock 
 the morning before at Warren, we 
 
 went to Woodsville. Those were the 
 days when we used to bear grief with 
 a smile^ 
 
 That lame month there was an¬ 
 other heavy south-easter on the 25th 
 and about two feet of snow came. The 
 snow all went the following spring 
 without a freshet and the next sum¬ 
 mer was very dry. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 GEO E. HUTCHINS. 
 
 Going back to a former subject, 
 naming of locomotives: It has always 
 seemed to the writer a mistake to 
 eliminate the names of locomotives. 
 What interest would vessels have if 
 lettered or numbered instead of hav¬ 
 ing names? It may be that the old 
 practice will be restored on railroads. 
 “No new policy undertaken in re¬ 
 cent years by the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway,” says the Wall Street Jour¬ 
 nal, “has received such widespread 
 expression of approval as that of 
 naming passenger locomotives after 
 the engineers who by reason of their 
 fine service or deeds of exceptional 
 heroism have earned distinction. 
 These names will be incorporated on 
 the newly adopted insignia of the 
 railway, a circular band enclosing a 
 beaver-mounted shield on which is 
 painted the maple leaf. The name 
 of the engineer will be in letters of 
 gold upon a blue ground, the green 
 leaf, the white shield and the brown 
 beaver affording a striking color com¬ 
 bination. The insignia will be paint¬ 
 ed under the window of the engin¬ 
 eer’s cab.” 
 
 Vast changes in these times have 
 brought about modern ideas, and 
 with government ownership of rail¬ 
 roads, the roads, trains, engine and 
 equipment loses individuality, and 
 what there is in future days, possibly 
 with the electrifying of the present 
 railroad systems of the country, in¬ 
 cluding of course the mountain sys¬ 
 tem which connects this section of 
 
25 
 
 the state with the outside world is 
 by no means impossible; and should 
 that time ever come there would be 
 nothing unreasonable in naming the 
 locomotives for good men who helped 
 to shape the road’s history when it 
 first came into being. 
 
 Here is a word from Clarence W. 
 ■Adams, another old timer who in 
 early days of the road was an engin¬ 
 eer. !He is now station agent at Til¬ 
 ton. Clarence Adams knows rail¬ 
 roading from A to Z, or in other 
 words from the humble trackman, 
 round-house wiper and crossing ten¬ 
 der, telegraph operator along up the 
 line to the highest office. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 Having read with much interest 
 the different letters being published 
 in the Warren News 1 thought I 
 might add a little to the interest. Of 
 course we are all liable to mistakes 
 especially from memory if taken too 
 far back. I notice one error and that 
 is Mr. Cummings says the engines 
 burned in I860. 
 
 The shops at Hake Village were 
 burned January 31, 1857. I well re¬ 
 member of my mother telling about 
 it. what a terrible cold night it was; 
 thermometer was something like 20 
 below and the wind was blowing a 
 gale. It was thought the whole Vil¬ 
 lage would go but a change of wind 
 saved it. 
 
 I remember some more of the old 
 timers which have not been men¬ 
 tioned: Jabe Gannon and Jed Good¬ 
 win, engineers. Gannon died when I 
 was a boy. Goodwin left the road 
 and went with the 'New Jersey, run 
 there many years and is now retired 
 on a pension and lives in New Jersey, 
 I think. 
 
 Among some of the other engin¬ 
 eers of 35 or 40 years ago might be 
 mentioned: Sam. Cawley, Sam. Kim¬ 
 
 ball, Frank Clifford, Freeman Car¬ 
 penter, Will Swain, Nell (Nelson) Be¬ 
 dell, F. P. Swasey, ,H. iE. Whiting. 
 
 iSwasey, with Tommy White as 
 fireman was coming out of Woods- 
 ville one time on the night express 
 many years ago, went over the dump 
 and into the swamp at the “Y” 
 switch; both were injured badly. 
 They had the old Ohocorua. She 
 was pretty well demolished but was 
 picked up and repaired and did good 
 service many years after. I have 
 some of the pictures of that wreck 
 somewhere and I remember one of 
 them shows Bill Clement standing be¬ 
 side the Chocorua. It was sure 
 some wreck. I helped clean it up 
 and afterwards went to Woodsville on 
 a Saturday night and drew her to 
 Lake Village. All of the other en¬ 
 gineers mentioned above went west, 
 some of them have gone “west” since. 
 Sam. Cawley and Frank Clifford were 
 on the Lake Shore the last I knew, 
 Sam. Kimball somewhere in the South. 
 —(He died at Macon, Go., a year and 
 a half ago.)—Caswell. 
 
 I well remember the old conduc¬ 
 tors already mentioned and might 
 mention a few more. George V. 
 Moulton and his brother, Hi Moul¬ 
 ton, who was killed on the Branch 
 many years ago. George left the 
 road and entered the shoe business 
 at Lancaster, N. H. Later he sold 
 out and now lives on a farm in La¬ 
 conia. Another was Joe Prescott, 
 who was on the Branch some time. 
 
 In those days the conductor practi¬ 
 cally had charge of the Branch. 
 Frank 'Simpson, another old timer, 
 run here many years; left here in 
 
 1885 and went to the Union Pacific, 
 run there many years and died in 
 Laramie, Wyoming, or Cheyenne a 
 few years ago. W. iH. Weeks was 
 another one. He is now running on 
 the B. & M. R. R. in Nebraska. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 C. W. ADAMiS. 
 
 Tilton, N. H. 
 
 -j 
 
Tilton, N. H., March 17, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 In your issue of March 7th, I no¬ 
 tice Mr. Drake says the Lancaster 
 was the last engine Bogy Drake ran. 
 In 1876 Bogy had the Northumber¬ 
 land on the mail train between Con¬ 
 cord and Woods ville. About the first 
 of April Bogy w T as off one trip and I 
 run for him. He took his train 
 again at Woodsville and ran it one 
 round trip and was taken sick again. 
 I do not remember who ran the train 
 to Plymouth, but on the 8th of April 
 
 1876, father sent me to Plymouth to 
 take the train and I ran it until the 
 last day of December and on Jan. 1, 
 
 1877, West Lyons was assigned to it. 
 Bogy never run after that, although 
 he lived many years. M. H. Annis 
 was firing for Bogy at that time, and 
 I think he was set up running the 
 8th of April, the day I took the train. 
 I had the Northumberland for a 
 while, then she was, with one or two 
 other engines sent to the So. Eastern 
 road out of Newport, Vt., now a part 
 of the Canadian Pacific. I had dur¬ 
 ing the summer various engines, and 
 finally got the Chocorua for keeps. 
 I think it was in July she was taken 
 into the shop, the air brake put on 
 and I remained with her. We run 
 her around the yard and tried it out. 
 I took the mail north at Lake Vil¬ 
 lage one day; had never used the 
 automatic so did not know much 
 about handling it, except what the 
 Inspector had told me. Well, we 
 hitched up, tried the brakes and 
 started. There was a long bridge 
 near the Weirs over which we had 
 to slow down. I made that alright 
 and thought I would make a nice 
 stop at the Weirs. I did! In those 
 days the baggage, mail and express 
 was all in one car. Baggage first, 
 then the mail room and the express 
 in end of car next to the engine, a 
 walk on side of car from baggage 
 part to end of car. In the express 
 part were shelves on which the mes- 
 
 26 
 
 senger piled the small packages and 
 this was well filled. I made the 
 stop alright. George Crans was ex¬ 
 press messenger and the first thing 
 I heard after we stopped was, “What 
 in H—1 you trying to do Clarence?” 
 The sudden lurch caused by not re¬ 
 leasing the air had thrown all of the 
 bundles and packages off the shelf 
 and nearly buried him. We often 
 laughed about it afterwards. 
 
 Bogy had very little money laid 
 up and I spent several days on the 
 road with a paper and collected be¬ 
 tween two and three hundred dol¬ 
 lars which was divided between 
 Bogy and Plenry Little, who was 
 taken sick soon after Bogy. 
 
 C. W. ADAMS. 
 
 The railroad article last week 
 closed with a letter from Clarence 
 W. Adams of Tilton, and the follow¬ 
 ing having come to this office, is ap¬ 
 propriate for continuation. The 
 article was published in the Rail¬ 
 road Employee, published in New¬ 
 ark, N. J., July 1910. 
 
 A railroad veteran in the full 
 sense the term implies, and a man 
 who during his youth and early man¬ 
 hood was permitted to intimately 
 associate with those who were pio¬ 
 neers and upbuilders of the Ameri¬ 
 can railroad, and who has since been 
 constantly associated with that ser¬ 
 vice, is Clarence W. Adams, agent 
 for the Boston and Maine Railroad, 
 at Tilton, N. H., recently elected 
 president of the Agents’ Association 
 of that road. 
 
 Mr. Adams, who is also a promi¬ 
 nent and active member of the Or¬ 
 der of Railroad Station Agents, was 
 born in Lake Village, now Lakeport, 
 N. H., Jan. 31, 1856. His father, 
 
 Ralph Adams, was connected with 
 the old Boston, Concord and Mon¬ 
 treal Railroad, B. & L. R. R., Con¬ 
 cord and Montreal R. R., and Boston 
 
and Maine R. R., for 56 years, be¬ 
 ginning when the road only extend¬ 
 ed to Meredith Village, and for 20 
 years held the position of master 
 mechanic, with headquarters at Lake 
 Village. 
 
 Young Adams learned the rudi¬ 
 ments of railroading in his father’s 
 office during vacation periods, com¬ 
 mencing when he was 12 years of 
 age. taking lessons in telegraphy on 
 the old style paper tape instrument, 
 sound operators being unknown ar 
 that time. Messages were received 
 on the tape and afterwards copied. 
 The U. S. & C. Co., controlled the 
 business through New Hampshire, 
 and W. S. Taylor held the combined 
 position of agent and clerk in charge 
 of the accounts of the Motive Power 
 Department. 
 
 Mr. Adams continued learning the 
 business as opportunity offered un¬ 
 til 1873, when he was assigned to 
 the road service as a fireman, and 
 shortly thereafter was given charge 
 of an engine, his first regular as¬ 
 signment being with a construction 
 train engaged in laying steel north 
 of Concord. Mr. Adams says that in 
 these early days it was not an infre¬ 
 quent custom to send an engine out 
 on the road without a fireman, to 
 perform station and construction 
 work. 
 
 The first car of lumber used on the 
 famous Methodist Camp Ground at 
 Weirs was hauled by Mr. Adams, 
 from Lake Village, with the engine 
 “Mountain Maid”, Joseph Wffiiten, 
 long since deceased, being the brake- 
 man. On this trip the presiding 
 elder of the association sat on the 
 old fashioned tender box and held on 
 to his high hat with both hands. 
 When the grounds were completed, 
 Mr. Adams ran the first excursion 
 train which carried passengers to 
 its opening. The crew of this train 
 included W. S. Taylor, conductor; 
 F. W. Lougee, fireman; J. T. Glaze- 
 
 27 
 
 brook, J. I. Folsom and Herman 
 Foss, brakeman. Mr. Taylor was in 
 charge of the office at Lake Village 
 at this time, and acted as conductor 
 of all the extra trains, the balance 
 of the crew being selected from 
 among the shop employees, and in 
 consequence a “special” could be 
 made up at short notice. In 1873, 
 when Mr. Adams was at school in 
 New Hampton, he was returning 
 home one Friday evening, and found 
 that the railroad bridge at East Til¬ 
 ton had been destroyed by fire dur¬ 
 ing the day and that several trains 
 were held up at Lake Village. The 
 bridge was repaired during the night 
 but when they came to send out the 
 trains they found themselves short 
 of available trainmen, and young 
 Adams was assigned as conductor 
 of one of the trains. 
 
 In the fall and winter of 1874, Mr. 
 Adams was at school in Tilton. The 
 weather was unusually severe, and 
 one of his diversions was to go home 
 Friday night, and when he got the 
 chance run the snow plow, as en¬ 
 gineer, on Saturday and Sunday, re¬ 
 turning to his studies on Monday. 
 
 The B., C. & M., owned a steam¬ 
 boat called the “James Bell.” She 
 was built at Center Harbor, in 1874, 
 and was designed to run between 
 Lake Village and Alton Bay, to con¬ 
 nect with the Boston and Maine, and 
 carry freight. Owing to competition 
 the B., C. & M., purchased the boat 
 and used it during the summer sea¬ 
 sons for excursions and private 
 parties. In 1876, Mr. Adams was 
 placed in charge of this craft, and 
 served as its captain for seven sum¬ 
 mers. He handled excursions of 
 from 100 to 3b0 persons, and would 
 go anywhere for passengers around 
 the lake during the camp-meetings 
 and reunions at Weirs. He made 
 regular trips between Lake Village 
 and Weirs and when the camp-meet¬ 
 ing was in session at Alton Bay he 
 
28 
 
 would run between that place and 
 Wolfboro, connecting with the steam¬ 
 er “Lady of the Lake”, owned by the 
 company. His time was not alto¬ 
 gether taken up with this work, and 
 when not on the boat he ran a train 
 on the Main Line. In 1875, he was 
 in charge of a work train between 
 Lancaster and Pabyan, N. H., and 
 during the summer pulled the va¬ 
 rious trains on the branch between 
 Wing Road and Fabyan, and later 
 between Woodsville and that station. 
 
 On April 8th, 1876, Mr. Adams was 
 assigned to what was then known as 
 the “mail” train, between Concord 
 and Woodsville, and served in that 
 capacity until December 31st, after 
 which for some time he did spare 
 work and then ran the Montreal Ex¬ 
 press between Concord and Woods- 
 vi'lle. He continued on the express 
 until 1882, at which time there was 
 a big wreck on Ashland Hill, and sev¬ 
 eral changes were made, and he was 
 asked by J. A. Dodge to go into the 
 office at Lake Village and take charge. 
 In addition to his office duties he was 
 to run as spare conductor when 
 needed. He had charge of the Mo¬ 
 tive Power and Road Department ac¬ 
 counts and made up the pay-rolls. 
 He also ran the first pay car over the 
 
 Mr. Adams continued as conduc¬ 
 tor, engineer, clerk and general util¬ 
 ity man until 1884, when, upon the 
 resignation of his father, he left the 
 service to take up railroading in the 
 West, locating on the B. & M. R., at 
 Platsmouth, Neb., as roundhouse 
 foreman and was shortly thereafter 
 transferred to Red Cloud, in charge 
 of a switcher. The climate not 
 agreeing with his health, together 
 with Mrs. Adams, who had accom¬ 
 panied her husband west, he returned 
 to New Hampshire, arrived home on 
 Christmas day, 1884, where he re¬ 
 entered the service of the B., C. & 
 M., serving in different capacities 
 such as dispatcher, engineer, conduc¬ 
 
 tor, agent and operator until early 
 in July 1885, when he was sent for 
 by superintendent W. A. Stowell, 
 
 Old Passenger Station, 
 Tilton, N. H. 
 
 present general manager of the M. 
 & W. R. R., and assigned to relieve 
 temporarily the agent at Tilton, 
 which assignment was continued 
 permanently, Mr. Adams having been 
 the agent at that station since. 
 
 Next comes some reminiscences of early rail¬ 
 road days as told by William P. Lang, the veter¬ 
 an auctioneer, salesman and general all around 
 man of Tilt on. 
 
 Tilton, N. H., April 12, 1919. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 After seeing so many interesting 
 items in regard to the B. C. & 
 M. railroad and its early history 
 I came to the conclusion that a letter 
 from me showing something of my 
 experiences in railroading in connec¬ 
 tion with other incidentals might be 
 worthy of your attention. Early in 
 the summer of 1865 I applied for a 
 job and got it through Mark Law- 
 
29 
 
 rence at that time station agent at 
 Plymouth. I went to Plymouth and 
 visited the railroad office and they 
 put me to work on a freight. The 
 freights were all way freights then. 
 Ezra Mann, now proprietor of a drug 
 store at Woodsville, was the conduc¬ 
 tor. I made a few trips with him as 
 brakeman. Then they took me into 
 the station at Plymouth making me 
 baggage master at the Plymouth de¬ 
 pot. Of course the trains north and 
 south at that time met at Plymouth 
 end that was the place for dinner at 
 that time as always. 
 
 The two conductors on the mail 
 train at that time were Seth Green- 
 leaf and Sid Russ. In those days 
 they run cars from Providence and 
 Worcester to Plymouth, returning on 
 the next train. We used to have to 
 shift them out up there. After the 
 train left there was nothing more 
 done until night. They would put 
 cattle racks on behind the mail train 
 and go down below Plymouth about 
 two miles to the intervale where the 
 cattle racks would be unhitched and 
 left on the main line. The train men 
 would then notify Patch Clifford in 
 Concord and the engine on the train 
 north corresponding to the one now 
 going through here about 4 p. m., 
 would stop and push us back, the 
 cattle racks having been meanwhile 
 loaded with dry peeled excelsior wood, 
 cut in four foot length. The busi¬ 
 ness of manufacturing excelsior mat¬ 
 tresses had just started to boom at 
 that time and thousands of cords of 
 wood were handled. The men would 
 hurry to get it loaded and would then 
 sit down in the shade and rest until 
 the train arrived. Thus you see a 
 train would set on the main line prac¬ 
 tically all day, but traffic was not as 
 heavy in those days. 
 
 One noon the train up was late. It 
 was my duty to attend the switches 
 and make the shift. Old Henry Little 
 was the engineer that day. He was 
 
 running the Chocorua. The train was 
 scheduled to back down on to a sid¬ 
 ing. I set the switch way over and 
 down they came hitting the switch 
 and then bumping along on the ties, 
 the three cars and engine all going 
 off on the wall track in front of the 
 Railroad office. The first thing I saw 
 was Superintendent Dodge, Jim L. 
 Rogers, the treasurer and Charles 
 Whittier come running down the 
 track and over across to see what was 
 the matter. Dodge always called me 
 “Charles” and he said “Charles who 
 did this?” I answered “I am like 
 George Washington, I cannot tell a 
 lie, I did it.” “Well” Dodge thunder¬ 
 ed, “That’s all we want of you”. I 
 was boarding at Henry Green’s, an 
 old blacksmith’s, and I went for my 
 things. By the time they had got 
 the train back on the track I was 
 ready to come home. I got a letter 
 the next day saying that I could come 
 back but I said “No”. I presume if 
 I had returned I might have been 
 superintendent or president of the 
 road by this time. They put a man 
 named Gilman in my place and he 
 hadn’t been there a week before he 
 run a train off about the same way, 
 only his run into the shed and did 
 considerable damage. My run off had 
 not resulted in any damage. They 
 kept Gilman for many years. 
 
 That incident ended my services as 
 a railroad man. 
 
 I remember the railroad way back 
 here when the engine house and turn¬ 
 table was near Carter’s mill. I have 
 some of the railroad reports for the 
 year 1855 which are quite interesting. 
 
 Of course I remember the old con¬ 
 ductors Sid Russ and Seth Greenleaf 
 well. Sid was a comical fellow. He 
 used to have a lot of fun with Darius 
 Dockham, who lived across the street 
 from the depot. Mr. Dockham was 
 always sitting out on the piazza in 
 front of his house. One day Sid ar¬ 
 rived and said, “Where’s Dockham?” 
 
30 
 
 He finally located .him and said, “Oh 
 here you are. Shall I go along?” 
 Mr. Dockham answered “Yes” and 
 Sid said “All right I didn’t want to go 
 until you said I could.” A stranger 
 riding on Sid’s train one day asked 
 him what kind of a place Sanbornton 
 Bridge was and how many people 
 lived there. “Wait until we get 
 there” Sid replied. “They will all be 
 at the depot and you can tell for 
 yourself.” He was a dry chap. I 
 well remember him as he stood in the 
 door of the baggage car smoking his 
 old clay pipe. At Northfield Depot 
 many times the train would stop and 
 all hands would have to get out and 
 wood up. 
 
 One day a woman was riding north 
 with Sid. She was going to Laconia. 
 When the train arrived at East Til¬ 
 ton she started to get off but the con¬ 
 ductor told her that she had not 
 reached Laconia yet. When the train 
 did arrive at Laconia she said to Sid, 
 “Which end shall I get off from?”, 
 and he answered “Both ends are go¬ 
 ing to stop, Madam, take 3 r our 
 choice”. 
 
 The train called the Shoo Fly was 
 made up to start with at Plymouth. 
 The year has gone from me now. We 
 were all at the station to see the first 
 train down. It consisted of a little 
 passenger car, a small baggage car 
 and the engine called the Moun¬ 
 tain Maid. Bill Kimball was 
 the engineer. Pete Hinds was the 
 conductor. It was at the time the 
 song “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me”, 
 was first got up. Arthur Kimball an 
 eccentric fellow, said “We ought to 
 call it the Shoo Fly”. Everybody 
 was whistling this tune and from 
 that time on the train has always 
 been known as the Shoo Fly. The 
 name originated here. 
 
 I well remember the time before 
 there was any railroad station at 
 Tilton, or Sanbornton Bridge. They 
 sold tickets from Robert S. Perkins’ 
 
 parlor window. He was afterwards 
 station agent. Plis house set where 
 our depot does now. It was moved 
 across the track when the old depot 
 Wh3 built. 
 
 In October 1852 they held a state 
 fair at Laconia. I have one of the 
 badges with the names of Judge 
 Nesmith, Frederick Smyth and Mr. 
 Walker of Concord upon it. Laconia 
 was at that time Meredith Bridge. 
 The day was one of the biggest in the 
 history of the railroad and a tre¬ 
 mendous crow’d was on hand. I want¬ 
 ed to go but my mother wouldn’t let 
 me and I set on the fence at my house 
 and watched the people. All of a 
 sudden we heard a great noise. It 
 was a runaway horse owned by Dr. 
 Woodbury. The horse and two 
 wheeled doctor’s rig came tearing 
 down through the crowd. There was 
 great excitement. Finally the train 
 came in and after the people had 
 crowded aboard it started off. Then 
 we heard it coming back. Ma let me 
 run down to the depot to see what 
 the trouble was. I found that Mrs. 
 John Evans had been killed by the 
 train. She had come out from her 
 home near the crossing at the Granite 
 Mills to watch the crowd and had got 
 her foot caught between the rail and 
 a frog and had been unable to free 
 herself. Later on there was a big 
 accident that same day at The Weir-s. 
 Dodge was the conductor. Some of 
 the crowd had got aboard the train in 
 front in order to avoid paying car 
 fares. The train was stopped at the 
 Weirs bridge so that the conductor 
 could collect the tickets. While the 
 train stood there another train came 
 along and smashed into the rear end 
 of the train that had stopped. Sev¬ 
 eral people were killed. I have a list 
 of all the engines they had on the 
 road in 1855 and of the number of 
 cars they had then. 
 
 I recall that there have been a good 
 many accidents at our crossings at 
 
31 
 
 different times and several people 
 have been killed right here. I re¬ 
 member them all pretty well. 
 
 I remember they used to draw 
 empty cars on the Plains Saturday af¬ 
 ternoon and load them* with lumber* 
 Sunday. Then they were cut loose 
 with one man on the brakes. One 
 Sunday they got away from him and 
 all went off the siding. The freight 
 depot was so arranged at that time 
 that the train went right through. 
 These cars stove through both doors, 
 crashing right through the station. 
 I was a young fellow at the time. I 
 remember that some of the men 
 jumped off and were pretty badly 
 lamed. John Paige jumped and 
 sprawled out there. Luckily the cars 
 were not going very fast. Possibly 
 some of the items from the annual 
 report of the Directors of the Boston, 
 Concord and Montreal railroad for 
 the year ending May 1, 1855 may be 
 of interest to your readers. For in¬ 
 stance James M. Whiton, superin¬ 
 tendent pro tern says during his re¬ 
 port: I am grateful to be able to add 
 in conclusion that no accident has 
 happened to any passenger since the 
 time I took charge of the road. Only 
 two instances of any injury of any 
 consequence to the operatives of the 
 road have occurred in the same time. 
 
 “In January 1854 while a freight 
 train was on its route in Northfield, 
 a stick of timber by some means never 
 satisfactorily explained worked loose, 
 carried off the top of the saloon car 
 and broke both legs of W. B. Douglas, 
 the conductor. 
 
 “Mr. Douglas has recovered and is 
 now station agent at Woodsville. In 
 March last George Randall, fireman, 
 
 in attempting to leap from an engine 
 at Lake Village struck the ice and 
 
 fractured his thigh. He is now re¬ 
 covering. Annexed are statements of 
 the road equipment which shows its 
 present condition. The number of 
 
 cars is kept up, all which have been 
 broken or worn out having been re¬ 
 placed. Respectfully submitted.” 
 
 Under the head of new buildings 
 the report says: New buildings have 
 been constructed as follows—New 
 passenger station at Sanbornton 
 bridge. This would indicate that the 
 depot previous to the present build¬ 
 ing was built in 1855. 
 
 I note several other interesting 
 items in this old report. One says: 
 The corporation are in possession of 
 wood lands to the extent of about 
 7,000 acres equivalent to over ten 
 square miles and the wood required 
 for the company as well as sleepers, 
 material for repair of fences and for 
 other purposes of the company are 
 procured from these lands and at an 
 important saving in expense. The 
 cost of the lands has been a fraction 
 over $3 per acre. About 300 acres 
 consist of farm lands which are to be 
 sold. Other lands are of different 
 values but mostly covered with wood 
 and timber. 
 
 The list of engines on the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal, April 1, 1855. 
 was as follows: Old Man of the 
 Mountain, Lady of the Lake, Old 
 Crawford, Josiah Quincy, James N. 
 Elkins and Ahquedauken passenger 
 engines, Granite State, McDuffe, Pe¬ 
 ter Clark, Moosilauke, Winnepisaukee 
 and Pehaugan, freight engines and 
 Pony and Paugus, gravel engines. 
 They all had four driving wheels. 
 Winnepisaukee, Pehaugan and Moosi- 
 lauk were the heaviest, weighing 24 
 tons each. Josiah Quincy, Old Man 
 of the Mountain, Lady of the Lake 
 and Old Crawford weighed 22 tons 
 each. Paugus weighed 18 tons and 
 Pony 14 tons. Hinkley & Drury, Bos¬ 
 ton Locomotive Works, Lyman South¬ 
 er and the B., C. & M., shops were the 
 manufacturers. They were all re¬ 
 ported in good repair. The total 
 miles made by the Lady of the Lake 
 was 23,378. The Old Man of the 
 Mountain and the Granite State each 
 
32 
 
 made about 15,000 miles. The Mc- 
 Duffee was credited with 7,196. 
 
 The statement regarding cars as 
 shown by the report that year was as 
 follows: two single saloon cars (pas¬ 
 senger) 54 seats; one double, 50 
 seats; two double, 48 seats; five 
 without saloons, 60 seats; two bag¬ 
 gage and post office, 40% feet; two 
 baggage and post office, 34% feet; 
 two common baggage; 74 long box 
 freight, 28 feet; 15 short box freight, 
 13 feet; eight platform freight, 13 
 feet; eight platform freight, 32 feet; 
 111 platform freight, 28 feet; 28 cat¬ 
 tle racks, 28 feet; and 15 gravel cars. 
 
 The total income was given as 
 $298,282.31 of which $100,495.59 was 
 from passengers and $178,548.04 from 
 freight. Among the expenditures was 
 $21,659.16 for wood and $4,792.97 for 
 oil. Passenger labor included en¬ 
 gineers, firemen, conductors, brake- 
 men, car cleaners and ticket office 
 expenses for passenger trains am¬ 
 ounted to $27,812.60. Merchandise 
 labor including station agents, en¬ 
 gineers, conductors, brakemen, fire¬ 
 men and extra assistants on freight 
 trains cost $27,812.60. Repairs on 
 the road cost $41,256.20 and repairs 
 on engines amounted to $12,234.60. 
 
 Under the head of Gratuties I note 
 the following: W. B. Douglas, con¬ 
 ductor, both legs broken on freight 
 train $200. Expense for same $245.07. 
 Doctor’s bill and gratutity to Irish¬ 
 man injured at Haverhill $38.25. 
 Damages paid for freight loss and 
 injured $1,421.20. Salaries $4,200. 
 
 The salary of the president was 
 $1,000 including all his traveling ex¬ 
 penses. The salary of the superin¬ 
 tendent was $2,000 and his expenses 
 on the line of the road. The treas¬ 
 urer received $1,000 including the 
 pay of his clerk. 
 
 During the year $1,054.94 was ex¬ 
 pended for advertising including 
 newspapers, handbills, maps and 
 other advertisements relating to this 
 
 line and its connections. The profits 
 of the year were given as $140,951.14. 
 
 An interesting comment was as 
 follows: The risk assumed by the 
 railroad is a matter which I feel con¬ 
 fident has been always underrated. 
 The stringency of the laws, the al¬ 
 most vindictive verdicts which are 
 sometimes rendered by the juries, 
 render risks assumed enormous. So 
 far as possible every precaution has 
 been taken to obviate danger and a 
 more general understanding among 
 roads as to changes of time whereby 
 trains could be run with the advant¬ 
 age of habit in addition to the fixed 
 rules would, especially in single 
 track roads, do much to diminish 
 this item. 
 
 I also have a copy of the annual re¬ 
 port for 1857. In this report the di¬ 
 rectors express regret at the sudden 
 death of their late superintendent, 
 James M. Whiton. The net earnings 
 of the year are given as $105,044.19. 
 The report says: The expenditures of 
 the past year are much increased by 
 reason of the flood in August last and 
 by the fires at Plymouth and Lake 
 Village with the tax of 1855 requiring 
 an outlay of $27,000 which have been 
 added to the current account of 1857. 
 Treasurer George Minot of Concord 
 presented a comparative statement of 
 the income and expenditures for the 
 years 1856 and 1857. The gross pas¬ 
 senger income for 1856 was $121,774.- 
 74 and for 1857 it was $115,475.72. 
 The gross freight income for ’56 was 
 $236,631.69 and for ’57 it was $214,- 
 292.49. The expenditures for ’56 were 
 $163,378.67 and for ’57 they were 
 $155,742.25. 
 
 In addition to the old reports I have 
 a collection of old tickets. I think 
 the oldest is a baggage ticket issued 
 when East Tilton was Union Bridge. 
 They used to issue tickets for bag¬ 
 gage. It is printed on both sides 
 alike and says, “Boston, Concord & 
 Montreal Railroad. To Union Bridge. 
 
33 
 
 Baggage valued over $50 to be at own¬ 
 er’s risk unless notice is given and 
 extra charges paid.” 
 
 Another old ticket dated June 2, 
 1866 on the Northern railroad is “To 
 West Andover” and is signed by A. G. 
 Warren. The stamp is Northern 
 Railroad 66. 
 
 I have preserved my ticket to the 
 opening of the Lake Shore Railroad, 
 Tuesday June 17, 1890. This marked 
 the opening of the new line between 
 
 value is signed by C. E. Tilton, Pres¬ 
 ident, and is an annual pass on the 
 Tilton & Belmont Railroad for the 
 year 1890. I have a ticket on the 
 Steamer Lady of the Lake to Wolf- 
 boro signed J. L. Rogers and dated 
 August 21, 1866. 
 
 I had connection with the railroad 
 as police for many years. It was 
 through my efforts that the fellow 
 was caught who tried to run a train 
 off over the summit. He got mad at 
 
 On Plymouth Intervale in the summer of 1872. 
 
 Lake Village and Alton Bay. A spec¬ 
 ial train left Tilton at 9.51 a. m., that 
 day. C. A. Busiel as president signed 
 the ticket. 
 
 I also have a complimentary ticket 
 to the opening at Lancaster, N. H., 
 Nov. 29, 1870, reading “Boston, Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal & White Mountains 
 (N. H.) Extension Railroad. Pass 
 Mr. W. P. Lang from Tilton to Lan¬ 
 caster and return. J. A. Dodge, su¬ 
 perintendent.” The engine that drew 
 the train that day was named Lan¬ 
 caster. 
 
 I am still holding a pass dated 
 Sept. 25, 1876, Tilton to Plymouth, 
 “On account of police.” One of the 
 complimentary tickets I especially 
 
 the railroad because he had been put 
 off a freight and tried to get revenge 
 by piling up a big lot of ties on the 
 track. He was arrested, convicted 
 and sentenced to 15 years. 
 
 Among my souvenirs are a lot of 
 baggage tags. When the railroad 
 gave up using these brass checks I 
 happened to be in Boston where there 
 were barrels of them at the North 
 Station and I picked out a few. 
 
 Among my collection of railroad 
 souvenirs I ran across a receipt dated 
 Sept. 25, 1862. It was J. L. and E. A. 
 Abbott to the Boston, Concord & 
 Montreal Railroad Corporation Dr. 
 For transporting from Sanbornton to 
 Concord a lot of oak lumber weighing 
 
11,250 pounds. The charges were $9. 
 The Abbotts were connected with the 
 Abbott, Downing Co. The bill is 
 signed by David F. Johnson, station 
 agent. The receipt says: All goods 
 and merchandise will be at risk of 
 the owners while in the store houses 
 of the company. Terms cash on de¬ 
 livery. 
 
 There has been quite a change in 
 the present Tilton station since it was 
 built. The present building has been 
 raised about two feet higher than it 
 was at first. The new street was in- 
 staled in 1895 and at that time the de¬ 
 pot was raised, many car loads of 
 gravel being furnished for the pur¬ 
 pose of grading. The fountain at the 
 depot was not changed and this is 
 the reason that it is so low down at 
 present. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 William P. Lang. 
 
 Tilton, N. H. 
 
 After fifty-five years of service 
 from the old B,, C. & M. days, along 
 down through the years, up to last 
 November George Ed Cummings had 
 seen more railroad service than any 
 other man now living in the state of 
 New Hampshire. After being super¬ 
 intendent for twenty-six years, Mr. 
 Cummings, owing to ill health, re¬ 
 signed with a railroad record equaled 
 by but few. 
 
 With the resignation of 'Supt. 
 George E. Cummings, November 1st, 
 1918, ends fifty years of varied rail¬ 
 road career. As records show, iMr. 
 Cummings began railroading in the 
 fall of 1868, as watchman in the 
 Woodsv'ille Engine house, which at 
 that time was the terminal of the 
 North Country railroad. The engine 
 house at this time had a capacity of 
 five engines and the turntable inside 
 the house. The engines were wood- 
 burners, requiring the handling of a 
 large amount of wood by the em¬ 
 ployees. 
 
 Mr. Cummings remained at this 
 post, as watchman and cleaner of en¬ 
 gines until the spring of 1870, when 
 he went to Littleton to fill a similar 
 position, going from there to Lan¬ 
 caster as the road advanced to that 
 point. 
 
 Superintendent J. A. Dodge had 
 promised Cummings a job breaking 
 just as soon as he was old enough 
 and his size would permit, and in the 
 spring of 1871 this long looked for 
 job was obtained, and with pride he 
 entered the train service. At this 
 time the brakeunan had something to 
 do besides help the ladies on and off 
 and call out the stations. The pas¬ 
 senger cars were fitted up with a 
 wood stove in the center of the car, 
 two candle lamps, one on each side 
 of the car, which gave barely ’light 
 enough to see vour way through the 
 coach. The cars were coupled to¬ 
 gether with link and pin, and all 
 brakes were set by the strength of 
 the brak ©man’s arm. The brak emeu 
 were assigned two brakes, care of 
 baggage, and at the end of the rim 
 shifted out the train, sweep the cars, 
 get kindling for fires on the return 
 trip and arise early enough to build 
 the fires and get the cars warm be¬ 
 fore time to leave the terminal, the 
 run being from Lancaster to Boston 
 and return. In addition all hands 
 had to turn out and help wood up 
 from three to four times enroiCe. 
 (Likely some resignations would be 
 sent in if conditions were put back 
 to that now.) 
 
 In 1874 the first parlor car was run 
 over the road; Superintendent Dodge 
 and Mr. Cummings going with it to 
 see that all clearances were right and 
 that no harm came to it. This car 
 ran from boat connection at New Lon¬ 
 don, Conn., to the White Mountains. 
 
 In the fall of 1875 Mr. Cummings 
 worked in shops overseeing the build¬ 
 ing of the first logging trucks which 
 were the first trucks used to draw 
 
logs from the North Country woods. 
 In these days the way freights run 
 from Woodsville to Boston, instead of 
 Plymouth and return, as at present. 
 The run was made in four days with 
 one hr ahem an. 
 
 In 1882 ;Mr. Cummings was ap¬ 
 pointed wood and car agent with of¬ 
 fices at Woodsville, 'buying some 
 thirty thousand cords of wood each 
 year, which represented about the 
 amount consumed by the road each 
 
 5 
 
 Divisions at that point, a position 
 which he occupied until 1888, when 
 he was appointed trainmaster at 
 Woodsville. 
 
 In 1889 he was appointed iSuperin- 
 tendent of the Kilkenny railroad, in 
 addition to his duties as trainmaster 
 at Woodsville. The Kilkenny road 
 was a logging road, handling logs and 
 lumber over very hard grades. In 
 May of the same year he was appoint¬ 
 ed Assistant Superintendent of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Weirs Railroad Station and Boat Landing Fitly years ago. 
 
 year. (Some bill with the price of 
 today.) During this period it was no 
 uncommon sight to see a train of 
 twenty-five flat cars loaded with lum¬ 
 ber go out without a box car in the 
 train, and only one brakeman to go 
 over Warren Summit. 
 
 In 1884 the Boston and Lowell 
 leased the Boston, Concord and (Mont¬ 
 real road and Mr. Cummings was ap¬ 
 pointed transfer agent with offices at 
 Concord, and was in charge of affairs 
 for the White Mountain and Northern 
 
 Montreal railroad north of Concord 
 with headquarters at Woodsville, 
 which position he held under the Su- 
 pedintendency of Edw. F. Mann, who 
 died in August, 1892, when Mr. Cum¬ 
 mings was promoted to the office of 
 Superintendent, a position he has 
 held through all the changes of titles 
 and management down to the date of 
 his resignation on 'November 1. 
 
 Mr. Cummings was also President 
 of the Mount Washington for several 
 years, and all in all knows the rail- 
 
36 
 
 road business of the lines (between 
 Concord, Groveton, Berlin and the 
 top of New England (Mt. Washing¬ 
 ton) better probably than any other 
 railroad man in the North 'Country. 
 
 Lakeport, March 10, 1919. 
 Dear Caswell. 
 
 1 am much intertested in the old 
 time railroad articles. Forty years 
 ago I was one of the boys with the 
 rest of the fellows and shall never 
 forget these days. I am not much at 
 writing, but could use to “polish a 
 brake-head” with the bes t of them. 
 
 In my bright lexicon of youth 
 
 There was no such word as “Fail,” 
 And in those days I was quite sure 
 I had the old world by the tail. 
 
 But now that I know thrice as much 
 As I did then, I heave a sigh. 
 
 And, looking back, I wonder how 
 In thunder ration I got by! 
 
 ODD TIMER. 
 
 This work would not be complete 
 without Joe Hooker’s name mentioned 
 in it somewhere. Joseph B. Ayer 
 was himself a part of the old B., C. & 
 M. 'He knew how to handle a loco¬ 
 motive, and keep one in repair as 
 well. He had a habit of apparently 
 sleeping for miles at a time when 
 climbing the hills. With his trusty 
 hand on the throttle, but when the 
 drivers started to ‘slip” an intuition 
 would intercede and he would invari¬ 
 ably “put her in to the center” and 
 she would “pick up” again. A trusty 
 fireman in the cab with him always 
 
 counted for much; he run for years 
 without any serious mishaps. He is 
 now spending his declining years on 
 his farm beside the lake just out 
 of Lakeport. 
 
 Already there has appeared a list of 
 engines and their locomotives in 1882 
 —37 years ago. Another list comes 
 to hand which is seven years older, 
 1875 or forty-four years ago, and is 
 sent by ex-Supt. Cummings. The list 
 is as follows: 
 
 Plymouth was run by Patch Clifford. 
 
 Lancaster, West Lyons. 
 
 Mt. Washington, Charles Hoit. 
 
 Lady of the Lake, John Marsh. 
 
 Old Crawford, Will Moore. 
 
 Chocorua, George Ferguson. 
 
 Ahquedockin, Charles Burleigh. 
 
 Coos, Henry Little. 
 
 Northumberland, Bogy (Alfred) 
 Drake. 
 
 J. N. Elkins, George E. Randall. 
 
 Fabyan, Die Sargent 
 
 Profile, Ossie Berdean. 
 
 Tip-Top, Frank Swasey. 
 
 Peter Clark, William Kimball. 
 
 Winnipeseogee, Martin Perkins. 
 
 Pehongun, Sam Kimball. 
 
 Laconia, Spare. 
 
 Belknap, Joe Ayer. 
 
 Pagus. Nelson Bedell. 
 
 Granite State, Charles Leonard. 
 
 McDuffe, John Boynton. 
 
 Moosilauke, George Lyon. 
 
 Franconia, True Carpenter. 
 
 Ammonoosuc, Orrin Bailey. 
 
 Gilford, Fred Clifford. 
 
 Tilton, John 'Swain. 
 
 Marshfield, Spare. 
 
 Stranger, Spare. 
 
 In the old days of link and pin 
 couplings and hand brakes, when 
 railroads were in their infancy, the 
 brakemen constantly faced dangers 
 unknown to the men of today. A 
 bright lad with a widowed mother 
 over in the town of Easton, was 
 away on his trip, doing his best to 
 keep the wolf from the door of the 
 old home; in a moment of leisure he 
 wrote these lines which found their 
 way into some newspaper: 
 
37 
 
 The Brakeman. 
 
 By Chas. Dexter. 
 
 Dust grimed features, weather beaten, 
 Hands that show the sear of toil, 
 
 Do you envy him his station. 
 
 Patient tiller of the soil? 
 
 In the storm or in the sunshine, 
 
 He must mount the speeding train, 
 Ride outside at post of duty, 
 
 Heeding not the drenching rain. 
 
 In the pleasant summer weather 
 Standing on the car-top high. 
 
 He can view the charming landscape, 
 
 As he rushes swiftly by, 
 
 When he note^ th beauteous picture 
 Which the lovely landscape makes, 
 Suddenly across his dreaming 
 Comes a quick, shrill cry for brakes. 
 
 But when winter’s icy fingers 
 Cover earth with snowy shroud, 
 
 And the north wind like a mad man, 
 Pushes on with shrieking loud, 
 
 Then behold the gallant brakeman 
 Spring to heed the engines’ call 
 Running o’er the icy car-tops,— 
 
 God protect him if he fall. 
 
 Do not scorn to treat him kindly, 
 
 He will give you smile for smile, 
 Though he is nothing but a brakeman, 
 
 Do not deem him surely vile, 
 
 Speak to him in kindly language 
 
 Though his clothes are coarse and plain, 
 For he has a fearless heart 
 That feels both joy and pain. 
 
 He may have a widowed mother. 
 
 He may be her only joy, 
 
 Perhaps in her home she is praying 
 For the safety of her boy; 
 
 How he loves that dear old mother, 
 Toiling for her day-by-day, 
 
 Always bringing her some present 
 Every time he draws his pay. 
 
 Daily facing death an danger, 
 
 One mis-step or slip of hand, 
 
 Sends the poor unlucky brakeman 
 To the dreaded unknown laud, 
 
 When we scan our evening paper, 
 
 Note what its filled columns say, 
 
 One brief line attracts our notice, 
 
 “One more brakeman killed to-day.” 
 
 In her little lonely cottage. 
 
 Waiting in the waning light. 
 
 Sits the luckless brakeman’s mother, 
 
 She expects her boy to-night; 
 
 Someone brings the fatal message, 
 
 God have mercy: hear her pray 
 As she reads the fearful story, 
 
 “Killed while coupling cars to-day.” 
 
 Manus H. Perkins began railroad¬ 
 ing fifty-three years ago. He spent 
 27 years of his life on the road and 
 died December 13, 1892, as a result of 
 a fall from his train a year before. 
 He started as brakeman in 1866 and 
 after a couple of years was promoted 
 to conductor, running the through 
 freight to Boston, and in later years, 
 the stock train. For eight years, up 
 to the time of his fall, he had not 
 missed a day, and all his years of 
 railroading were passed on this road. 
 
 George G. Shute will he remem¬ 
 bered by many today. Shute began 
 railroading in 1880 under Mr. Dodge, 
 for the old road. He gradually 
 climbed the ladder of promotion and 
 had many friends who knew him best 
 along the line over which he run as 
 passenger conductor. For a number 
 of years he was in charge of one of 
 the C. P. trains between Concord and 
 Newport, Vt. He died about four 
 years ago. The Boston Herald one 
 time told of a conversation between 
 Shute and a drummer on his train as 
 they went through Haverhill one day. 
 The drummer asked, 
 
 “George, why didn’t they have the 
 station over near the village?” 
 
 To which Shute replied in his usual 
 droll manner, 
 
 “Because they wanted it over here 
 
 near the railroad.” 
 
 « 
 
 Bath, N. H., March 15, 1919. 
 
 Brother Caswell: — 
 
 I am interested in your articles, 
 Early days of the B. C. and M. R. R. 
 I have lived for 60 years on the line 
 of what is now the Boston & Maine. 
 Way back in the sixties as a boy, I 
 well remember the old timers. 
 
 Weston Lyons, one of the old 
 timers went to work for the old Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord and Montreal R. R., in 
 1863 as fireman. In 1867 he was a 
 full fledged engineer and worked for 
 many years; everybody on 'the line 
 
 / 
 
38 
 
 knew Weston. He is now at Elk¬ 
 hart, Ind. 
 
 With best wishes, I am, 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 .lames W. Foster. 
 
 Following is a letter from Rev. 
 William A. Loyne, a Methodist minis¬ 
 ter, who probably is better known 
 and more popular among the railroad 
 men of his day than any clergyman 
 before or since. Mr. Loyne is today 
 pastor of St. Paul’s Church, Law¬ 
 rence, Mass. 
 
 To Mr. Caswell: 
 
 Dear Sir—I have been very much 
 interested in the Warren News from 
 the day of its first issue. It is to 
 me one of the marvels of the north 
 country. 
 
 When you started in recently to 
 print the correspondence from the 
 railroad men and the brotherly or 
 sisterly old engines, telling about the 
 folks, it fairly made me long for the 
 week to come round when the next 
 issue would be out like boys waiting 
 for the coming of the morning to see 
 what would be said. How real-like 
 it has all seemed to me. 
 
 I first became acquainted with the 
 men and the old-time engines in 1881. 
 My experience has been growing and 
 my knowledge of the road and the 
 folks has been very pleasant indeed. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1S85 that T 
 first came in touch with the men and 
 the old smoke stacks and the polished 
 work of the engines. 
 
 I never thought as much about the 
 machines as I have of the men. The 
 first man whom I learned to know 
 and regard was Will F. True, the 
 agent for so many years at East Ha¬ 
 verhill, now Oliverean. Every rail¬ 
 road man who passed that way knew 
 that brother would be on his job. He 
 was one of the most faithful men I 
 ever knew. There was Charles Simp¬ 
 son, known in his day all up and 
 down the road. He was an express¬ 
 
 man, or in the car in charge of the 
 express. Charles was one of the 
 roughest men on the outside, prided 
 himself on his rough speech, but he 
 was white inside. When he was on 
 his dying bed he sent a message to 
 me to know if T would come from 
 Colebrook to preach his funeral ser¬ 
 mon. which I promised to do. When 
 Charles was buried from the old 
 church there was a crowd from all 
 parts. A special train was run in 
 charge of the whitest man on the 
 railroad, Supt. Ed. Mann. When the 
 service was read at the grave it was 
 a beautiful sight to see a large crowd 
 of railroad men standing about the 
 open grave. Mr. Sam Paige assisted 
 me in reading the ritual. Tt was 
 there I learned to love railroad men. 
 
 Another of my old friends was 
 George Shiite, conductor. What a pe¬ 
 culiar man he was! But who ever 
 knew a bigger hearted brother when 
 you touched the right cord. 
 
 There was Herb G-ale, white as a 
 hound’s tooth. Herb came down to 
 East Haverhill to meet his lady. Miss 
 Minnie Merrill, and they came to the 
 parsonage to be married. After the 
 wedding they started off up the road, 
 as Herb said to take the old road 
 back by the Center. About fifteen 
 minutes afterward back he came, and 
 said: “My soul, Elder, I forgot to kiss 
 the cook,” and he handed me a ten 
 dollar gold piece, and started off 
 again. 
 
 When I think for a moment of my 
 old friend, Frank Johnson. How the 
 boys did like Frank! He was my 
 neighbor in Woodsvilie; and at Con¬ 
 cord, I finally laid him to rest. What 
 a splendid railroad man he w r as! He 
 died as he lived,—a clean, true and 
 helpful brother. 
 
 Time would fail me to tell of the 
 men of yesterday. 
 
There was my old friend of many 
 years, who prided himself in 747—old 
 747. It was Milo, and there was only 
 one Milo. “I like 747, Elder, she 
 rides hard, but she makes time and 
 she is sure.” Poor Milo, we all wish 
 that he might be strong again, but the 
 fountain of the great deep has broken 
 up. 
 
 I have had old friends among the 
 highest-ups, who have done many 
 things out of sight. There was Gov. 
 Fred Smithe of Manchester, the presi¬ 
 dent of the road, and Frank Brown, 
 
 39 
 
 year, and I hope to meet them in the 
 land that is fairer than day. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 W. A. Loyne. 
 
 26 Wyman St., Lawrence, Mass. 
 
 Next comes a letter from Mrs. C. D. 
 White, “Grammie White,” as the boys 
 used to call her. Mrs. White is the 
 mother of the late Frank P. White, 
 who for many years was connected 
 with the old road as telegraph opera¬ 
 tor, and later train dispatcher. Frank 
 White went through life minus his 
 
 One of the first passenger trains to run into Fabyans in the early 70’s. 
 
 the agent, and Mr. Cummings of 
 Woodsville and others, who never re¬ 
 fused me a favor for the sick or needy 
 •whenever I asked them. 
 
 My old friend, Tom Taylor, yet 
 with us, who contributed the first 
 dollar toward the cottage hospital, 
 and a bunch of railroad men made 
 the first public subscription toward 
 the same. 
 
 My friendship and deep regard for 
 railroad men has grown with the 
 
 right arm. The member was severed 
 when he was 19 by the old “bumpers” 
 while coupling cars at West Rumnev. 
 White afterwards learned to telegraph 
 and died at the age of 59 years. 
 Grammie White was left a widow 
 thirty years ago and in her advanced 
 years is remarkably smart, takes in 
 washings and finds time to enter into 
 social life of the village. She is 85 
 years of age and has lived just south 
 of Wentworth village within twenty- 
 
) 
 
 six feet of the railroad ever since the 
 road was built through the town. 
 
 Wentworth, March 3rd, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 You are publishing interesting arti¬ 
 cles on the things which happened 
 on the B., C. and M. railroad years 
 ago. I am much pleased to learn of 
 so many old acquaintances which it 
 was my good fortune to know person¬ 
 ally. One instance, in particular, was 
 when Henry Mann, some 40 years ago 
 was conductor on the stock train. 
 When the train was only a few rods 
 above the station it was noticed that 
 some of the cattle were having a 
 skirmish and when they got down to 
 White’s crossing opposite my house, 
 one succeeded in pushing another 
 through the rack of the car, and as 
 he went out, he swung against a sig¬ 
 nal post and rolled under the train. 
 It was in the month of February 
 when the snow had become so hard 
 outside the rails, that when it hit the 
 creature it threw the cars off the 
 track. I ran out to see what I could 
 do, and saw the cars were off the iron. 
 I looked up the street and a man was 
 coming with team. I motioned him 
 to stop and I got a knife for him to 
 bleed the creature, and asked him to 
 hurry to the station and notify the 
 express, which was nearly due. He 
 did so and also notified a butcher who 
 lived near the station. The butcher 
 was Daniel Oolby, father of Engineer 
 Bert Colby. After I had done all I 
 could, I looked down the track and 
 saw Mr. Mann and owner of the beef 
 coming post haste with an axe. I 
 soon found that the train had been 
 wrecked at the first twin bridge; 
 when it hit the bare sleepers, it 
 caused the cars to go off the iron, and 
 butter, potatoes and a variety of other 
 merchandise were all in a heap. It 
 took until midnight to right the track 
 ready for trains to go over. Mr. 
 Mann gave me a compliment for my 
 thoughtfulness. That was one of my 
 
 40 
 
 experiences since living here beside 
 the track. 
 
 The next was when they used the 
 old couplings and often a freight 
 would be broken apart, sometimes 
 in three sections; but on this par¬ 
 ticular morning it was quite early 
 so the conductor had his lantern 
 still burning, and as I watched to 
 see if they came to a stop, I saw' 
 him drop with his lantern. As the 
 train went under the bridge his 
 back was towards the “head end”, 
 and he did not see his danger. My 
 husband and I hurried to the scene. 
 I took a quilt to use in case of need, 
 but before I reached the scene, I 
 saw a rubber in one place, a glove 
 in another, and pieces of skull scat¬ 
 tered about and it made me sick at 
 heart. Mr. White took the place to 
 get him out of the wheel where his 
 clothes had been wound in with his 
 body. After a long while he was 
 taken out, the body mutilated beyond 
 recognition. 
 
 When the big washout occurred 
 just south of the station, when two 
 engines went into the ditch, it was a 
 narrow escape for the engineers and 
 fireman. Henry Mann was conduc¬ 
 tor and he was on top of a car and 
 saw through the fog that the track 
 was settled; he gave warning as 
 soon as possible. The engineers and 
 firemen jumped for their lives and 
 landed in the brook catching hold of 
 bushes to save themselves. Car- 
 loads of apples and other things 
 were washed down the brook and 
 rails covered completely out of 
 sight. Young nurseries grew up 
 from the buried apples in several 
 places. The brook was covered with 
 a trestle work and it was very easy 
 to undermine with the large amount 
 of water. It ruined the farm then 
 owned by a man named Milo Aiken. 
 Sand and rocks were most all there 
 was to be seen. It was 43 years 
 ago and I do not recall the train- 
 
41 
 
 men’s names. It was a very narrow 
 escape that none were hurt or killed. 
 
 I want to mention one more bit of 
 experience which happened in the 
 month of January. I think it was 
 before the large snow plough came 
 in use. A terrible blizzard had been 
 raging for two days and a large 
 crew of men had shoveled at the de¬ 
 pot to keep the yard passable. . On 
 this day just as the sun went down, 
 Mr. White came home from the sta¬ 
 tion where he had worked all day, 
 and said he didn’t know as they 
 would be able to get through at 
 present. There was a large drift 
 just north of the house and Mr. 
 White said he hoped he would not 
 have to go out again that night for 
 it was growing colder and the wind 
 blew fierce. I said I hear them com¬ 
 ing into the big drift and then hur¬ 
 ried into my west room to look and 
 the three engines were doing their 
 best and in an instant—crash! went 
 the window behind me, and glass, 
 sash and draperies were buried in 
 four feet of snow in my sitting room. 
 Just as Mr. White came to the door, 
 the crash came. Had he been one 
 second sooner no doubt he would 
 have been killed. I managed to get 
 over the snow filled with glass and 
 •sash and then the snow had to be 
 shoveled out and a thick quilt was 
 nailed up for the night. In the 
 morning we took off a double wind¬ 
 ow and nailed over the smashed 
 window until we could send to Lake 
 Village for a new window. It re¬ 
 quires care and some nerve to live 
 within 26 feet of a railroad crossing. 
 Many times people have come near 
 being run over at this crossing and 
 trains have many times come to a 
 full stop in order to save lives. I 
 have fought fires to save buildings, 
 and have shed tears to see my pet 
 dogs and cats and flocks of chickens 
 and hens killed, but have survived to 
 go through many scenes, unpleasant 
 
 though they were; but am thankful 
 after fifty years of all this, to be 
 alive to tell the story at the age of 
 84 years, young. 
 
 A letter from my grandson, Guy 
 B. White, Montpelier, Vt., oldest son 
 of Frank P. White, says he is think¬ 
 ing of 33 years ago now, when he 
 went with his father to Concord and 
 Mr. White and myself came back 
 with them. We started from Con¬ 
 cord about 3 p. m. It had been 
 snowing a few hours and still snow¬ 
 ing harder. When we reached Ply¬ 
 mouth it was reported that a heavy 
 freight train was stalled at Spauld¬ 
 ing’s crossing in Rumney and it 
 would be impossible to get through 
 that night, and it was a busy night. 
 Frank hired a room with two beds 
 in the Pemigewassett house and the 
 little boys and I were made comfort¬ 
 able for the night. The next day 
 was Town Meeting day but the train 
 did not reach Wentworth until 7 p. 
 m., next night. The storm turned 
 into a blizzard which the boys will 
 remember as long as life lasts. 
 Frank White helped in the telegraph 
 office through the night. There 
 have been great improvements in 
 getting trains over such obstacles as 
 those of 40 years ago. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 Mrs. C. D. White. 
 
 Suncook, N. H., Feb. 24, 1919. 
 
 C. E. Caswell: 
 
 I wish Mr. William Kimball was 
 living to tell a little of his life on 
 the road. I am sure a man who put 
 in over 40 years as he did, must 
 have seen some good things. He 
 told a party of friends one time of 
 the fast run he made from Plymouth 
 to Woodsville. He had a young chap 
 who wanted to be kind of smart, who 
 was conductor on that train up and 
 back one day, so when he would 
 come out to give the signal lie would 
 say to Kimball, “Well, Bill, don’t go 
 
42 
 
 to sleep.” Kimball said he had 
 heard it enough, so after a few sta¬ 
 tions he opened her up, and when 
 they got to the Summit the young 
 chap came along and says, “For G— 
 sake don’t run so fast.” “I shan’t 
 go to sleep”, says Bill. He thought 
 it was the best time he ever made, 
 but that settled the going to sleep 
 question after that. The young man 
 was heard telling a friend of his 
 what fast time they made on that 
 road. He said, “We left Plymouth 
 one night 20 minutes late and got in¬ 
 to Woodsville on time.” 
 
 I think Mr. John Marsh could re¬ 
 late some good ones if he felt like 
 it, and I hope to hear him tell of his 
 run into the washout at Wentworth. 
 
 Am not writing this for publica¬ 
 tion but I like to hear the good 
 things about the old B., C. & M., and 
 the good old times I have seen there. 
 
 J. EAMES. 
 
 If Uncle John Marsh were living 
 today he would be about a hundred 
 years old. Uncle John many years 
 ago went on his long vacation. The 
 washout at Wentworth was 43 years 
 ago. Uncle John jumped into the 
 stream, was carried quite a distance 
 in the swift current and saved his 
 life by grasping some bushes beside 
 the stream. He told the boys the 
 Lord put the bushes there to save 
 his life. Mention is made of this 
 circumstance earlier in the article. 
 The Moosehillock and Franconia 
 were badly wrecked at that time.... 
 John Marsh;, Sr., formerly worked 
 for the road and run the Mt. Wash¬ 
 ington summers between the Base 
 and Fabyans. If he is yet living is 
 not known to the writer, but it is 
 quite probable he is not. 
 
 Ralph Adams was many years 
 master mechanic with headquarters 
 at Lakeport. Mr. Adams was an 
 unusually good man, a skilled me¬ 
 
 chanic, respected by all the boys; 
 and the directors and officials of the 
 road had implicit confidence in 
 Ralph Adams. As a citizen he was 
 held in high esteem. Clarence W. 
 Adams, his son, is now stationed at 
 Tilton, 
 
 It seems that I never could tire of 
 writing about the old days of wood 
 burners, hand brakes and link coup¬ 
 lings, along with the old timers who 
 made railroad history three score 
 years ago, for certainly, “They 
 builded better than they knew,” as 
 has already been said. 
 
 In early railroad days when loco¬ 
 motives were designated by names, 
 usually this name was printed on 
 the sides of the cab in shining gilt 
 letters, people living near railroads 
 seemed to take a real interest in the 
 various engines. We boys of two 
 score or more years ago were very 
 enthusiastic over them. Not only 
 did we know by name all the loco¬ 
 motives that came into this vicinity, 
 but could tell of the approach of any 
 particular one by the sound of its 
 bell or whistle. The new locomo¬ 
 tives, each larger and more ornate 
 than the older ones, were viewed by 
 us with critical but approving eye. 
 
 In early days of the road, the pas¬ 
 senger cars were so poorly lighted 
 at night that a person sitting at one 
 end of the car could not tell whether 
 or not there were any passengers at 
 the other end. The only means of 
 lighting in those days were two fee¬ 
 ble oil lamps, one at each end of 
 the car. But though a passenger 
 could not read in the car at night 
 and had to commune with himself 
 or talk with a neighbor whom per¬ 
 haps he could not see; though his 
 spine were almost broken by the low- 
 backed seats, and though in winter 
 
43 
 
 his feet were half-frozen from the 
 inability of the single wood-stove to 
 successfully attack the cold drafts 
 that came in around the windows;— 
 though the passenger suffered these 
 discomforts, yet he had the satis¬ 
 faction of knowing that his train 
 was proceeding on its way with a 
 due regard for the outward glories, 
 for the locomotive was radiant with 
 burnished brass and ornate decora¬ 
 tions. 
 
 I recollect how forty years ago I 
 used to help “wood-up” the old 
 Duffe, Lady, Paugus and the other 
 helpers, being rewarded with a ride 
 by many of the obliging engineers, 
 whose names have been mentioned 
 elsewhere in this article. How the 
 memory of those old “tubs” linger 
 with me, with their swell topper 
 stacks and brass mountings. The 
 interior of the cabs is fresh in my 
 memory. 
 
 The old time engineers seemed to 
 have a real affection for their ma¬ 
 chine; an affection which the mod¬ 
 ern engine does not seem to evoke. 
 Perhaps this may be imaginary, but 
 the old-time knight of the throttle 
 seems to delight in recalling ex¬ 
 periences with these interesting old 
 locomotives. I recollect one en¬ 
 gineer who had handled a locomotive 
 for forty years, and the last few 
 years of his railroad life, practically 
 the same machine; when he per¬ 
 formed his last day’s work as en¬ 
 gineer and left his engine in her 
 stall at the round house, cried like 
 a child. 
 
 There came a time, however, in 
 the progress of railroad utilitarian¬ 
 ism when it seemed wise to drop 
 the names and henceforth to desig¬ 
 nate the 'locomotives merely by num¬ 
 ber. A pretty romance of the rail 
 then passed away. Engines which 
 seemed to be real living things lost 
 their names. No sentiment attaches 
 to a number, and when all the old 
 
 familiar names were lost in cold and 
 unsuggestive numerals, and when, 
 later, the glories of polished steel 
 and shining brass and showy gold- 
 leaf gave way to sober hues that re¬ 
 quired less attention, then did the 
 locomotive, losing all its distinctive¬ 
 ness, and, differing little in appear¬ 
 ance from other locomotives, de¬ 
 generate into a mere piece of mech¬ 
 anism. 
 
 As time went on, after the Cho- 
 corua had been equipped with an 
 air brake and successfully tried out, 
 other passenger engines were fitted 
 out with the Westinghouse brake 
 system and all the engineers given 
 a schooling in handling it. 
 
 “The air brake did it.” Whenever 
 a heoric act was done by the boys 
 it was not for honor or laurels. One 
 summer morning a passenger train 
 was speeding along the lake side, 
 made a curve, at the end of which 
 another was in sight, winding to the 
 left and from that a cottage home 
 stood in the shadow of the foliage 
 casting reflections in the crystal 
 lake of Winnipesaukee. The en¬ 
 gineer excitedly exclaimed: “A child 
 on the track!” and applied the air. 
 At the exclamation the fireman 
 sprang from his seat, glanced down 
 the track, his face became pallid. 
 A child perhaps three years old 
 stood midway between the rails and 
 not a hundred yards from the engine, 
 facing the on-coming train waving 
 its little hands, as it was wont to do 
 from its mother’s arms perhaps, at 
 the passing of the cars. As the air 
 was applied this noble-hearted fire¬ 
 man, a lad in his teens almost 
 pitched through the glass window 
 in front. At the same moment there 
 was a scream, a woman’s voice, and 
 with arms aloft and face paralyzed 
 with terror the mother stood upon 
 the steps of her cottage. Quicker 
 than it requires to tell it, the train 
 was bearing down upon the child— 
 
44 
 
 i 
 
 not twenty yards from the engine, 
 which under the pressure of the air¬ 
 brake, was bumping and jolting fu¬ 
 riously. The fireman’s seat was 
 vacant, the engineer was a'lone in 
 the cab, a vest and gold watch lie in 
 front of the firebox door; the pilot 
 was within twenty feet of the child, 
 the train still in motion, too rapidly 
 to be checked before reaching it! 
 The engineer closed his eyes, his 
 heart stood still at that instant. 
 Again the mother’s heart-rending 
 scream, and the engineer opened his 
 eyes to see the child tossed several 
 feet into the lake! Thirty feet more 
 and the train was stopped. The en¬ 
 gineer stepped into the gangway, 
 looked out into the lake and saw 
 struggling in the water the fireman, 
 Andrew J. Pike, holding in his arms 
 the child, supporting its tiny form 
 above the water, swimming towards 
 shore. That mother’s joy could 
 never be expressed! While the train 
 was bearing down on the child, Pike 
 had instantly thrown off his vest 
 and climbed along the running board 
 to the pilot hoping to grasp the 
 child before the locomotive struck 
 the frail body, but too late; the 
 little form was tossed into the lake 
 but not seriously injured. After the 
 child had been restored safely to its 
 mother, the train crew and passen¬ 
 gers climbed back, and the train 
 proceeded on its way. A trembling 
 hand pulled the throttle which start¬ 
 ed the engine, puffing and hissing 
 until it was going at full speed 
 again. Not a word did the men in 
 the cab speak to each other for some 
 moments. They were each doing 
 their duty before God and man. 
 The heoric act of that fireman was 
 talked of for many days, but An¬ 
 drew Pike was not “puffed up” be¬ 
 cause of it, and simply did what he 
 could, realizing that it was not en¬ 
 tirely his own efforts, but those of 
 the steady hand and nerve of the 
 
 engineer, more particularly “the air 
 brake that did it.” Mr. Pike is one 
 of the few old B., C. & M., men on 
 the system today, and has for many 
 years been a trusty engineer. 
 
 A circumstance is told of while 
 Eastman’s train was speeding be¬ 
 tween Lake Village and Meredith 
 one early morning the engineer re¬ 
 ceived a bell rope signal to stop, 
 and did so. The conductor said he 
 had given no signal, the brakeman 
 neither had given any signal, but 
 the baggage master and expressman 
 explained that a rooster had es¬ 
 caped from a crate of live poultry 
 in the express car and lighted on the 
 bell cord, his weight sounding the 
 signal in the cab. 
 
 As by this time is well known, the 
 earliest locomotives were wood burn¬ 
 ers, with smoke stacks many times 
 larger than those now in use, as will 
 be seen in the several illustrations. 
 In the early railroad days the road 
 used approximately 30,000 cords of 
 wood a year. This wood was gotten 
 off the company’s own land in close 
 proximity to the right of way. Ar¬ 
 thur Knapp of Warren was a leading 
 wood contractor for the old road 
 and employed large gangs of men 
 in various localities along the line. 
 Wood was also bought of the natives 
 whoever desired to land it beside 
 the track. $2.50 a cord was the av¬ 
 erage price paid. My grandfather 
 used to have charge of a hundred 
 men on wood trains caring for the 
 road under direction of Mr. Knapp. 
 Qbediah G. Smith of Plymouth had 
 several gangs sawing wood at va¬ 
 rious places along the line. At first 
 the old tread horse-power was used; 
 later an antiquated hot air compres¬ 
 sion engine, and then the Baxter 
 steam engine. The wood-sawing 
 crews lived in boarding cars and 
 were moved from one siding to an- 
 
45 
 
 other where there was wood to be 
 sawed. Over Warren Summit, with 
 a grade of 96 feet to the mile was 
 an up-hill haul and required fuel 
 and steam. There were two wood¬ 
 sheds on top of the hill and four 
 within two miles of each other down 
 the line a couple of miles, with one 
 at East Haverhill. In fact there 
 was a shed at about every station 
 along the line. The writer remem¬ 
 bers, that even back as late as the 
 seventies, when he was a tender and 
 shrinking youngster, the fuel sup¬ 
 plied to the old wood burners run¬ 
 ning between Concord and Woods- 
 ville. There used to be a treadmill 
 sawing machine in the woodshed at 
 East Haverhill across the track op¬ 
 posite the present passenger sta¬ 
 tion. Here the station agent sawed 
 wood. My first recollection of the 
 outfit was the horse power and old 
 white horse. At Warren there was 
 another wood sawing outfit run by 
 water power. This outfit was in the 
 slied adjoining the water tank and 
 engine house which were opposite 
 the railroad buildings. Later the 
 water failed to be sufficient power 
 and a stationary steam engine and 
 boiler were installed to saw wood 
 and pump water for the locomotives. 
 Wood was carried from towns up 
 and down the line and sawed here; 
 large quantities of it for the fussy 
 little engines to eat up and spit out 
 in smoke and cinders. The sound 
 of the saw was for years a familiar 
 one hereabouts in those days as it 
 operated to supply the hungry loco¬ 
 motives with fuel. 
 
 An interesting letter follows be¬ 
 low. This letter was written by 
 William H. Durant of Somerville, 
 Mass'. Will Durant was a lad in the 
 old wood burning days. His father 
 kept a boarding house at Wells 
 River, Vt., just across the river from 
 Woodsville and many of the railroad 
 
 men boarded there in the early B., 
 C. & M. days. 
 
 C. E. Caswell, 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Complying with your courteous re¬ 
 quest dated March 17th with pleas¬ 
 ure I recall old B., C. & M. days; for 
 among the names mentioned in a 
 reminiscent way in “The News” you 
 mailed, ex-mayor George E. Hutch¬ 
 ins of Berlin, N. H., is spoken of. It 
 was at the age of seven that I re¬ 
 call my first experience in listening 
 to railroad parlance and as time 
 passed verbal knowledge of rail¬ 
 roading increased at the “Old Hotel” 
 at Wells River, where many of the 
 boys boarded. 
 
 If a good word can be spoken of 
 the veteran railroad man, why not 
 say it? None more than he was sub¬ 
 ject to requests for simple favors, 
 and no body of men more willing to 
 grant them, anticipating no hope of 
 reward. 
 
 Recalling the names of Conduc¬ 
 tors Ferguson, Rollins, Butler, East¬ 
 man, White, Mooney and Engineers 
 Drake, Sargent, Hutchins, Ayers, 
 Ferguson, Burleigh, Annis, Swasey, 
 Cawley, Adams, Kimball, Clifford, 
 Bailey and many more railroad men 
 from whom I never received an un¬ 
 kind word, amusing episodes pre¬ 
 sent themselves. Like many inquis¬ 
 itive Yankee boys, my first question 
 was, “Can an engine puff when the 
 whistle blows?” The old round 
 house where Superintendent Cum¬ 
 mings was then employed at Woods¬ 
 ville, had a crank-operated turn 
 table which concealed the pit by 
 flooring and there was a stationary 
 engine for running machinery, both 
 of great wonderment, but I was non¬ 
 plussed when told the inside-connec¬ 
 ted locomotive, Elkins, “didn’t have 
 any cylinders for the pistons run in 
 the smoke box!” 
 
46 
 
 I well remember Ike Sanborn, en¬ 
 gineer on the “Mountain Maid”. 
 With much curiosity we youngsters 
 would look for rings of smoke from 
 her odd shaped diamond stack when 
 the train started for Littleton. Mr. 
 Sanborn’s long and successful rail¬ 
 road career ended as engine-house 
 foreman on the Concord road at 
 Concord. 
 
 Orrin Bailey was a happy-go-lucky 
 fellow as a fireman and it was a com¬ 
 mon saying that he never would be¬ 
 come an engineer. Sam Cawley was 
 dignified and well-favored. 
 
 With John Butler, conductor of 
 the cattle train, in the spring of 1869 
 I had my first real ride on a rail¬ 
 road. George Hutchins, engineer, 
 running the Pehaugun invited me to 
 ride with him a part of the trip, and 
 when I alighted at Lake Village no 
 youth felt prouder of a journey. 
 About a year later George Eastman, 
 whom the traveling public much es¬ 
 teemed, invited me to get another 
 boy and ride up the mountain road. 
 The train left about sunrise and re¬ 
 turned to Woodsville at 8.30 p. m. 
 There was considerable delay un¬ 
 loading logs at North Lisbon on the 
 return trip, where all hands helped. 
 My chum became a bit frightened, 
 for the lights in the car were dim, 
 snow was falling and home anxiety 
 was manifest in us both. Smith 
 Clark was brakeman on the train. 
 Henry White later run this train. 
 
 To conclude I wish to mention the 
 name of an old B. C. & M. fireman, a 
 Civil War veteran, general locomo¬ 
 tive and engine house foreman at 
 Concord, whom I worked under 
 fourteen years. The funeral service 
 of Porter Crane was February 16th 
 last which I attended. A faithful 
 and skilled mechanic, a true Chris¬ 
 tian man! To Mrs. Hutchins and in 
 affectionate memory for Mrs. Clark, 
 and Mrs. Clifford, who, I as a god¬ 
 
 son, many times, looked to, a final 
 word of appreciation is added. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 WM. H. DURANT. 
 
 Somerville, Mass., March 21, 1919. 
 
 The James N. Elkins was run one 
 summer on a gravel train minus 
 her cab, which was torn away by 
 backing under a guy wire support¬ 
 ing a derrick where a culvert was 
 being rebuilt. 
 
 In the early days the firemen had 
 to go out on the front end to oil the 
 valves. This had to be done at 
 least every twenty miles. 
 
 George Randall, “Bobbie” as he 
 was nicknamed, had a mania for 
 oiling. He almost invariably car¬ 
 ried an oil can about with him when 
 on duty. Many times he would 
 stop on the road between stations 
 and oil. His locomotive never had 
 to go to the shop for lack of oil and 
 he was a good and faithful employee. 
 
 Fred Whiting says when he en¬ 
 tered the service $1.42 a day was the 
 price paid firemen, with no over 
 time. All time over twenty-four 
 hours was reckoned on the follow¬ 
 ing day, and they would work near¬ 
 ly every Sunday cleaning and pol- 
 v ishing the brass about their ma¬ 
 chines without pay. They took 
 pride in the appearance of their en¬ 
 gines. 
 
 But eight engineers are running 
 today who were running in 1882— 
 thirty-seven years ago. 
 
 The worst wreck in the history of 
 the road up to that time occurred 
 in the spring of 1882, when twenty- 
 two loaded cars run back down the 
 hill, colliding with the way freight 
 in North Haverhill yard. Conduc¬ 
 tor George Stone and his brakeman 
 
47 
 
 were in the caboose asleep. The 
 way freight crew heard the cars 
 coming down through the woods op¬ 
 posite the Keyes farm and had an 
 opportunity to save themselves. 
 The crash came and thirty seconds 
 later there was the greatest pile of 
 junk the road had ever had on its 
 hands. The Granite State was haul¬ 
 ing the way freight in charge of En¬ 
 gineer Whiting. She was hurled 
 completely over a fence, bottom side 
 up with the dead body of Conductor 
 Stone crushed between the steam 
 dome and sand box. He was killed 
 instantly, as was likewise the brake- 
 man who was found in a box car of 
 the way freight two cars back. He 
 was thrown from inside their buggy, 
 over the way freight engine and in¬ 
 to a wrecked car two back in the 
 other train in an instant so great 
 was the impact. Arthur Knapp was 
 at Haverhill station waiting for the 
 way freight when the cars passed 
 through there and said they were 
 certainly going 70 miles an hour. 
 He said in three minutes he heard 
 the collision distinctly in the morn¬ 
 ing air, four miles away. The way 
 freight crew as a whole had a nar¬ 
 row escape, and a fireman by the 
 name of Fellows was so badly 
 frightened that he resigned when 
 he arrived at the terminal. This 
 locomotive (Granite State) was re¬ 
 paired at a cost of about $3,000 and 
 did freight work for a number of 
 years after. There was another 
 Granite State spoken of in one of 
 Mr. Cummings’ letters as being de¬ 
 molished at Sanborn’s track by a 
 freight engine side-sweeping her, 
 'coming out from Loon pond one 
 morning. 
 
 Speaking of Sanborn’s track 
 brings to mind an old time stone 
 mason and contractor “Jarve” San¬ 
 born who did business at a quarry 
 near there. Sanborn was a large, 
 portly man with enormous feet. One 
 
 time he sent one of his shoes to 
 Concord by some of the boys to be 
 repaired at a cobbler’s shop. A 
 freight crew brought the shoe back 
 in the night and in the train was an 
 empty flat; they placed the shoe in 
 the center of the car, carefully 
 strapped and nailed it down, and 
 set the car out at Sanborn’s track. 
 They sent a man up to the house to 
 notify Mr. Sanborn that there was 
 a car with some freight which 
 should be unloaded immediately. 
 
 Thirty-five or forty years ago the 
 railroad furnished the way freight 
 crew free breakfasts at the Pemi- 
 gewassett House when they arrived 
 at Plymouth, and the railroad paid 
 the bills. 
 
 In those early days many of the 
 freight crews lived in their caboose. 
 Had it fitted up with cooking uten¬ 
 sils, bunks, etc. In those days eggs 
 were 10 cents a dozen, butter 15 
 cents a pound, and other provisions 
 accordingly, much of which could 
 be procured of the natives along the 
 line. 
 
 In the early 80s two popular 
 freight brakemen were killed at East 
 Tilton. These men were Isaac Pa¬ 
 lin, whose remains were taken to 
 his home at West Holland, Vt., by 
 Frank Johnson and Hosea B. Mann. 
 The other was Thomas Gotchie. 
 Both were on the way freight. 
 
 There were George, Charles and 
 Edgar Davison. George Davison 
 was station agent at Woodsville, and 
 died in 1888; Edgar was killed at 
 Lisbon and Charles left the road and 
 is in a bakery at Woodsville. 
 
 Another bright lad who went to 
 work for the road a little while be¬ 
 fore it was taken over by the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell, was Carroll C. Rine- 
 
48 
 
 hart. He made good, worked up 
 and was train master of the White 
 Mountain Division of the B. & M. 
 
 Up to about the year 1878 the pas¬ 
 senger cars of the old road were 
 bright yellow. 
 
 George Stone and Al Haines were 
 two old timers as well known forty 
 years ago as the road itself. They 
 got into a fracas one day and when 
 it ended Haines had bitten a chunk 
 out of Stone’s ear. 
 
 One day thirty-five years ago Con¬ 
 ductor Will Keniston was coming 
 out of Woodsville with a through 
 freight, and when the train got down 
 to North Haverhill, (now Black- 
 mount), fire was discovered in a car 
 loaded with rags. It was spon¬ 
 taneous combustion. To save the 
 train, Keniston took matters into 
 his own hands, stopped, “pulled the 
 pin” ordered the engine down the 
 yard, procured a wrench, removed 
 the fish-plates from two opposite 
 rails, sent the 'locomotive down the 
 line to get a start. Throwing the 
 rail ends over out of line towards a 
 field the pin was pulled and the 
 whole done almost in less time than 
 is required to tell it, the car was 
 violently shunted over the dump and 
 left to burn free from obstructing 
 traffic and with little damage to the 
 road-bed. 
 
 Orrin Berdean, an old timer and 
 a good and faithful knight of the 
 cab is 83 years old and is passing 
 his declining years at Laconia. The 
 names of many of these old timers 
 are mentioned almost with rever¬ 
 ence, although they are dead they 
 yet liveth and their works do follow 
 them. 
 
 Before me is a time table of the 
 old Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 road, giving running time of pas¬ 
 
 senger trains between Plymouth and 
 Concord in 1850—69 years ago. It 
 is printed on a red card 3x5 inches. 
 There was a train leaving Plymouth 
 for Concord at 7:35 in the morning 
 arid another at 1:35 in the afternoon. 
 They were due to reach Concord at 
 9:55 and 3:55. The up trains left 
 Concord at 10:15 and 2:40, arriv¬ 
 ing at Plymouth which was then the 
 terminal of the road, at 12:35 and 
 
 5:05. There were no regular 
 
 freights scheduled at that time. It 
 says no train must leave or pass any 
 depot station before the specified 
 
 time in the annexed table. It states 
 that the time kept in the Concord 
 railroad passenger depot will be the 
 standard time to run by, which the 
 conductors and enginemen must ob¬ 
 serve daily. 
 
 Another rule was: In case the up 
 train cannot arrive at Northfield 
 
 Station by the specified time in the 
 time table, it must be kept back to 
 some Turnout Station, taking par¬ 
 ticular care to arrive at such sta¬ 
 tion five minutes before the down 
 train is due and be upon the turnout 
 track. 
 
 The fourth and last rule read: 
 The Merchandise train (this must 
 have been the freight) will keep out 
 of the way of all regular passenger 
 trains. And the Wood, Gravel, and 
 all Special Trains must be kept out 
 of the way of all regular Passenger 
 and Freight trains by 15 minutes of 
 the time in all cases. The same is 
 signed by James N. Elkins, Agent. 
 
 Stations between Plymouth and 
 Concord were: Plymouth, Bridge- 
 water, Holderness, Foggs, Meredith 
 Village, Weirs, Lake Village, Mere¬ 
 dith Bridge, Union Bridge, Sanborn- 
 ton, Northfield, Canterbury, North 
 Concord, East Concord, Concord. 
 
 Running time of the trains be¬ 
 tween the two terminals was two 
 hours and ten minutes, compared 
 with an hour and fifty-five today. 
 
49 
 
 In early times the link and pin 
 couplings which were used were the 
 cause of the loss of many an arm or 
 hand; the link slanted at about 
 forty-five degrees as it “hung down” 
 and in making a hitch had to be 
 raised to a level, inserted in the 
 opposite draw-bar and the pin 
 dropped in. It was an unwritten 
 rule to always pull the pin at the 
 south, leaving the link in the north 
 end of the car. It was a character¬ 
 istic of Conductor Farrar to inva¬ 
 riably carry a stick with him with 
 which to lift the links in making 
 hitches. 
 
 On either side of the draw-bars 
 were two six-inch blocks of wood 
 with an iron face called the “bump¬ 
 ers”. These deadly bumpers did 
 their execution too often, and were 
 the one thing railroad men of those 
 days feared. Along in the early 
 ’80’s came the modern draw-bar- 
 coupler combined. Many times the 
 inventor of an improvement never 
 receives the honor, glory or finan¬ 
 cial benefit from it. In the case of 
 the couplers now used between all 
 passenger and freight cars through¬ 
 out the United States and Canada, 
 which were first thought of and 
 worked out by an old man, a car 
 cleaner by the name of Mr. Mitchell 
 at Lancaster, N. H. A1 Mooney 
 elsewhere tells in a letter of watch¬ 
 ing the old man whittling out his 
 model. This coupling is more fully 
 described by Mr. Mooney later in 
 this volume. 
 
 The idea of inventions brings to 
 mind the fact that the “Corey car” 
 so-called, the hand cars used a few 
 years ago by telegraph linemen and 
 road-masters and in fact in quite 
 general use today, originated in the 
 mind of a Mr. Corey, a carpenter 
 over in Franconia, who worked out 
 a model for the benefit of the world, 
 and some other man to patent. 
 
 Thirty-five years ago Baxter Kim¬ 
 ball, road master had one of these 
 cars and his trial trip with it was 
 down to North Haverhill; the little 
 car was at the station drawn off on 
 the lawn and being viewed by the 
 natives who were curious to know 
 what it was; when it was finally de¬ 
 cided to be one of those “new-fang¬ 
 led” corn planters such as they used 
 out west”. 
 
 Another invention which went far 
 towards revolutionizing railroading 
 and for which the originator never 
 received any financial benefit, was 
 the “climber”. Railroad men of to¬ 
 day will be surprised to know the 
 climbers used all over the world, 
 this country and abroad, was the 
 idea of A1 Haines, a Boston, Concord 
 & Montreal freight conductor. 
 
 A1 Mooney says probably there 
 are not half a dozen men living to¬ 
 day who are aware of the fact that 
 the modern “split switch” which is 
 at the present day used on ail rail¬ 
 roads throughout the United States 
 and Canada was invented by a poor 
 old Irishman who worked on the 
 Whitefield & Jefferson road back in 
 the nineteenth century. In those 
 days they had difficulty with rails 
 expanding in the sun during ex¬ 
 tremely hot weather, and the sec¬ 
 tion man tried a split rail as an ex¬ 
 periment. This rail was first used 
 on the curve just east of the station 
 at Bethlehem Junction on the Faby- 
 an branch. Soon after, some 
 “schemer” saw the idea and paten¬ 
 ted the switch which is so extensive¬ 
 ly used on all railroads of today. 
 Before that time the switches com¬ 
 prised of two patterns the “throw” 
 switch now used on some lumber 
 roads, and an antiquated pattern 
 known as the “jack-knife” switch. 
 This switch was placed between the 
 rails with a heavy staple driven in- 
 
to the “tie” to which to lock it and 
 threw over or folded down like a 
 jack-knife blade. Certainly the 
 railroad men of early days builded 
 better than they knew. 
 
 Forty-one years ago this coming 
 July there went to work for the old 
 B., C. & M., a lad from the little 
 hamlet of Northfield, who for more 
 than forty years has stayed on the 
 job through thick and thin and made 
 good. That lad was the well known 
 passenger conductor W. E. Kenis- 
 ton. Today Will Keniston is in 
 charge of passenger trains on the P. 
 V. branch, Plymouth to North Wood- 
 stock. His early railroad days were 
 spent in the freight service and for 
 years he was kept in that branch by 
 the officials because he was a man 
 fitted for such work in every sense 
 of the word and they realized it, and 
 had few his equal, although he was 
 deserving of “something better” but 
 failed to get into the passenger ser¬ 
 vice for long after scores of others 
 had been promoted above him time 
 and again. Finally circumstances 
 changed; the O. R. C., in this par¬ 
 ticular io a benefit to its members 
 in the line of promotion, and the 
 subject of this sketch was given 
 proper rating after many years. In 
 his young days Keniston learned to 
 telegraph and had a key and sounder 
 on the road with him in his buggy 
 and in case of accidents or emergen¬ 
 cy could “tap” the telegraph wire 
 and communicate with headquarters. 
 He used to run gravel trains, would 
 have a telegraph instrument at the 
 gravel pit which was usually re¬ 
 mote from any railroad station, and 
 receive his own train orders and 
 send his own messages, thus saving 
 the road good money. Probably 
 there is not or never has been an¬ 
 other passenger conductor on the 
 road with a better moral character 
 than Will Keniston. Soon after he 
 was advanced to the passenger ser- 
 
 50 
 
 vice he was in charge of trains be¬ 
 tween Fabyans and the Base of Mt. 
 Washington, and coming out from 
 the Base one day he performed a 
 little act which meant much to the 
 public and road in particular, but 
 considered it “all in the day’s work”. 
 The newspapers said of it: 
 
 “Wesley Irwin met with a painful 
 accident, Monday, by falling from 
 his engine while it was in rapid mo¬ 
 tion coming down from the base of 
 Mt. Washington. It was not a 
 heavy train, but all the cars were 
 not provided with brakes, and they 
 got to going a little above the regu¬ 
 lation speed. Irwin thought his 
 tender brakes might be slipping, 
 and stepped into the gangway to 
 look. He had on a new pair of 
 shoes, and when he stepped on the 
 end of the head block his feet 
 slipped, and he shot from the en¬ 
 gine. 
 
 “When he recovered his senses 
 his train was out of sight and hear¬ 
 ing, and he could remember noth¬ 
 ing after striking his back on the 
 end of the head block. After three 
 trials he managed to get upon his 
 feet, and walked along the track,, 
 soon seeing the train backing up for 
 him. 
 
 “He was cut and bruised all over, 
 his face seeming to have suffered 
 most, though on Tuesday he was so 
 lame he could not be moved in bed 
 without excruciating pain. On Wed¬ 
 nesday he was reported as more 
 comfortable, though still suffering 
 a good deal. 
 
 “His fireman did not see him fall, 
 and when he missed his engineer he 
 was so alarmed and faint that he 
 could not care for the engine. As 
 the speed increased Conductor Will 
 Keniston crawled over the tender 
 and finally brought the train to a 
 stop near the end of the branch 
 where the grade is less. 
 
 “This branch of the railroad is 
 through a very rocky country, and 
 
Irwin is to be congratulated on his 
 narrow escape from more serious if 
 not fatal injuries”. 
 
 At the close of the Civil War 
 there came back to Warren a 
 lad who went to work for the 
 railroad and spent nearly thirty 
 years of service in various 
 branches—that lad was Ned T. 
 Caswell, parental ancestor of 
 the author of this booklet. 
 Four years ago we tenderly 
 laid his remains in the village 
 church yard. He did his work 
 well, and was one of the many 
 who have gone to their long 
 home and to whose memory 
 this book is dedicated. 
 
 A heroic act was performed by 
 Herb Gale when the Berlin Freight 
 went into a washout at Rum Hill. 
 This was not in the B., C. & M. days, 
 but Herb learned railroading on the 
 old road and there never was a bet¬ 
 ter railroad man than he. One 
 night there was a cloud burst caus¬ 
 ing a washout just north of Rum 
 Hill bridge; the Berlin freight went 
 up and in the darkness, ran on to a 
 culvert which had been undermined. 
 The engine crew jumped or were 
 hurled into the Wild Ammonoosuc. 
 The locomotive stood on her pilot 
 while the tender remained on the 
 iron. Pat Lennon, an old time en¬ 
 gineer, who came from the Brown’s 
 Lumber road, was struggling in the 
 water, and with the other poor help¬ 
 less fellows, two of whom were 
 drowned, was shouting for help. 
 Herb, quickly got up ahead, and 
 thinking only of suffering humanity, 
 breathed a silent prayer for his 
 young wife and children, plunged 
 into the swift flowing stream to res¬ 
 cue if possible the drowning en¬ 
 gineer. He did his best, but the 
 men died. Herb then started back 
 on foot for Woodsville to report the 
 catastrophe. He was becoming ex- 
 
 51 
 
 hausted, and went up to a little red 
 farm house on the right, south of 
 the bridge, and routed the farmer 
 for a team. The team was refused 
 him, and Herb did the best he 
 could. He plodded along down to 
 the Y and a wrecking and rescuing 
 crew were dispatched to the scene. 
 Elsewhere Herb Gale’s name is 
 mentioned, and when he died a few 
 years ago there went from this life 
 a man who will never be equaled in 
 many particulars. 
 
 Of the older engineers but eight 
 are running today; those are, Frank 
 Burleigh, Geo. Hutchins, Jim Bad¬ 
 ger, Fred Whiting, Jack Lawler, 
 Geo. Pebbles, John Buckley, and C. 
 L. Cummings. 
 
 Forty years 'ago it was the custom 
 if an extra train was to be run, 
 word would be sent to the station 
 agents by some preceding train. I 
 have seen the conductor of the mail 
 train out of Woodsville wear a rib¬ 
 bon tied in his vest-front as a re¬ 
 minder for him to tell the station 
 agents along the line there would 
 be an extra train follow the mail 
 out of Woodsville the next day, and 
 the agents would in turn notify the 
 section men. 
 
 There was a rail repair shop in 
 the engine house at Warren and 
 worn and broken rails were sent 
 here for repairs and were made to 
 do good service thereafter. One 
 day John Russell, who had charge 
 of the section between Warren Sum¬ 
 mit and East Haverhill, had a 
 broken rail. He removed it, made 
 the trip to Warren with it on a 
 push-car to be repaired, left the 
 track open without a flagman until 
 their return later in the day when 
 it was replaced. 
 
52 
 
 Among the old timers along 
 towards the last days of the road 
 were good and true worthy of men¬ 
 tion such as Baxter P. Kimball, 
 road master; Mel Clifford, who suc¬ 
 ceeded him; Josh Harris, and his 
 brother Gus Harris, Herb and Scott 
 Wells, Ed Lund, the Gale twins— 
 George and Frank; George was 
 killed several years ago, and Frank 
 is at the present day running a 
 through freight on the B. & M. 
 Lawrence Ford, Melvin Mann, Fred 
 Chase, Will Gordon and George 
 Smith. Horace E. Rano, who so 
 many years kept the telegraph line 
 in order; Fred Sanborn, Gib Dow, 
 Frank Stevens and Gilbert McCon¬ 
 nell. Captain Colby, for years agent 
 at Plymouth; A1 Mudgett, of the 
 way freight who was killed at Ash¬ 
 land; Seth Blodgett, George and 
 Clarence Randall, these three were 
 popular and efficient telegraph op¬ 
 erators; Jim Badger, Charles Leav¬ 
 itt, agent at Laconia; Curt Leavitt 
 for many years agent at Meredith 
 Bridge and afterwards passenger 
 conductor on the Lake Shore. Then 
 there was Ed Lother, Hosea Cass, 
 George Carr, Will True, Frank Ro- 
 bie, Fernando Gale, Frank Titus. 
 Ed Lund was said to be the best 
 railroad man of his day back thirty 
 years ago, for he understood hand¬ 
 ling cars when shifting in congested 
 yards far better than the average. 
 One time he made a hitch at Ply¬ 
 mouth with a “stiff coupling”, stand¬ 
 ing on the pilot of a locomotive and 
 the impact was such the coupling 
 which he held in is hands was badly 
 bent. Herb Gale was another who 
 was Lund’s equal when it came to 
 “shifting cars”. 
 
 Then there was Moody Marston, 
 who used to run the cattle train 
 from Lancaster. Marston is living 
 at Woodsville at the present time, 
 although he has been off the road 
 for some 30 years or more. Sam 
 
 Scales and Billy Britton, old time 
 section foremen at Whitefield. Pe¬ 
 ter Gormley, another old timer is 
 still on the job at Whitefield. There 
 was Leonard Crouch, an engineer 
 who was killed in a log train wreck 
 on the Kilkenny road years ago. 
 John Silver, “Raney” Murphy, Pat 
 Davis, Walt Keniston and his broth¬ 
 er Will, both of the latter are yet in 
 the harness. Then there was John 
 C. Pennock who was “jolly John” 
 and f<sr years carried a banjo in the 
 cupboard of his baggage car on 
 Eastman’s train, and made use of 
 it. 
 
 There was a family of five Mann 
 boys, all of whom were railroad 
 men. These were Melvin, Hosea, 
 Ezra, Edward, and Henry. Melvin 
 J. is at present day passenger con¬ 
 ductor between Lancaster and Con¬ 
 cord; Ezra is a druggist at Woods- 
 ville and Hosea is in business at 
 Littleton. Arthur E. Eastman was a 
 popular passenger conductor who 
 died in the prime of life. Thirty- 
 five years ago he was news agent on 
 “Eastman’s train”, now known to 
 the public as the paper train. As 
 he grew he become brakeman on the 
 train with his father, though a mere 
 lad at the time. A few years later 
 his father, George W. Eastman, died 
 (in Jan. 1879) and Ed was made 
 conductor in his place and contin¬ 
 ued the run for years. Like his 
 father before him, he was a jolly 
 good fellow, and it can be truth¬ 
 fully said of both father and son, 
 they had no enemies. 
 
 The other day there dawned -on 
 the mind of the writer a circum¬ 
 stance not out of place to mention 
 at this time, with reference to one 
 of the old-time freight conductors, 
 Mr. 0. R. Farrar. Farrar was a 
 good, fatherly old soul, and I can 
 see him today in my mind, with 
 those bushy whiskers and red leg- 
 
53 
 
 gins. On the side of his saloon, ca¬ 
 boose or buggy was a sign stating 
 the fact that butter, eggs and pro¬ 
 duce were bought for Boston mark¬ 
 ets. Mr. Farrar did quite a mer¬ 
 cantile business in this way, and the 
 native farmers were glad to get cash 
 for their produce, and it was said 
 Mr. Farrar made more buying and 
 selling produce than from the rail¬ 
 road. I remember when a lad my 
 father sent my first “nest-egg” of 
 $10 to a Concord Savings Bank by 
 Mr. Farrar, and I have seen that 
 nest-egg grow and the name of Far¬ 
 rar has always stayed with me. 
 Why shouldn’t it? 
 
 Here is a letter from Mr. Orange 
 S. Gleason, one of the oldest men in 
 Warren who was a lad away back in 
 what he calls “stage times”, long 
 before the railroad wended its way 
 up into the mountains. Mir. Glea¬ 
 son’s mind is as fertile as a youth 
 just from college and he is interest¬ 
 ing to converse with on the subject 
 of early days. 
 
 Editor The News: 
 
 Your railroad article is going to 
 he interesting to coming generations 
 who will have no knowledge of old 
 times when the road was first built 
 and a few years thereafter unless it 
 is given them in some kind of a his¬ 
 tory, and I am glad you 'are doing 
 this in the way you are. I have 
 rounded my four score years and 
 more, and can remember this town 
 long before the iron horse ever 
 poked its nose up here into the wild¬ 
 erness. Soon after the road reached 
 Warren there came new life to the 
 country around about. When the 
 road was opened Mr. Warren Smith 
 of Tilton, a contractor who made 
 the road bed through the town, gave 
 a big supper at the hotel then kept 
 by Levi Whitcher, and hilarity, mu¬ 
 sic and dancing prevailed. 
 
 When they were surveying the 
 
 railroad, Mr. Nathaniel Clough, 
 then 87 years old, who was incredu¬ 
 lous about the enterprise, said that 
 he did not want to live any longer 
 than to see the cars run into War¬ 
 ren. He was sick at the time the 
 first regular train passed his house 
 and they sat him up in bed to look 
 at it. Two weeks after he was 
 dead. 
 
 If my memory serves me right it 
 was on the 24th of May, 1851 the 
 first engine ran to Warren, and the 
 following day (May 25) its bell 
 rang for the first time at Warren 
 depot. This town was the road’s 
 terminal for two years, when it con¬ 
 tinued on to the north. A survey 
 was made up what is called Berry 
 brook, or the route of the present 
 highway to Warren Summit, and 
 later the present location was set¬ 
 tled upon. It was a mistake, as 
 they encountered the Summit, “cut” 
 which cost $150,000.00 and required 
 a year and a half time to build.... 
 I remember when a boy of helping 
 “water up” those old wood burning 
 engines by hand, a “bucket brigade” 
 passing water to fill the tank in the 
 tender. When the road was built 
 my father run a saw mill at East 
 Warren, and I remember he lost 
 several hundred dollars from lumber 
 which he let a contractor have with 
 which to build huts or shantys for 
 the workmen for which he never got 
 pay. The first station agent at 
 Warren was David Atwood, followed 
 by a Mr. Chase, Richard Wiggin, 
 Maurice M. Lawrence, Edwin C. 
 Wentworth, Morrill J. Sanborn and 
 John E. Davis. 
 
 Those old days are no more, like¬ 
 wise most of the men who helped to 
 make them what they were, and I 
 often wonder if the next seventy- 
 five years will bring about as great 
 changes, or possibly greater as has 
 the past three-quarters of a century. 
 
 O. S. GLEASON. 
 Warren, N. H., April 6, 1919. 
 
54 
 
 Ex-Superintendent G. E. Cum¬ 
 mings in a recent letter sends the 
 following: 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 I have before me a copy of the 
 Pay Roll of the B., C. & M. R. R., for 
 September 1859—60 years ago; 
 showing the names of every person 
 employed, firom the President down, 
 with their daily wages. It may be 
 interesting reading at this time. 
 
 John E. Lyon, president, $3.10 
 
 J. A. Dodge, superintendent, 6.38 
 
 J. L. Rogers, gen. ticket agent, 2.23 
 
 Geo. Stephens, master mechanic, 3.19 
 
 J. J. Swain, road master, 3.07 
 
 Abe Mitchell, ass’t. road master, 1.75 
 
 Hiram Merrill, bridge foreman, 2.00 
 
 L. D. Badger, ass’t. bridge foreman, 1.42 
 Jas. Foss, foreman shop, 2.12 
 
 Moses R. Elkins, wood workman, 1.80 
 
 Jerry S. Jewett, foreman car repairer, 1.80 
 John Knight, foreman painter, 1.50 
 
 J. M. Lougee, foreman blacksmith, 1.91 
 Machinist, pair $1.12 to $1.50. 
 
 Repairmen and wood workers, $1.25 to 
 $1.42. 
 
 Section foremen, $1.15 to $1.23. 
 
 Second hands on sections, 90c. 
 
 There were only forty-six section 
 men on the road at this time. My 
 brother was a section foreman at 
 the time, and Dan Foley was his 
 second-hand. There was one gate 
 tender, Eph. Green at Plymouth, and 
 he was paid 27 cents per day. 
 
 The station agents were as fal¬ 
 lows : 
 
 Littleton, H. E. Chamberlain, per 
 day, $1.92 
 
 Lisbon, Geo. Peernu, .48 
 
 Rath, W. V. Hutchins, .48 
 
 Woodsville, W. B. Douglas, 1.23 
 
 North Haverhill, G. A. Milley, ‘.90 
 
 Haverhill, H. Merrill, .90 
 
 East Haverhill, W. W. Simpson, .90 
 
 Warren, M. J. Sanborn, 1.12 
 
 Wentworth, S. Doe, .90 
 
 West Rumney, I. R. Swain, .90 
 
 Itiimney, John Wentworth, .90 
 
 Plymouth, M. L. Lawrence, 1.12 
 
 Holderness, T. P. Woodman, 1.25 
 
 Meredith Village, J. M. Bedee, 1.12 
 
 Lake Village, Myron Taylor, 1.12 
 
 Laconia, A. C. Leavitt, 2.00 
 
 Union Bridge, F. M. Merrick, 1.01 
 
 Sanbornton Bridge, D. F. Johnson, 1.41 
 Northheld, A. M. Cogswell, .25 
 
 East Concord, T. ,T. Clough, 1.00 
 
 Only Littleton station had an as¬ 
 sistant, this was Alden Quimby, who 
 was paid $1.00 per day. 
 
 The - freight conductors were Dav¬ 
 id Ferguson, O. R. Farrar, J. W. 
 Butler, H. W. Ramsey, Z. D. Whitch- 
 er who were paid $1.73 per day. 
 
 Freight brakemen, Geo. Ramsey, 
 Nat. Batchelder, pay $1.25 per day. 
 
 Passenger conductors, S. J. Russ, 
 Geo. Little, Seth Greenleaf, pay $1.73 
 per day. Passenger brakemen, A. 
 St. Clair, E. P. Fisher, T. P. Thayer, 
 Thomas Robie, pay $1.54 per day. 
 
 Passenger engineers, Henry Lit¬ 
 tle, John Davis, Isaac Sanborn. 
 
 Freight engineers, J. J. Garman, 
 Charles Tilton, Ralph Adams. 
 
 Firemen, W. D. Sargent, G. B. 
 Randall, B. F. Osgood, John Sargent, 
 Walter Vernbam, J. H. Smalley. 
 All the engineers were paid $2.12 
 per day, and the firemen $1.12. 
 
 As boy and man I knew all of 
 these and worked with many of 
 them. I do not think there is any 
 on the roll who are living today. A 
 majority of them died in the service. 
 A few bettered themselves by going 
 to other roads. Very few left any 
 property. Of the list I know of 
 three killed on duty—George Ram¬ 
 sey, E. P. Fisher and John Butler. 
 The daily expense on play roll for 
 this particular month was $191.77. 
 Overtime, emergency and other de¬ 
 tails which go to meet the pay roll 
 of today were reckoned at that time. 
 
 G. E. CUMMINGS. 
 Woodsville, N. H., March 21, 1919. 
 
 In the fall of 1882, a few months 
 after the freight wreck at North 
 Haverhill, there occurred another 
 wreck. This time it was a passen¬ 
 ger train Concord to Woodsville, 
 which took place about 6:30 p. m., 
 in what is known to railroad men as 
 “Dark Hollow”, a few rods south of 
 the old Cobleigh stand, now the Cot¬ 
 tage Hospital. The train was bowl¬ 
 ing along at its usual speed when 
 the engine left the-iron and ran for 
 quite a distnace on the ties, finally 
 landing in a heap badly wrecked. 
 
55 
 
 along with several cars. Nobody 
 was seriously hurt. The general 
 supposition as to cause of the acci¬ 
 dent was that someone placed a rail¬ 
 road spike between the joints in 
 such a manner as to lift the locomo¬ 
 tive wheels sufficiently to lift the 
 flanges from inside the rails. Some 
 had an idea possibly it may have 
 been done by some imbecile from 
 the county farm a mile down the 
 track. 
 
 Canterbury, N. H., April 10, 1919. 
 Warren News Editor: 
 
 I have read with interest some of 
 your articles on early railroad days. 
 They are exceedingly interesting; 
 but I have not noticed very much 
 being said about section men of 
 forty and fifty years ago. My 
 grandfather was a section man in 
 e'aVly days of the road, and I really 
 would like to see an account of some 
 of the men who did the part of the 
 work of trackmen, for certainly 
 they were of some importance; 
 without the section men the rail¬ 
 road would not have succeeded.’ 
 
 A READER. 
 
 There are but few records acces¬ 
 sible with reference to section men 
 of those early times, but the writer 
 has a document containing the 
 names of fifty-three section men em¬ 
 ployed by the B., C. & M., 63 years 
 ago. Their average pay was ap¬ 
 proximately $1.00 a day. Most of 
 these trackmen probably stayed with 
 the road a number of years, as sec¬ 
 tion men usually do, or until a bet¬ 
 ter job was afforded them. The doc¬ 
 ument before me contains the names 
 of a number of section men who in 
 after years worked up to better sit¬ 
 uations. I notice George Cummings 
 foreman of section No. 20. He was 
 a brother of ex-Supt. G. E. Cum¬ 
 mings; his assistant was Dan Fo¬ 
 ley, who later was a freight conduc¬ 
 
 tor. Then there was John Marsh, 
 foreman of section No. 3. John 
 Marsh later went to firing and in 
 due time became engineer. He has 
 been spoken of a number of times 
 elsewhere in this article. His in¬ 
 fluence for good among his fellow 
 workmen had a marked and lasting 
 effect, and to this day many of the 
 old time railroad men often refer to 
 Uncle John’s religion. 
 
 Another incident of the old days 
 which will always remain in the 
 writer’s mind was when I was knee 
 high to a grasshopper, how my 
 father, then station agent at Warren 
 Summit, tried to stop seven runaway 
 loaded cars going down the hill.... 
 It was a winter night, about 9 
 o’clock an extra freight was sent out 
 single with more load than could be 
 gotten over the hill. They had to 
 “double over’’. The first section or 
 a part of the train was taken to top 
 of the hill and left on the main line 
 with the wheels “trigged” but no 
 brakes set and no brakeman left 
 with the cars. The crew went back 
 down the hill for the rear end; 
 they brought it up on to the siding 
 and pulled the pin on the engine to 
 go airound on to the main line for 
 the first section of the train. In the 
 meantime the wind was blowing and 
 the cars started down the heavy 
 grade, every second gaining momen¬ 
 tum. My father was at the station, 
 heard them coming in the darkness, 
 could see no light, and in a flash the 
 situation was plain. Grabbing his 
 lantern as the first car passed he 
 swung aboard, climbed to the hand 
 brake. It was a bark, car and the 
 brake chain was broken or un¬ 
 hitched; he went back to the other 
 two which were loaded with sawed 
 lumber with the old fashioned T 
 brake-head which dropped flat with 
 the car bottom; neither of these 
 brakes could be gotten at. Time 
 
was precious and every second the 
 heavily loaded cars were gaining 
 momentum on the 65 foot grade. 
 Climbing over the two cars of lum¬ 
 ber he found a brake on a box car 
 and set it with all the strength he 
 could exert, then started back over 
 to the next. This one brake had but 
 little effect in checking the speed. 
 There were other cars and his only 
 hope was in three other brakes 
 which he was certain if they could 
 be reached and were in working 
 condition might save the cars, and 
 possibly avert a terrible wreck; as 
 for two weeks previous freight 
 traffic had been heavy and his sup¬ 
 position was that another extra 
 might at that moment be coming 
 out from Woodsville or even up the 
 hill. The car next the box was 
 loaded with bark, and as he climbed 
 to the running board his foot 
 slipped and off over the side he went 
 down a twenty-foot embankment and 
 the loaded cars went on down the 
 hill at a terrific rate, gaining speed 
 every rails length. The roar of 
 those cars was heard for miles 
 through the night air and they lit¬ 
 erally shook themselves to pieces, 
 and were in such condition that 
 they could not safely be drawn in a 
 train and were left on a siding at 
 North Haverhill for repairs. The 
 roadway was strewn with bolts, 
 nuts and iron from half way down 
 the hill to North Haverhill and how 
 the cars stayed on the iron was a 
 wonder. Fortunately the road that 
 night was clear, a circumstance 
 which had not happened for two 
 weeks before, and the cars stayed 
 on the iron and came to a stop in 
 the “hollow” near the bridge beyond 
 North Haverhill (Blackmount) sta¬ 
 tion. As the runaway cars went 
 down the hill off in the distance my 
 
 mother happened to see the light of 
 a lantern suddenly drop from the 
 top over the side; I rushed to tell 
 
 56 
 
 my father someone had fallen off 
 those cars, and found the little sta¬ 
 tion room deserted. Though a small 
 lad, it did not take me long to real¬ 
 ize the situation, and I still remem¬ 
 ber how my mother and I rushed a 
 quarter of a mile down the track, 
 not knowing what we might find. It 
 was with relief of mind I met my 
 father coming up the track, still 
 clinging to his extinguished, half- 
 demolished lantern, both wrists cut 
 and bleeding, but he was not seri¬ 
 ously injured and was able to tele¬ 
 graph Woodsville to “Set Y switch 
 for runaway cars”. 
 
 As late as 1857 the company had 
 no engine house at Concord. It al¬ 
 ways had been accommodated with 
 room for its engines in the engine 
 house of the Northern Road, for 
 which a rent of $400 per year*was 
 paid. A record made hy the super¬ 
 intendent at that time was to the 
 effect that, so long as such an ac¬ 
 commodation is continued an engine 
 house would not be needed; but 
 should the wants of the Northern 
 Railroad at any time render it 
 necessary to discontinue the use of 
 their house by this road, a new 
 building for that purpose would be 
 necessary. He further stated that 
 the company owned land on which 
 it could be built whenever necessary 
 and the cost of a proper building 
 with suitable fixtures, he estimated 
 at less than $4,750. The fire at 
 Lake Village shops about this time 
 badly damaged four locomotives 
 which were in the buildings. There 
 was an insurance on the locomo¬ 
 tives amounting to $9,056.33 while 
 the loss was $11,600.00, leaving the 
 actual loss $2,543.67. 
 
 There was a washout at Went¬ 
 worth in the fall of 1858 which cost 
 the road $541.72 according to the 
 director’s report. 
 
57 
 
 As near as any records can be 
 found to indicate the .engineers 
 working in 1857—62 years ago there 
 were Thomas P. Clifford, Harry A. 
 Cummings, Ralph Adams, Mooney 
 Moulton, Charles Tilton, Jabez J. 
 •Garman, Alfred Drake, Isaac San¬ 
 born, John L. Davis, James M. Foss, 
 C. H. Latham. 
 
 The best record I can find of the 
 firemen that same year were W. D. 
 Sargent, Aaron Ferguson, Albert 
 Keniston, George F. Davis, George 
 B. Randall, Charles M. Elkins, I. S. 
 Goodwin, W. B. Farnham. 
 
 The conductors were D. Ferguson, 
 G. E. Nutting, A. L. Smith, H. 
 W. Ramsey, O. R. Farrar, John 
 Fuller, W. Whitcher, C. F. Hicks, 
 Seth Greenleaf, J. S. Russ, George 
 W. Little, Asa Sinclair, E. P. Fish¬ 
 er, A. A. Osgood, John Cleveland. 
 
 In 1855 the railroad company 
 owned 7,000 acres of wood lands— 
 equivalent to* over ten square miles 
 —and the wood required for the 
 company, as well as sleepers, ma¬ 
 terials for repair of fences, and 
 other purposes of the road was pro¬ 
 cured from off this land. All the 
 work of getting off the wood and 
 lumber was contracted by the wood 
 agent. All the railroad sawing of 
 lumber was done by contract at the 
 mills at Warren, owned by A. C. 
 Weeks & Co., the railroad having 
 priority over all the other work 
 done there. The cost of procuring 
 the wood and lumber lands was 
 about $3 per acre on an average. 
 Some 300 acres of the 7,000 consisted 
 of farm lands, which were later sold 
 the wood land being retained. This 
 same year a tenement was erected 
 at Woodsville (then spelled Wood- 
 ville) this tenement was occupied 
 by the station agent; four new 
 hand-car houses were built along 
 the different sections, and unfenced 
 parts of the roadway finished. 
 
 This same year the road paid for 
 repairs $8,417.84 which included the 
 expense of entirely rebuilding the 
 gravel train; rebuilding the freight 
 house at Meredith Bridge, which, 
 was burned in 1851; construction 
 of a new truss bridge, to replace the 
 pile structure on Concord interval; 
 rebuilding car house at Woodsville 
 damaged by wind in the fall of 1854. 
 The repairs on this was nearly 
 equivalent to a new building. 
 
 Elsewhere mention is made of con¬ 
 ductor W. B. Douglas getting both 
 Tegs broken by some lumber becom¬ 
 ing dislodged from a car near North- 
 field. The corporation paid Mr. 
 Douglas $200; his expenses of $245.- 
 07. After he recovered he was made 
 station agent at Woodsville where 
 he served the road faithfully for 
 many years. 
 
 During the year 1855 there were 
 but. two accidents on the road. In 
 July of that year a gentleman from 
 Massachusetts, passenger in an ac¬ 
 comodation train down, fell asleep 
 in the car, and the superintendent’s 
 report of that year says, his arm was 
 banging out of the window and was 
 fractured in passing through a 
 bridge. In August of the same year. 
 Rev. Mir. Curtis, of Sanbornton, 
 while standing too near a freight 
 train, shifting cars at Sanbornton, 
 incautiously got in the way, was 
 thrown down, and fradtured his 
 thigh. 
 
 94 Prospect St., 
 Marlboro, Mass., 
 March 31, 1919. 
 
 C. E. Caswell: 
 
 I started as passenger brakeman 
 on the old B., C. & M. R. R. in 1882 
 on the White Mountain express, 
 Boston to Fabyans the first season; 
 the next year Lancaster and Boston. 
 None of the officials of the old road 
 
58 
 
 of those days are now living. Mr. 
 Dodge, the superintendent died in 
 1882 or 1883; Mr. W. R. Brackett, 
 general ticket agent died a year or 
 two later; Messrs. Whittier and 
 Cobb have both long since passed to 
 their rest. In the passenger service 
 today I think Melvin Mann, L. K. 
 Ford and Frank Mooney are the 
 only conductors working today who 
 were running in 1882 when I went 
 to work. In the winter of 1883 I 
 came down here and went to work 
 for the Boston & Dowell, long since 
 consolidated with the Boston & 
 Maine, and have been here ever 
 since. Several years ago the runs 
 were re-arranged so I left Marl¬ 
 boro at 10 a. m., arrived at Boston 
 at 11.05; left Boston at 1:30 p. m., 
 for Woodsville, arriving there at 
 6:30 where I remained until the 
 next morning when the return trip 
 was made. I had as engineer from 
 Concord to Woodsville, Mr. William 
 Kimball, of Plymouth, one of the 
 best men that ever stepped on a lo¬ 
 comotive—true as steel. He rests 
 from his labors. Thirty or thirty- 
 five years has made many changes. 
 When I left the old home and went 
 to work on the road my good father 
 and mother were living up in New 
 Hampshire on the old town farm 
 near Quincy station, and now oc¬ 
 cupied by Mr. J. B. Foster. Father 
 and mother have passed away, and 
 all is changed. 
 
 CHAS. F. G. CLARK. 
 
 Here is a letter out of the ordin¬ 
 ary, written by a man who “knows 
 whereof he speaks”. 
 
 Oregon City, Ore., April 6, 1919. 
 Mr. C. E. Caswell: 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 J. was born in Bristol, N. H., April 
 23, 1844 and remember the talk of 
 two railroads trying to reach Ply¬ 
 mouth first; the Northern and Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord & Montreal. I re¬ 
 member well of seeing the first 
 
 train to reach Bristol. It was in 
 August of the year 1846. There the 
 road ends to this day. In the sum¬ 
 mer of 1847 I saw the first train to 
 Plymouth pass over the lower in¬ 
 tervale, Patch Clifford, driver of en¬ 
 gine, “Lady of the Lake”; John W. 
 Wardwell, conductor; Thomas Ro- 
 bie, brakeman. In the winter of 
 1852 or ’53 during cold weather, 
 rain and ice formed on the rails to 
 the thickness of an inch; men and 
 boys were employed to cut it off with 
 axes and hatchets. The engines 
 were not heavy enough to crush the 
 ice and one left the track. It was 
 several days before a train got 
 through. I think “Elkins” was first 
 superintendent of the road, then 
 “Whiton” and J. A. Dodge. While 
 Dodge was superintendent, W. R. 
 Brackett was truck agent and I was 
 in the office learning to telegraph. 
 
 I think the road ended at Warren 
 for a while, then at Woodsville. 
 Some years before it went through 
 to Littleton. I had occasion to go 
 to Lancaster in 1866 and there was 
 a stage from Littleton to Lancaster. 
 In 1882 I helped build the station 
 buildings on the P. V., for P. H. 
 Crawford. 
 
 The engines now used to climb the 
 Cascade Mountains are very much 
 larger than the old time “Lady of 
 the Lake” and “Peter Clark”. Now 
 I will tell you of an incident: A 
 man named Sticky Green was gate 
 tender at the crossing from Main St., 
 at Plymouth to Holderness; the 
 gate shut across the railroad when 
 no train whistled. It once so hap¬ 
 pened that before Mr. Green got to 
 the gate, the gate engine “Peter 
 Clark” went through it; Mr. Green 
 hurried to the superintendent’s office 
 and said, “Mr. Dodge, I wish my dis¬ 
 charge without delay, for Peter 
 Clark came in the dark and took my 
 gate away”. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 GEO. A. BROWN, 
 
Oregon City, Ore., 
 
 R. 3, Box 200. 
 
 P. S. I lived in Plymouth until 
 1867; since then I have roamed the 
 U. S. over. 
 
 Superintendents of the road have 
 been: Peter Clark, James N. Elkins, 
 James M. Whiton, John T. Coffin, 
 Joseph A. Dodge, Edward F. Mann. 
 
 The Washington Artillery, a mil¬ 
 itary company then existing in Gro¬ 
 ton, N. H., fired an official salute to 
 the first passenger train run into 
 Plymouth on opening of the road to 
 that town. This was a 12-lb. brass 
 field piece, and the cannon later 
 went south and was used in the 
 Union Army from 1861 to 1865. 
 This gun was touched by Daniel 
 Kidder, a Grand Army veteran now 
 living in Rumney and past 80 years 
 of age. Mr. Kidder has represented 
 his town in the legislature the last 
 three sessions, and is remarkably 
 smart even for a man twenty years 
 his junior. At the time the railroad 
 was being built Mr. Kidder was a 
 lad living in the town of Groton, 
 which was then prosperous with 
 many good farms. He tells how 
 Josiah Quincy, the first president of 
 the road came up through their 
 neighborhood soliciting funds to be 
 used in building the road, and how 
 the natives and farmers subscribed 
 for from one to ten shares each, at 
 par value of $100. 
 
 One morning some forty years ago 
 a brakeman by the name of Sanborn 
 was killed and his body badly mu¬ 
 tilated at one of the twin bridges 
 just south of “bulls eye curve” be¬ 
 tween Wentworth and West Rum¬ 
 ney. In an old newspaper clipping 
 the other day I came across an ac¬ 
 count of the accident as published 
 at the time. The exact date cannot 
 be given. On this particular morn¬ 
 ing a south-bound freight due at 
 
 59 
 
 Wentworth station about 6 o’clock 
 broke apart and as they neared the 
 station the signal whistle was 
 sounded, every man was at his post. 
 As they passed the house of B. T. 
 White, they came together and in a 
 few minutes more the signal of dis¬ 
 tress was given. The faithful en¬ 
 gineer, Alfred Brown, stepped up on 
 to the car from his engine to see if 
 they were ready to apply the coup¬ 
 ling, when he missed the brakeman 
 whose lantern he saw but a moment 
 before. He couldn’t see him and im¬ 
 mediately told his fireman to go and 
 look for him under the train for he 
 thought he must have fallen. The 
 fireman obeyed and instantly 
 retraced his steps, for his eyes saw 
 what his heart could not bear. The 
 engineer then followed up the track 
 and came to Sanborn wound up 
 tightly on the outside of the truck 
 frame. Willing hearts and ready 
 hands from the families of Messrs. 
 Gove and White did all to assist in 
 getting out the crushed remains of 
 a man who was six feet high and 
 had been so mangled and torn to 
 pieces that he lay in a space not far 
 from two feet. His tongue was torn 
 from his mouth by the roots almost 
 at first; his teeth, his skull and his 
 brains Were strewn all along for 
 several cars,—and blood and bones 
 were enough to make stout hearts 
 shudder. His head was torn and 
 ground completely to atoms. His 
 arms, feet and legs were nothing but 
 cords and a mass of muscles. His 
 body was wrapped in a quilt and 
 the remainder of the bones, etc., 
 put in a small box and sent to his 
 home in Rumney. There is no 
 doubt but he came to his death by 
 his being hit by a bridge which is 
 too low for a man standing to pass 
 under. This is not the first man 
 who has been killed in the same 
 place, but we sincerely hope it may 
 be the last. At least three men lost 
 their lives at this particular “twin 
 
60 
 
 bridge” before the “tell tail” was 
 erected by a state law. 
 
 FRANK W. LOUGEE 
 One of the B., C. & M. Men 
 
 This little history would be al¬ 
 most a flat failure if the name of 
 the late Hon. Edward F. Mann 
 should be omitted. Edward F. 
 Mann was educated in the common 
 schools of Benton and at Tilton 
 Seminary, and commenced his rail¬ 
 road career in Tilton station in 1866. 
 A year later he became a brakeman; 
 soon afterwards, baggage master; 
 and then conductor. October 1881, 
 
 he was appointed station agent of 
 the B., C. & M. R. R., at Concord, 
 and in October 1884 was promoted to 
 Assistant Superintendent and moved 
 to Woodsville. When the B., C. & 
 M. R. R. passed under the control of 
 the Concord Railroad Co., he was 
 appointed Superintendent of the line 
 north of Concord, and when the two 
 roads were consolidated, he was 
 made Superintendent of Train Ser¬ 
 vice for the whole system. April 
 first, 1892, he was appointed Super¬ 
 intendent of the Concord and Mon¬ 
 treal consolidated lines, and moved 
 to Concord. 
 
 Edward F. Mann left his mark in 
 the world. The impress of a man 
 of public spirit, untiring industry, 
 keen foresight and unswerving 
 personal loyalty. He was a leader 
 in all public mea'sures to promote 
 the welfare of the people of the 
 state, especially the section of his 
 nativity and active work, and to his 
 individual efforts were due perhaps, 
 more than to those of any other per¬ 
 son, the broadened railroad policy 
 of this section, that has meant much 
 for the development of every town 
 and village of Northern New Hamp¬ 
 shire. 
 
 Possessing, himself, liberal views 
 of railroad management and an in¬ 
 timate knowledge of the mountain 
 regions, its railroad necessities and 
 the characteristics of its people, to¬ 
 gether with a firm faith in the pos¬ 
 sibilities of its future development, 
 and last, but not least, a wonderfully 
 strong hold upon the affections and 
 friendship of almost every person 
 of this section with whom he was 
 brought in business or social con¬ 
 tact, he was a most powerful force 
 in shaping the railroad policy as 
 applied to this region, and while he 
 has never lost sight of the obliga¬ 
 tions that bound him to the corpora¬ 
 tion he served, he labored faithfully, 
 zealously and unremittingly to ad¬ 
 vance the interests of the people 
 
61 
 
 along the line, and was their - cham¬ 
 pion in the railroad management of 
 this section. 
 
 Some reference has been made to 
 Mike Glynn. Mike was a brakeman 
 in early days, and was a “dare devil 
 from the word go”. He was a nat¬ 
 ural born comedian, and a second 
 Charlie Chaplin, or rather Charlie 
 might be termed a second Mike 
 Glynn, for Mike was on earth be¬ 
 fore the $100,000 movie actor ever 
 saw daylight. Mike’s antics would 
 fill a book the size of this. The last 
 we knew of his whereabouts he was 
 playing in an orchestra in Keith’s 
 Theatre, and frequently the boys of 
 the old days when in Boston would 
 drop in for a chat with him. 
 
 John E. Davis was for many years 
 station agent at Warren. For 
 twenty-eight years George Wilson 
 run Haverhill station, and Will 
 True nearly rounded out forty years 
 as agent at East Haverhill and “died 
 in the harness”. 
 
 After the North Haverhill wreck 
 in 1882 a strict rule was adopted 
 that the way freight should not 
 leave Woods ville in the morning un¬ 
 til the freight preceding had passed 
 over Warren Summit; and the 
 writer remembers how his father, 
 station agent at the Summit for 
 years had to get out about 2:30 
 every morning, go to the station and 
 report the freight as it passed over 
 the hill. 
 
 44 Nicholas St., Lewiston, Me. 
 C. E. Caswell: 
 
 I saw in Woodsville News you are 
 to issue a booklet on the old B., C. 
 & M. R. R. I wish when you get it 
 completed you would let me know, 
 as I am interested in the old road. 
 I had two brothers fire on that road, 
 and I w^as well acquainted with C. 
 S. and F. H. Burleigh, firemen. 1 
 
 had a nephew brake the Montreal 
 express; knew all the Mann boys, 
 Gale boy®, Wells boys, Kenistons;, 
 and lots of others, as well as Joe 
 Hooker, so-called. You probably re¬ 
 member some 25 years ago when 
 they got out two new engines to run 
 on the Montreal expresses. Len 
 Crouch was firing one of them. He 
 came up one Sunday afternoon and 
 stopped at East Haverhill and got 
 me to go on with the engineer as 
 fireman in his place, so he could go 
 up home; you remember where his 
 folks used to live at East Haverhill. 
 He was killed on a log train on the 
 Kilkenny after that. Perhaps you 
 will remember me; you printed my 
 wedding cards 23 years ago. 
 
 GEORGE J. HARDY. 
 
 Mention is made elsewhere that 
 George Hutchins is the only man 
 working today who was working 
 fifty years ago. It has since been 
 learned that Orrin H, Bean of Con¬ 
 cord, an old time blacksmith in the 
 Lake Village shops is still “pound¬ 
 ing iron” after fifty years in the ser¬ 
 vice, although he went to Vermont 
 for a year or two away back in the 
 70’s. Mr. Bean sends a most in- 
 • teresting letter which appears else¬ 
 where. 
 
 Concord, N. H., April 27, 1919. 
 
 C. E. Caswell, 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 You;r letter came to hand. In re¬ 
 gard to my railroad life there is but 
 little to tell. I first went to brake- 
 ing by hand on the Boston & Lowell 
 in 1871. First year was on the 
 branch road to Woburn, Mass., 10 
 mile run. I was then transferred to 
 Wilton, N. H., (or Wilton R. R.,) 
 running into Boston every day; put 
 in 9 years braking, baggage master, 
 and the last 2 years spare conductor 
 from Greenfield, N. H., to Lowell, 
 under the Nashua and Lowell man¬ 
 agement. That road was leased to 
 
62 
 
 the B. & L. again after two years, 
 and in the new management did not 
 want any of the N. & L. men, so I 
 lost my job. Went to Lake Village 
 and went to firing on B., C. & M., 
 and put in a little over 4 years for 
 $1.50 per day. I then gave my no¬ 
 tice and left. Have been house car¬ 
 penter ever since. During my firing 
 I had one engineer lose his life in 
 Plymouth yard (Wooster Dearborn). 
 
 The engine we were on left iron 
 on a switch and Dearborn was in¬ 
 jured so he lived only an hour. I 
 well remember many of the old men 
 who have been mentioned in your 
 articles. I left the road because I 
 was getting such small pay at that 
 time, but carpenters here at Con¬ 
 cord are now getting less money 
 than some diggers or mason tend¬ 
 ers. I am interested in all your 
 articles and shall prize your book 
 highly. I was brought up in Hav¬ 
 erhill, N. H. I fired the first coal 
 burning engine the Warren the sec¬ 
 ond trip she made from Concord to 
 Woodsville. Len Morrill fired the 
 first trip with Jim Badger, engineer 
 and I fired the second with Frank H. 
 Burleigh, engineer. 
 
 I must tell you a little story about 
 the Passumpsic R. R. For many 
 years my father had charge of all 
 repairs on Dartmouth College build¬ 
 ings; while there they had a meet¬ 
 ing at Norwich, Vt., to see about 
 building that road on solicitation of 
 one of the Professors. My father 
 went over to that meeting. They 
 were telling how the Montreal could 
 never be built, and the reasons were 
 it was too hilly and the people in 
 that part of the state were so poor 
 that they never could furnish the 
 money and that the farmers were 
 very poor. My father being a native 
 of Campton and knowing many peo¬ 
 ple in that part of the state, that 
 statement went against the grain, 
 and he did some plain talking, and 
 also made a prediction at that time, 
 
 that the road would be built and 
 some of the men there would live 
 long enough to see it built and to see 
 the Montreal and Canadian business 
 go down over that road to Boston. 
 My father lived long enough him¬ 
 self to see his prediction fulfilled, 
 as the last of his life was spent on 
 a farm a mile this side of Haverhill 
 depot and he saw train after train 
 of Canada Pacificy freight as well as 
 passenger trains go on their way 
 over Warren hill. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 JAMES BURBECK, 
 
 39 Auburn St., Concord, N. H. 
 
 Woodsville, N. H., March 31, 1919. 
 Mr. C. E. Caswell: 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 When you have your book “The 
 Early Days of the B., C. & M.,” com¬ 
 pleted, I want you to reserve me 
 forty copies and perhaps more. I 
 was born and reared in view of the 
 trains and have been in their em¬ 
 ploy 28 years. While not as old as 
 some, can remember many who have 
 signed the call book for the last 
 time. I commenced work under E. 
 
 F. Mann; then came W. A. Stowell, 
 
 G. E. Cummings and F. C. Mayo, so 
 you can see J. A. Dodge is the only 
 one I have escaped. I was thinking 
 when the high water was Friday, 
 about the time the river went down 
 the track at Wentworth station, 
 washing out the long trestle and 
 wrecking two engines and some 
 cars. I remember a car of Baldwin 
 apples which went down the brook 
 and how I rolled a barrel of them 
 into the school house where I was 
 going to school at the time, and how 
 the scholars and the teacher got on 
 the outside of a quantity of them 
 for days after. 
 
 Then I used to be greatly interest¬ 
 ed in watching Sam Hoit repair 
 rails in the old railshop at Warren. 
 This shop was near the wood shed 
 at water tank. It would take some 
 
63 
 
 wood now to feed one of the “Hogs 
 and Whales” as they are now called 
 from Concord to Woodsville. It 
 would keep Arthur Knapp busy to 
 supply it I think. As I go over the 
 road there is many a thought comes 
 over me as I can point out here and 
 there where some poor fellow was 
 killed or injured, so as to make life 
 a burden to him ever after. There 
 are many places so near together I 
 could not explain about them before 
 the train would pass another place 
 where some wreck occurred or some 
 one struck a bridge or fell from a 
 car of lumber or a brake chain gave 
 away or the old fork wrench slipped 
 off. The brakeman nowadays would 
 think it tough work if he could do 
 it at all, and I doubt very much if 
 he could or would. 
 
 F. H. COLBY. 
 
 The oldest conductor on this div¬ 
 ision today is I. F. Mooney of Con¬ 
 cord, who runs a train between Con¬ 
 cord and Woodsville. For a long 
 time I wanted Mooney to write 
 something with reference to the old 
 road, but he thought he couldn’t 
 write anything fit to print, yet he is 
 full of old time railroad experiences 
 and is very entertaining on the sub¬ 
 ject in conversation. A personal 
 letter which he did not intend for 
 publication says: 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 In answer to your letter will say, 
 one of the hardest things for me to 
 do is to write letters or try to make 
 a speech, even in my own lodge 
 room, but have scrambled off a few 
 lines. You can throw out what you 
 don’t want. Being on the road most 
 fifty years I hardly know where to 
 begin or what to say, so don’t be 
 •afraid to use the scissors. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 I. F. MOONEY. 
 
 In speaking of early days on the 
 old B., C. & M. R. R., I should have 
 
 to start at Lake Village as that was 
 the first town I struck after leaving 
 home, a boy about 18 years, the ma¬ 
 chine, car, paint and blacksmith 
 shops being there at that time. 
 Ralph Adams, master mechanic, 
 Moses Elkins at head of car and 
 paint shop, Joseph Lougee, boss at 
 blacksmith shop, Lewis Badger, road 
 master and Jarve Sanborn, bridge 
 builder, Miles Taylor, station agent. 
 As I fired some over two years I was 
 on at different times with George 
 Randall, Aaron Ferguson, Jo. Ayer 
 and Henry Little, firing engines 
 Moosilauke, Crawford, Coos, Moun¬ 
 tain Maid, all wood burners and 
 when they were burning thin edgings 
 from Charles Spaulding’s saw mill, 
 firemen did not get much time to 
 sit down. 
 
 In speaking of the old Mountain 
 Maid, I had a little experience with 
 her before I had fired three weeks. 
 Mr. Badger, road master and Joe 
 Hooker, engineer with two or three 
 cars went to East Tilton to haul out 
 some gravel; after making a few 
 trips Joe stopped off at the station 
 and said, “Mooney, run ’em down”— 
 he must have thought that I had 
 more experience but I did not say 
 anything about that. I jumped on 
 and pulled the throttle wide open 
 and started for the gravel pit. Well 
 after going by two or three times, 
 with the help of Mr. Badger, we 
 managed to stop where the gravel 
 was. 
 
 The trains on the narrow gauge 
 road, Bethlehem Junction to Profile 
 House were put on in the summer 
 of 1879. J. A. Dodge, general man¬ 
 ager, took Conductor Blodgett from 
 Passumpsic division and myself as 
 baggage master to run the trains. 
 On the first trip over about 3 miles 
 from Bethlehem Junction, the car 
 in some way left the iron. Mr. 
 Dodge, Mr. Taft and two or three 
 others were in the car, and just be¬ 
 fore it came to a stop, tipping near- 
 
64 
 
 These two cut's are furnished by 
 the courtesy of Mr. R. H. Sanford, 
 manager of the Baldwin Locomotive 
 Works, Philadelphia, showing the A. 
 T. & S. F. Baldwin Locomotive No. 
 
 3-160, their 20th century creation, 
 alongside the “Jaibo,” a wood ‘burn¬ 
 ing locomotive such as were built in 
 the ’60’s, but representing a type of 
 engines generally used about 1845. 
 
 ly over, Mr. Dodge jumped off and 
 the way he and his tall hat and wig 
 went in different directions was a 
 caution; but as no one was hurt 
 they all had a good laugh getting 
 over to Profile some time before 
 midnight. 
 
 The first through freight, Woods- 
 ville to Concord, was put on in the 
 spring of 1871. Chet Carpenter was 
 conductor, Joe Ayer or “Hooker” so- 
 called was engineer, myself fireman. 
 
 The first passenger train that run 
 from Littleton to Lancaster was on 
 July 4th, 1871, George Eastman, 
 conductor, William Moore, engineer; 
 engine Lancaster. No fares were 
 charged, free for all, and the cars 
 were loaded to the steps. John 
 Demick was station agent at Lan¬ 
 caster and took the train crews to 
 his home for dinner. There was 
 speech making and a general good 
 time. 
 
65 
 
 Just one more little item to wind 
 up the subject. An early breakfast 
 at Ned Caswell’s, Warren Summit. 
 One st.nging cold night there was a 
 broken rail near the station at War¬ 
 ren Summit. The night express 
 south came along and when they got 
 to that rail part of the trains went 
 up the main line and the rear taking 
 the siding, the sleeper coming to a 
 stop right opposite Caswell’s front 
 door, waking him up. He soon had 
 a fire and took us all in to a good 
 hot breakfast, showing himself a 
 good cook as well as a good railroad 
 man. 
 
 I. F. MOONEY. 
 
 Concord, N. H. 
 
 Grlencliff, N. H., April 21, 1919. 
 C. E. Caswell, 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Seeing so much of late in the 
 News regarding the old B., C. & M., 
 reminds me of the time when my 
 father, William Caswell was run¬ 
 ning a freight, Woodsville to Bos¬ 
 ton, during the time of the Civil 
 War. Cannot recollect much about 
 it being a small boy, but have often 
 heard him speak of some of the men 
 who were working at the time. As 
 I remember it O. R. Farrar and 
 John Butler were conductors; 
 Charlie Tilton and W. D. Sargent, 
 better known as “Dye” were en¬ 
 gineers. Cannot say how long 
 father run; we lived in Plymouth 
 for a time so he could get home 
 more conveniently. Have an an¬ 
 nual pass issued in 1864 to father 
 by J. A. Dodge and made good over 
 the C., M. & L. R. R., by J. R. Kend¬ 
 rick. Abe Mitchell was road master 
 at the time. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 CLARENCE A. CASWELL. 
 
 Another B., C. & M. man was Har¬ 
 ley E. Whiting, who used to fire one 
 
 of the old wood burners previous to 
 1880. He went out west and was in 
 a railroad strike on the C., B. & Q., 
 in 1887 along with a number of oth¬ 
 er B., C. & M., boys who had western 
 railroad fever. They lost out and 
 Whiting’s people have never heard 
 from him since and have no idea if 
 he is dead or alive. 
 
 In a previous article I mentioned 
 that it was in 1880 the extension 
 from Lancaster to Groveton was 
 completed, and 1883 the construc¬ 
 tion account of the line from Wing 
 Road to the base of Mt. Washington 
 was closed at a cost of $446,000. 
 Engineer Fred Whiting has written 
 that he fired a gravel train at 
 Groveton in the summer of 1872 and 
 never has been there since. The 
 road was opened to Lancaster, July 
 4, 1871, and evidently was at that 
 time under construction, Lancaster 
 to Groveton, but was not fully com¬ 
 pleted until eight years after. 
 
 Back forty years ago on special 
 fair days, excursion and railroad 
 meeting days, Curt Leavitt always 
 run the excursion trains. He was 
 then station agent at Laconia. He 
 would have for brakemen, Dick 
 Rowen, car inspector at Lake Vil¬ 
 lage, J. Glazebrook and Hi Foss, 
 shop painters. These were the 
 only men available for spare passen¬ 
 ger crews, and Leavitt the only 
 man available who was capable of 
 being conductor. 
 
 Considerable has been said and 
 written about the old Mt. Washing¬ 
 ton, but I neglected to say the Mount 
 Washington, No. 29, was the first ten 
 wheel engine ever in New England. 
 She was built at Blood’s Locomotive 
 Works, Manchester, specially for the 
 B., C. & M., to run between the Base 
 and Fabyans. Some one tells me 
 she was later named Carrol. 
 
4 
 
 66 
 
 One day, some fifty years ago, 
 “Dye” Sargent was going south with 
 the Mountain Maid and her smoke 
 stack fell off at a point near North- 
 field. It was a passenger train to 
 which she was attached, and the 
 crew was made up of Sargent, as 
 engineer, Warren Davis, fireman, 
 Peter Hines, conductor. The train 
 continued its trip to Concord and 
 returned to Plymouth, the engine 
 minus her stack. 
 
 The White Mountain Express 
 when first put on the road attracted 
 great attention. The train run from 
 Boston to Lancaster, a section com¬ 
 ing from Providence. The cars, 
 like all passenger cars in early days 
 were painted bright yellow and on 
 several of them over the windows, 
 just beneath the eaves was painted 
 the inscription, “White Mountains, 
 Lake Wiinnipesaukee, Plymouth, 
 Lancaster”. These parlor cars were 
 through cars and said to have been 
 owned by the Boston & Providence 
 road. The B., C. & M., owned one 
 or two parlor cars about that time. 
 
 The lumber with which to build 
 the first Connecticut river bridge be¬ 
 tween Woodsville and Wells River 
 was cut in the town of Whitefield, 
 and sawed out at a mill located 
 about where the Brown’s Lumber 
 Co.’s mills later stood. It was 
 floated down the John’s river to the 
 Connecticut at a point near or just 
 below the bridge, and hauled out and 
 framed on the land where the pres¬ 
 ent railroad station now stands. 
 
 In June 1861, on account of the 
 Civil War, railroad business was 
 very much depressed. Freight 
 trains ran between Concord and 
 Woodsville only three days in a 
 week; a freight would come from 
 Concord to Woodsville in one day 
 and return the next. North of 
 Woodsville they run two days in a 
 
 week. In 1864 business had in¬ 
 creased in a small degree and they 
 run through to Boston. William 
 Caswell, an uncle of mine run one 
 of the through freights as conduc¬ 
 tor during the Civil War, and later 
 was made car tracer for the old 
 •road, a position which “Web” 
 Stearns later held. 
 
 The use of flat cars for lumber 
 gradually increased, and it became 
 on freight trains a question of get¬ 
 ting box cars enough together for 
 brakes to hold the trains down the 
 hills. Finally brakes were put on 
 a few of the flat cars. They real¬ 
 ized they must put something on the 
 fiat cars that would not interfere 
 with the loading of lumber. The 
 first brakes used did not drop out; 
 they had an arrangement where a 
 part of the ratchet wheel came up 
 and let the brake shaft and head tip 
 over into a place cut out for it on 
 the platform of the car. This 
 worked for a while, but someone 
 thought of the “T” head brake with 
 a drop shaft, which has been in use 
 ever since. Then came a question 
 of getting the cars properly loaded 
 and having the brakes in good 
 shape for putting them up. They 
 tell me the first man to use a wrench 
 of any kind on a flat car was Henry 
 Mann. He used to take a large 
 monkey wrench and use that. Af¬ 
 terwards they foupd that the rail 
 forks that the section men used to 
 lift rails with were better than a 
 wrench. The progressive (?) 
 spirit of the management at that 
 time would not allow the shops to 
 make forks for the brakemen to put 
 up brakes with, so they used to con¬ 
 fiscate them from the section men 
 along the line, as the hand-car 
 houses were usually locked with a 
 switch lock. I don’t believe the 
 brakemen of the present day have 
 much idea what it was to start out 
 from Woodsville with 20 or 25 cars 
 
67 
 
 of lumber without a box car in the 
 train, with one brakeman and hold 
 the train down Warren Summit and 
 stop at Warren. 
 
 I have through lots of research, 
 learned that the old Chocorua was 
 the pet engine of the road fifty years 
 ago. Henry Little run her, and she 
 had more brass on her than all the 
 other engines on the road put to¬ 
 gether at the present time. Henry 
 was so proud of her that he had a 
 lot of old canvas that he used to 
 cover her up with when she was in 
 the engine house. 
 
 About 1875 it was thought it 
 would be profitable to have a parlor 
 car run from the boat connections 
 at New London, Conn., into the 
 mountains, so the Norwich & Wor¬ 
 cester road bought one car and the 
 B., C. & M., road bought the other, 
 so as to have two cars in the run. 
 Mr. Cummings says he went with 
 Superintendent Dodge to Concord 
 when the car arrived and ran an ex¬ 
 tra from Concord to Lancaster to 
 see if the car would clear the plat¬ 
 forms and everything along the line. 
 This was the first parlor car run 
 over the road. This parlor car, like 
 the other passenger coaches was of 
 bright lemon-yellow and had a long 
 single window on either side, and 
 was named the “Plymouth”. It run 
 summers for a number of years in 
 charge of Albert Kidder as conduc¬ 
 tor. Later the car was remodeled 
 and run for a number of years as a 
 passenger car on the road. Later 
 the road bought several more parlor 
 cars or had them made at Laconia 
 Car Shops. 
 
 The first sleeping car over the 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal came 
 up with General Grant when he 
 made his trip through New Hamp¬ 
 shire. The road was at that time 
 being built between Wing Road and 
 
 Fabyan, and Grant’s car succeeded 
 in getting as far as Twin Mountains. 
 It was drawn by the Lady, and I 
 have before me a picture of the en¬ 
 gine as she looked on that trip; an 
 American flag adorns the front from 
 the pilot over the left steam chest 
 and many other flags and bunting 
 decorate her boiler, cab and tender. 
 
 The Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 was pretty hard up financially be¬ 
 fore the lease to the Boston & Low¬ 
 ell. It was pretty well run out of 
 everything. Often in case of broken 
 rails, trains would sometimes have 
 to stop and go to the nearest siding 
 and get out a rail to put in place of 
 the broken one. Speaking of rails, 
 brings to mind the fact that the first 
 rails were 18 feet long, 56 pounds to 
 the yard. Some of these same rails 
 are in use in some of the sidings up 
 in the mountains at the present day. 
 They were English iron and made to 
 last. 
 
 Forty years ago the spare crew of 
 trackmen consisted of Jim Rowen, 
 foreman; E. K. Foss, John Sanborn, 
 Michael and John Fitzpatrick and 
 Joseph Steele. John Fitzpatrick is 
 at the present day section foreman 
 at Belmont. Henry Fitzpatrick is 
 an engineer at Lakeport. Alonzo 
 Foss, nicknamed “Skibo”, was a 
 brakeman on the old road forty-five 
 years ago and is now employed about 
 the round-house at Lakeport. 
 Charles E. Leavitt, another old B., 
 C. & M., man is now traveling aud¬ 
 itor for the Boston & Maine, and re¬ 
 sides at Laconia. Will Connor, an¬ 
 other old time engineer is now em¬ 
 ployed in the car shops at Laconia. 
 Miss Hattie Crawford of Lancaster, 
 Mrs. Plummer of Ashland and Miss 
 Carrie Moore of Lisbon did good 
 work for the old road, an honor to 
 themselves and profession in which 
 they were engaged. For many years 
 
68 
 
 they held down the telegraph key at of the legislature passed a resolu- 
 various stations along the line. tion prohibiting Mr. Dodge ever 
 
 - again running a train as conductor, 
 
 H. G. Weeks whose native town is and Mr. Foss from ever again work- 
 
 Rumney, is a present day C. P. pas¬ 
 senger conductor between Newport 
 and Boston. He started in when a 
 lad on the old road and never had 
 occasion to regret that he chose 
 railroading as his life profession. 
 In his early days as well as today 
 he was always a faithful employee. 
 His home is at Newport, Vt. The 
 oldest employee on the Portland 
 Division of the Boston & Maine is 
 George Smith, telegraph operator at 
 Sanbornville. George Smith was 
 one of the first telegraph operators 
 the old Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 road ever had. The old boys of 
 forty years ago love and respect 
 the fatherly old soul. 
 
 Elsewhere mention is made of the 
 first wreck the road ever had, which 
 took place at the Weirs, October 
 1852. There was an excursion train 
 coming north from the state fair 
 which was held at Meredith Bridge 
 (Laconia) on that day, Dodge was 
 conductor and J. Foss, engineer of 
 the train. There was a large crowd 
 on board and some had gotten on the 
 pilot (cow-catcher of the engine as 
 it was called in those times) to 
 avoid paying their fare. The train 
 was stopped on Weirs bridge to col¬ 
 lect the fares. Weirs bridge was a 
 tressle a mile or so south of the rail¬ 
 road station. Since that time there 
 has been a “fill” at the bridge and 
 there is now a small pond on one 
 side of the track and the lake op¬ 
 posite. The supposition was if the 
 train stopped on the bridge none of 
 the passengers could escape. While 
 the train was stopped there a fol¬ 
 lowing train came along and crashed 
 into the rear killing six people and 
 injuring forty. 
 
 This wreck was in the fall of 1852 
 —67 years ago and the next session 
 
 ing as engineer on any railroad in 
 the state of New Hampshire. 
 
 CLARENCE W. ADAMS, 
 
 An old time B.', C. & M. Engineer 
 and All-Around Railroad Man. 
 Present day Station Agent at 
 Tilton. 
 
 Walter S. Keniston, present day 
 scale tester for the Boston & Maine 
 system with headquarters at Lowell, 
 started railroading 41 years ago, 
 when he was 16 years old. He was 
 born and raised in Northfield and 
 began work for the road by sawing 
 wood, after which he was section 
 
69 
 
 man a short time when he went to 
 braking. Prom that time he has 
 learned railroading in its various 
 branches. He has seen great 
 changes from the link and pin, hand 
 brake and wood burner, and has 
 kept abreast of the times as the 
 years have passed. 
 
 The through freight trains in early 
 days were run through to Hay mark¬ 
 et Square, Boston, and made two 
 trips a week. In the very earliest 
 days of the road it was a custom of 
 the way freight conductor to carry 
 a small box similar in size to an or¬ 
 dinary cigar box with a slot in the 
 top or cover. At the stations where 
 there was local freight to be trans¬ 
 ported by the natives from one town 
 to another, the conductor fixed the 
 charge according to his own judg¬ 
 ment according to its size and 
 weight, 25 cents, 50 cents or what¬ 
 ever the case might be, when the 
 shipper would deposit the sufficient 
 amount of cash. At the end of the 
 run the conductor would go to the 
 depot, empty his cash box and check 
 up his freight accounts. For a num¬ 
 ber of years passengers were al¬ 
 lowed to ride on freight trains at 
 the regular rate of car fare. If 
 they had no ticket the conductor was 
 supposed to collect the fare and turn 
 it in to the road. This method 
 worked to the detriment of the cor¬ 
 poration and was eventually correc¬ 
 ted by the issuing of strict rules. 
 
 When the road was first opened 
 the tickets were sold and re-sold. 
 
 ' For instance, a ticket from Laconia 
 to Tilton read Meredith Bridge— 
 Sanbornton Bridge. This ticket was 
 purchased for passage, taken up by 
 the conductor and later returned to 
 be re-sold; this being done until it 
 was worn out or so badly soiled as 
 to be worthless. The ticket was 
 good in either direction. 
 
 I came across an issue of the Con¬ 
 cord Statesman containing mention 
 of opening the road and first train to 
 Plymouth. In part the account 
 said: “The train had at least 100 
 
 tons of merchandise on board, which 
 with the well filled cars, taxed 
 heavily the ‘iron horses’ the ‘Josiah 
 Quincy’ and the ‘John McDuffee’ the 
 former bearing the name of the 
 President of the road and the latter 
 that of the old ‘veteran’ surveyor. 
 This was on Friday, January 18, 
 1850 and regular service commenced 
 on the following Monday, the 21st, 
 as follows: Leave Boston for Ply¬ 
 mouth at 7:30 a. m., leave Plymouth 
 for Boston at 12:25 p. m. A train 
 also ran from Lake Village leaving 
 there at 8:30 a. m., also one left 
 Boston for Lake Village at 12 noon. 
 On Monday May 6, 1850 the schedule 
 was, leave Plymouth for Boston at 
 7:50 a. m., and 2 p. m., leave Boston 
 for Plymouth at 7:30 a. m., and 12 
 noon. 
 
 Along about 1871 the supply of 
 lumber at the lumber mills com¬ 
 menced to fail up and the lumber 
 dealers turned their attention to 
 getting logs into their mills by some 
 other method than by ox teams. 
 The Littleton Lumber Company first 
 started to send logs from Wing Road 
 to their mills at South Littleton 
 (Willowdale) by rail. The first logs 
 loaded were cut into car lengths. 
 Previous to this there had been cut 
 in the towns of Littleton and White- 
 field long masts 60 to a hundred feet 
 in length, and these masts were 
 loaded on to flat cars with bunks on 
 them, so it occurred to Mr. Dodge 
 that the road might use bunks on 
 flat oars for ordinary business. The 
 road had some bunks made and put 
 on some fiat cars and they worked 
 very successfully until it came to 
 logging on steep grades where they 
 could not get power enough to get 
 
the empty cars into the woods. 
 Then it was they commenced to look 
 for something that could be used for 
 hauling logs without having so 
 much dead weight. About this time 
 the road condemned a lot of old 
 cars, and they had the truck frames 
 left. These truck frames were not 
 considered safe to run under cars, 
 so they went to work and took them 
 to the shop and put draw bars on 
 them with bunks, and the result was 
 a log truck about such as is used on 
 the lumber roads today all over the 
 country. Later brakes were added 
 and other improvements made so 
 that the log truck formed an im¬ 
 portant part of the road equipment 
 for many years after. 
 
 0 
 
 In the ’ 8 O 3 important changes 
 came to the old road, and a few 
 years later it passed out of exist¬ 
 ence. After Mr. Lyons died, his 
 mercantile partner in Boston, Mr. 
 Vose, was appointed president of the 
 road. Mr. Vose had no experience 
 whatever in railroading and did not 
 like it. Soon after Mr. Dodge’s 
 death the Boston & Lowell road 
 made the B., C. & M., directors an 
 offer to lease the Boston, Concord & 
 Montreal, and this offer the directors 
 accepted, and the Boston & Lowell 
 took possession of the B., C. & M. 
 road in 1884. It was run as the 
 White Mountain division of the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell road until 1889, when 
 the Concord railroad, having se¬ 
 cured a majority of the B., C. & M., 
 stock, broke the lease and brought 
 about a consolidation of the B., C. & 
 M. road, and the Concord road under 
 the name of the Concord & Mon¬ 
 treal Railroad. 
 
 The Concord & Montreal operated 
 the road until 1895, when it was 
 leased to the Boston & Maine, and 
 has since been run as the White 
 Mountain division of the Boston & 
 Maine. 
 
 RALPH ADAMS, 
 
 Master Mechanic forty years ago. and ai 
 
 Chester S. Carpenter, now retired 
 and residing at Littleton is an old 
 time railroad man. He was born 
 and raised on a farm in the town of 
 Bath, N. IT., and went to work for 
 the old road in 1866, when he was 21 
 years of age, and put in 47 years at 
 it. He went down to Plymouth one 
 day “from his father’s farm, fresh 
 from the stump and green as a 
 gourd” as he puts it, and got a job 
 braking. He never before that day 
 had climbed the ladder of a box car 
 and scarcely knew a pin from a 
 link. He was instructed to take a 
 freight for Woodsville with Frank 
 Butler, conductor. He made the 
 trip to Woodsville without mishap 
 so the return trip to Lake 
 
71 
 
 Village, the terminal of the run. 
 On arriving at Lake Village that 
 night he was ordered to Northfield 
 with an extra. He didn’t know the 
 road or not even a signal that morn¬ 
 ing. He went on to Northfield and 
 returned with the engine. Thus 
 ended his first day of railroading. 
 
 CHESTER S. CARPENTER. 
 
 Prom then on he actually grew up 
 with the road. He put in seventeen 
 years as brakeman and spare con¬ 
 ductor most of the time on the 
 Mountain road; later he was con¬ 
 ductor for ten successive years be¬ 
 tween Woodsville and Lancaster, af¬ 
 ter returning from Lancaster he 
 would make up a train and start for 
 Concord most of the time without a 
 brakeman, the fireman of the train 
 
 assisting as brakeman. He was in¬ 
 jured at Wing Road which laid him 
 up for four years, after which he 
 run the stock train two years and 
 then went to firing in 1886. In 1890 
 he was promoted to engineer in 
 which capacity he worked up to the 
 time he retired six years ago, most 
 of the time his run being on the 
 branch between Wing Road and 
 Fabyans. “Chet” Carpenter was 
 never in a wreck caused by his own 
 carelessness for he was a careful 
 driver and retired six years ago 
 with forty-seven years of faithful 
 railroad service to his credit. 
 
 The men who helped to make 
 railroad history in the old B., C. & 
 M., days forty-five years ago, and 
 from then down to the time the old 
 road passed out of existence, learned 
 to love and respect William D. Sar¬ 
 gent,. “Dye” Sargent was born May 
 18, 1838, in Loudon, N. H. His 
 school years were spent in the pub¬ 
 lic schools of his native town. At 
 the age of seventeen he began to 
 fight life’s battle in earnest, ac¬ 
 cepting a situation on the old Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord & Montreal. “Dye” 
 Sargent had no false pride, and was 
 rot ashamed to begin at the bottom 
 of the ladder, knowing full well that 
 efficient service meant sure promo¬ 
 tion. For thirty years he was con¬ 
 nected with the road as a trainman, 
 being an engineer twenty-four years 
 of that time. In 1885 he was ap¬ 
 pointed foreman of the shops and 
 engine house at Woodsville. He 
 characterized his connection with 
 the railroad by careful, intelligent, 
 and thorough work in whatever line 
 he was engaged. He was a Demo¬ 
 crat in politics. Socially he was a 
 member of the Mount Lebanon 
 lodge. No. 32, F. & A. M. 
 
 Lawrence K. Ford was employed 
 on the B., C. & M., and is one of the 
 present day passenger conductors 
 
72 
 
 on the Boston & Maine, residing at 
 Woods ville. He was horn May 19, 
 1857, in Lyman, N. H., where he at¬ 
 tended school and worked as brake- 
 man during his summer vacations. 
 He was faithful and efficient in the 
 employ of the road and was soon ad¬ 
 vanced to the position of freight 
 conductor, and then, to that of bag¬ 
 gage master. For two years and a 
 half he worked a farm, but went 
 back to the road in 1880, acting as 
 brakeman a year, freight conductor 
 five years and since then has been a 
 passenger conductor. He is a mem¬ 
 ber of Kane Lodge, F., A. & M., No. 
 64; Franklin Chapter, No. 5; Omega 
 Council, No. 9; St. Girard Comman- 
 dery K. T.; (Edw. A. Raymond Con¬ 
 sistory. Also a member of Order of 
 Railway Conductors. 
 
 I would not feel I was doing jus¬ 
 tice to this railroad article if I 
 failed to mention Enoch C. Dearth, 
 who was born in Bath, in 1864. 
 Enoch Dearth was a particular 
 friend of mine. He was a good 
 railroad man and respected by every 
 man on the system. He was twen¬ 
 ty-two years old when he started 
 work for the old road. He used to 
 run as freight brakeman between 
 Concord and Woodsville winters and 
 baggage master in the summer 
 months; this he continued for four 
 years when he was appointed con¬ 
 ductor of one of the freights on the 
 main line. I often used to hear him 
 spoken of as: “Enoch is the salt of 
 the earth”. That was very true. 
 He died three years ago at his home 
 in Bath. 
 
 George A. Dimond was another B. 
 C. & M. man. He was born in Dor¬ 
 chester, N. H. He started as fire¬ 
 man and was in due time advanced 
 to engineer. He was on a passen¬ 
 ger run one season, but much pre¬ 
 ferred the freight service. 
 
 Almon G. Webster, a present day 
 engineer, learned railroading on the 
 old road. “Al” Webster was born in 
 Franklin, N. H., August 6, 1863. 
 
 His father was Orris D. Webster. 
 Young Webster was reared in 
 Franklin and secured a good edu- 
 there in the common schools 
 
 ALMON G. WEBSTER, 
 
 B., C. & M. man and present day 
 Boston & Maine engineer. 
 
 and in the high school; when he 
 was sixteen he clerked in a store for 
 about a year, when he began his con¬ 
 nection with the B., C. & M., becom¬ 
 ing fireman. For five years he faith¬ 
 fully discharged the duties of his 
 position and was rewarded for his 
 general good conduct and efficient 
 work by being promoted to the po- 
 
sition of engineer in 1885; since 
 that time he has faithfully dis¬ 
 charged his duties on the three sys¬ 
 tems and at the present day, like 
 many other good men who have 
 gone out from Franklin, taken their 
 
 gan life as fireman. Six years of 
 faithful service won for him a loco¬ 
 motive to run, and during the re¬ 
 mainder of his natural life he was 
 one of the faithful railroad men. 
 
 places in the world, an honor to 
 themselves, the home town of the 
 Great Statesman and helped to make 
 conditions better, is giving to the 
 world the best there is in him. 
 
 The last work ever done by Wil¬ 
 bur C. Stearns of Plymouth, was as 
 claim agent for the Boston & Maine 
 Railroad. “Web” Stearns was born 
 at Danville, Vt., in 1821. He was 
 educated in the public schools of his 
 home town. At the age of thirteen 
 he began to support himself and to 
 assist his mother in maintaining the 
 family. Young as he was then, he 
 commenced to drive a stage between 
 Danville and Barton, Vt., a drive of 
 twenty-five miles; he kept this up 
 during the summer, and attended 
 school the following winter. He al¬ 
 so learned the trade of harness 
 maker, and could make a good harn¬ 
 ess even at that age. For a few 
 years before he had entirely relin¬ 
 quished the whip and reins, he was 
 employed by the B., C. & M., as 
 tracer of cars and lost freight. 
 When he discontinued staging, he 
 still remained with the railroad in 
 that capacity, which he held until 
 the change # in management, after 
 which he * became special claim 
 agent. He lived in Plymouth thirty- 
 five years or more. 
 
 Forty-Seven Years in Railroad 
 Service and a present-day driver. 
 
 FRED S. WHITING 
 
 There was a washout at Went¬ 
 worth in the fall of 1858 which cost 
 the road $541.72 according to the 
 director’s report. 
 
 Most of the older men on the road 
 today remember Joe Chesman, en¬ 
 gineer who died suddenly in the 
 prime of life not many years since. 
 When sixteen years old Joe was 
 thrown on his own resources and be¬ 
 
 Charles L. Cummings, (present 
 day engineer) was born in the vil¬ 
 lage of “Woodville”, Sept. 22, 1858. 
 Charles L. Cummings is one of eight 
 of the old-time engineers running 
 today, and is a brother of Ex-Supt. 
 G. E. Cummings. Charles Cum¬ 
 mings spent his early years until 
 the age of fourteen in the schools of 
 
74 
 
 x 
 
 Woodsville and at the age of fifteen, 
 when he made his first trip as a 
 fireman on an engine, 61 years ago. 
 He had worked about the round¬ 
 house a year and a half before this, 
 familiarizing himself with machin¬ 
 ery. He served as fireman about 
 seven years, when he was given his 
 present position as engineer. Al¬ 
 though rather young for so import¬ 
 ant a position, he has shown by his 
 steady, careful work that he was 
 fully capable of filling the position. 
 
 Sadness and gloom prevailed 
 among the railroad men one summer 
 day four years ago when came the 
 sad news announcing the death of 
 “Herb” Gale at Old Orchard, Me. 
 He was in poor health and passing 
 a few weeks at the sea shore en¬ 
 deavoring to regain his normal con¬ 
 dition that he might resume his run 
 on the Berlin freight, a position he 
 had faithfully held for more than 
 sixteen years. Elsewhere in this 
 book the name of “Herb” Gale is 
 mentioned, and people in the north 
 country would never tire of reading 
 about such a man as he was. 
 
 Herbert Clinton Gale was born at 
 North Haverhill, Nov. 22, 1858; he 
 was the son of Charles A. and Laura 
 G. (Wetherbee) Gale, and grandson 
 of Daniel Gale, Jr. Daniel Gale, Jr., 
 was a son of Daniel Gale, Sr., who 
 was an expert blacksmith, and 
 served in that capacity in the War 
 of the Revolution; it is said of him 
 that he once shod Gen. Washington’s 
 horse; whenever the matter was 
 brought up he would never fail to re¬ 
 mark jocosely that he put a silver 
 nail into the shoe. 
 
 Herbert C. Gale lived all the years 
 of his minority at North Haverhill, 
 leaving there in 1880 for Grand Rap¬ 
 ids, Mich., where he took a position 
 on the Chicago & West Michigan R. 
 R., running from Grand Rapids to 
 La Cross, Ind. After four years in 
 the west, in which time he became 
 
 thoroughly acquainted with railroad 
 work, he returned to Haverhill and 
 secured a situation with the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal, as brakeman. 
 He held this job fourteen months 
 and was then made yard master for 
 a year and then advanced to freight 
 conductor between Woodsville and 
 Concord, later being transferred to 
 the Mountain road where he run one 
 of the Berlin freights for more than 
 sixteen years. In June 1886 at East 
 Haverhill, he married Miss Minnie 
 Merrill, daughter of the late Simeon 
 T. Merrill. This union resulted in 
 three children, Morris M., Lynn A., 
 and Errol C. 
 
 In conversation with Nelson Hea- 
 cock of Rumney, who was section 
 foreman at the time of the washout 
 at Wentworth 42 years ago when the 
 Franconia and Moosilauke were 
 smashed and John Marsh went down 
 the swift current, saving himself by 
 clutching some alder bushes, Hea- 
 cock tells us Uncle John said his lo¬ 
 comotive as she plunged into the 
 water sent forth excruciating groans 
 like a dying horse would. He said 
 after the wreck Marsh was given an 
 easier job on a gravel train between 
 Warren Summit and Lake Village. 
 
 Another of the old section men 
 was Riley Avery of Rumney. An 
 amusing story is told of him when 
 he attended school. The school was 
 kept in an old building heated by a 
 fireplace and between the hearth 
 brick and the floor the rats had at 
 some time made a hole. As a pun¬ 
 ishment for using profane language 
 in school the teacher sentenced Ri¬ 
 ley to sit astride of this rat hole un¬ 
 til he should see a rat come through. 
 After some time as chance would 
 have it a rat made his appearance 
 and no sooner was he out of the 
 hole than the boy grabbed him and 
 jumping to his feet rushed in the 
 teacher’s direction, yelling and 
 
75 
 
 swinging the rat. The teacher’s in¬ 
 dignation can be imagined when you 
 realize that the boy had to take his 
 meals standing for about a week af¬ 
 ter. 
 
 FERNANDO C. GALE. 
 
 A present day engineer who 
 learned railroading on the old road 
 is Fernando C. Gale. Young Gale 
 was born in Haverhill, May 26, 
 1858. He finished his education at 
 the oild Newbury Academy at the age 
 of eighteen, and went to work in his 
 father’s blacksmith shop and until 
 he became of age, when he bought a 
 small farm which he worked in con¬ 
 nection with his trade. In 1880 he 
 went to work for the railroad in the 
 shops at Woodsville, where he work¬ 
 ed a year and then became fireman; 
 he fired on the road four years, when 
 
 he received orders to take charge of 
 an engine and has had his hand on 
 the throttle ever since. 
 
 Moody C. Mars ton was bom in 
 Haverhill, Aug. 10, 1840. He was on 
 his father’s farm for a few years, 
 went through the Civil War, came 
 back, learned the shoemaker’s trade 
 at Lynn, Mass., engaged in the 
 wheelwright business at Haverhill, 
 selling out and going to work for 
 the B., C. & M., as watchman, grad¬ 
 ually working his way up to con¬ 
 ductor, retaining that position until 
 1882. He run the stock train a 
 number of years, after which he 
 went to farming again. 
 
 Fred P. Dearth, a popular insur¬ 
 ance man at Woodsville was in his 
 younger days a railroad man. For 
 seven years he was with the old 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal. 
 
 Back in February 1880 there came 
 down from Sutton, in the Province 
 of Quebec, a 19 year old lad, Chas. 
 Nelson Davison and secured a job 
 firing an old wood burner, and two 
 years later took charge of an engine, 
 running passenger trains summers 
 and freights winters between Woods¬ 
 ville and Fabyans. Mr. Davison has 
 since retired from railroad service 
 and is engaged in the bakery busi¬ 
 ness at Woodsville. , 
 
 Carroll Gillett was another old- 
 time section man at Rumney. Dur¬ 
 ing the Rebellion he was an express 
 messenger in the south. Behind the 
 lines on this side I suppose, as he 
 was a pensioner until his death, 
 about a year and a half ago. His 
 son Claude Gillett was also a rail¬ 
 road man, (fireman) in the west and 
 was scalded in a wreck in a snow- 
 slide about a year ago. He died a 
 
76 
 
 few days after and the body was 
 brought east and buried in -the fam¬ 
 ily lot at Rumney. 
 
 r I have before me about a dozen 
 trip passes issued to my father who 
 was an employee of the old road. 
 One is from Littleton to Concord on 
 account of Engine Department; is 
 signed by J. A. Dodge, Supt., and 
 counter-signed by F. W. C. Whittier. 
 The date is Plymouth, June 20, 1868. 
 Another was issued to my mother a 
 year and a half before I was born. 
 This likewise was signed by Mr. 
 Dodge. Another was given by Bax¬ 
 ter P. Kimball, road master. These 
 passes are filled out on the usual 
 blank forms. I find another Woods- 
 vill-e to Warren Summit, signed by 
 Mr. Dodge, dated Dec. 5, the year be¬ 
 ing omitted and the pass being 
 written on a scrap of ruled letter 
 paper. 
 
 Melvin Clifford of Lakeport, who 
 succeeded Baxter P. Kimball as road 
 master, died suddenly of heart fail¬ 
 ure the latter part of June, 1897. 
 
 Thirty to forty years ago: There 
 was Frank and George (Stub) Robie, 
 (Frank is in the harness today); 
 Byron Gordon run helpers for years. 
 He is still living but quite feeble, 
 making his home with a daughter, 
 Mrs. Freeman Downing at Stinson 
 Lake, Rumney; Manus Perkins was 
 station agent at Weirs before he 
 went into the train service. Then 
 there was Carroll Rinehart, just 
 starting in his railroad career. 
 Rinehart began on the B., C. & M., 
 did his work well and worked up to 
 trainmaster. He died in the prime 
 of life from appendicitis. Henry 
 Hurlbert was a bridge carpenter and 
 known to all the old boys. Bill Cas¬ 
 well was car tracer fifty years ago; 
 then there was Arthur Carr (yet 
 working); James Gale, section fore¬ 
 man at Warren, where he has been 
 
 looking after the right of way for 
 forty-five years. An old engineer 
 was Frank Stevens, who was killed 
 in a wreck at Dickey Cut, Plymouth, 
 after the road passed into the C. & 
 M., hands. A1 Lake was another 
 good man, who nobly did his part in 
 the days of early railroading. He 
 was scalded by a safety plug blow¬ 
 ing out of the boiler near The Weirs 
 during the winter of 1918. 
 
 The annual report of 1856 shows 
 that the road paid for repairing old 
 wornout rails at the rate of 2 y 2 
 cents an inch. John Spaulding was 
 a freight conductor thirty-five years 
 ago. Later he left -the road and en¬ 
 gaged in farming at Whitefield. He 
 also owned a -small steam boat on 
 Burns’ pond near his farm which 
 brought him in a revenue carrying 
 pleasure parties during the summer. 
 Then there was Gib Dow, son of 
 Benjamin Dow, the cattle driver. 
 Ed Pickering, Ed Boiler, Caleb Bur¬ 
 leigh, Ed Dewing; John Aldrich who 
 was killed on Warren Summit thirty- 
 five years ago; Will Grant, Chester 
 Carpenter, A1 Burnham, Sylvester 
 Swett, who sawed wood for years 
 with a portable steam sawing rig; 
 he had a son, Andrew, who is a 
 present day freight conductor. 
 There was Lewis Grant and Charles 
 Corey, fellows connected with -the 
 o-ld road forty years ago, each of 
 whom' did their work well. Herb 
 and Scott Wells who were raised at 
 Center Haverhill, sons of the late 
 Caleb Wells; these boys were good 
 railroad men and seldom received 
 criticism from the “higherups”. 
 Then there were some of the section 
 men worthy of mention such as Ed 
 Glynn, Will Welch, Bill Caswell, 
 Proctor Harris, Harvey Caswell, 
 Will Sturtevant. Myron Browley 
 started railroading in early days on 
 the -old road, later he went into the 
 employ of Raymond & Whitcomb as 
 personal conductor, and has made 
 
many trips across the continent in 
 charge of excursion parties. He 
 proves the right man in the right 
 place and is held in high esteem by 
 his employers as well as those com¬ 
 prising his many personally con¬ 
 ducted parties. A strange coinci¬ 
 dence was when a local tax collec¬ 
 tor attached a locomotive at Warren 
 station for taxes. Fifty years ago 
 the railroad tax yas paid to the col¬ 
 lector in each town the same as an 
 individual tax today. This particu¬ 
 lar year the road had failed to pay 
 its taxes and an attachment was lev¬ 
 ied on an engine attached to a train 
 going through. The train was held 
 up until arrangements could be 
 made with Arthur Knapp to go as 
 receiver for the road. 
 
 Old time freight conductors who 
 have not been mentioned were Bert 
 Colby, Jess and George Peebles, 
 each of whom saw service in the 
 days when railroading was carried 
 on vastly different from today. 
 Then there were William French, 
 station agent for so many years at 
 Norlhfield; Orren Berdean, now 
 eighty-five years olid and passing his 
 declining years at Laconia; Harley 
 Whiting, Ed Buckley and so many 
 others whose names have gone from 
 memory but whose influence yet re¬ 
 mains. 
 
 Mr. Cummings, like many other 
 old time railroad men never tires 
 telling of early days of the old road, 
 and recently wrote as follows: 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 Your articles on the old B., C. & 
 M., are fine and will prove interest¬ 
 ing and instructive to all readers. 
 Has any one mentioned “Peter” 
 Hines, whose correct name was Or- 
 rin? He was a son of Peter Hines, 
 one of the old stage drivers. Young 
 Peter, as he was always called, was 
 a passenger conductor. About 1870 
 he run the train known as the “Shoo 
 
 Fly”, a one-car train with the Moun¬ 
 tain Maid for a locomotive and I 
 broke for him in 1871, leaving Ply¬ 
 mouth for Concord about 5 a. m., and 
 getting back to Plymouth about 11 
 p. m. This was before the Montreal 
 Air Line trains were put on. In the 
 winter of 1871 Peter run the branch 
 train between Wing Road and what 
 is now Bethlehem Junction. I was 
 there with him. Sam Cawley was 
 engineer. Peter soon after left the 
 B., C. & M., and went to wtork for 
 the N. Y., N. H. & H., and died down 
 there some years ago. You gave 
 Mr. Dodge’s age as 75. As I rec¬ 
 ollect it on the plate on his coffin it 
 read, “Born May 1, 1818; died Aug. 
 10, 1883”. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 G. E. CUMMINGS. 
 Woodsville, N. H. 
 
 During the year 1882, thirty- 
 seven years ago, the road was hard 
 hit and unfortunate as to wrecks. 
 In the early spring of that year oc¬ 
 curred a freight wreck at North 
 Haverhilll, an account of which is 
 given elsewhere. May 8, another of 
 the stock train and mail train be¬ 
 tween Ashland and Meredith; and in 
 the fall of that same year a passen¬ 
 ger train wreck in “Dark Hollow”, 
 half a mile below the present rail¬ 
 road yard at Woodsville. I recently 
 came across a newspaper account of 
 the stock train wreck of May 8, 1882, 
 which in part follows: 
 
 “The afternoon mail train north 
 left Concord, at 3:10 in charge of 
 Conductor Thomas Robie. The 
 train consisted of a combination 
 baggage, express and mail car, and 
 two passenger cars, drawn by* the 
 locomotive “Plymouth”, George Pee¬ 
 bles, engineer, and Fred Sargent, 
 fireman. The train proceeded to 
 Tilton, where Conductor Robie re¬ 
 ceived orders from the train dis¬ 
 patcher at Plymouth to meet the 
 down cattle train, in charge of Hen- 
 
78 
 
 ry Mann, conductor, and consisting 
 of twenty-four cars drawn by the lo¬ 
 comotive “Frnconia”, John Quimby 
 engineer, and Burt Dodge, fireman, 
 at Meredith Village. His train pro¬ 
 ceeded to Meredith, and was run up¬ 
 on the side track to await the pass¬ 
 ing of the cattle train. After re¬ 
 maining on the side track about ten 
 minutes, Conductor Robie received 
 orders from the train dispatcher at 
 Plymouth to meet the cattle train 
 and No. 14 passenger train (which 
 was the evening express train) at 
 Plymouth, and thereupon his train 
 was run upon the main track, and 
 proceeded in accordance with in¬ 
 structions. The train made a stop 
 at Fogg’s Station, and proceeding, 
 had reached a point about four and 
 one-half miles above Meredith Vil¬ 
 lage, and three and one-half miles 
 below Ashland, when the cattle train 
 was seen some forty or fifty rods 
 away coming on a down grade. 
 
 “A sudden application of the air 
 brakes was made, and the engineers, 
 firemen, expressman Van Corser, 
 brakeman Fred Jones, and mail 
 agent Charles Wright, all jumped, 
 the speed of the mail train being 
 somewhat slackened. In an instant 
 the two locomotives crashed into 
 each other, and fell on the west side 
 of the track, the boiler of the ‘Fran¬ 
 conia’ being turned nearly three- 
 fourths of the way around to the 
 north, and the boiler of the ‘Ply¬ 
 mouth’ partly around to the south. 
 The two tenders were thrown the 
 east side of the track and piled one 
 upon the other. The baggage, ex¬ 
 press and mail car was broken al¬ 
 most into kindling wood, and three 
 or four cattle cars were thrown off 
 the track on the opposite side from 
 the locomotives. 
 
 “The crash came so suddenly, that 
 Conductor Robie, who was sitting in 
 the first passenger car, and had 
 hardly got upon his feet, after the 
 application of the air brakes, was 
 
 forced some distance down the aisle, 
 but none of the passengers in the 
 two passenger cars were injured. 
 It was soon ascertained that William 
 H. Abel, a hosiery machine manu¬ 
 facturer of Laconia, but who lived in 
 Bridgewater, about two miles from 
 Ashland, and who was sitting in a 
 chair in the baggage car, was killed, 
 he being found wedged inside the 
 baggage car, covered with debris, 
 and his face had the appearance of 
 suffocation. 
 
 “Hiram Jones, of Barre, Vt., who 
 was on board the cattle train with 
 some horses, was found buried un¬ 
 der the bottom tender, only one 
 hand and part of an arm being vis¬ 
 ible, and he was probably instantly 
 killed. Engineer Peebles received a 
 blow on his head, when he jumped, 
 and was considerably stunned, but 
 is not thought to be seriously in¬ 
 jured. Brakeman Jones was lamed 
 somewhat, and also Conductor Ro¬ 
 bie, but both were on duty this 
 morning, as was also Mail Agent 
 Wright, Expressman Corser and 
 Willie Gilman, peddler boy, who es¬ 
 caped without injury. It was a nar¬ 
 row escape for all the train men on 
 both trains. Seven or eight horses 
 were killed outright”. 
 
 The first passenger cars with the 
 monitor top, were built for the old 
 road at Laconia in 1868; there were 
 two combination cars and two coach¬ 
 es. These were followed by two 
 more coaches the next summer with 
 what were known as “French Tops”. 
 I am told that for a long time these 
 good cars were all taken off in the 
 fall, and only flat roof cars were run 
 through the winter. These passen¬ 
 ger cars, like the freight cars were 
 hitched up with pin and link, as 
 that was before the days of air 
 brakes. Back in the 60s there were 
 bell cords which were used only in 
 case of emergency. There was a 
 
79 
 
 signal of some sort that used to 
 slide out on the end of the car for 
 the engineer to stop at flag stations, 
 instead of pulling the bell cord. 
 The first Miller hooks were put on 
 early in the 70s, about ’73 or ’74, and 
 this followed several years later by 
 the air brake with which one of the 
 passenger engines were first equip¬ 
 ped as an experiment, and later all 
 the passenger machines were equip¬ 
 ped with air. Most of the box cars 
 had hand brakes but there were no 
 brakes on the flat cars of the earliest 
 designs. Most of the box cars were 
 28 feet, arid had a capacity of 20,000 
 pounds. The caboose had space in 
 each end for freight, and the con¬ 
 ductor’s room in the center. The 
 conductor’s room was so small that 
 a person could sit on the seat and 
 put his feet on the small box stove. 
 On each end on top of the caboose 
 there was a recess cut into top of 
 the car, and a hood to pull over it, 
 so that in stormy weather when the 
 brakeman rode on top of the caboose 
 he could sit down in this seat and 
 pull the hood over him and be pro¬ 
 tected from the wind and storm. 
 There was no accommodation for 
 sleeping in the caboose. Can you 
 imagine what a freight crew of the 
 present day would say if started out 
 with the equipment given the men 
 of those old days and which was per¬ 
 fectly satisfactory. 
 
 The oil used on the trains for 
 everything except the engine valves 
 was pure lard oil. In the winter it 
 had to be taken out of the barrels 
 and melted in kettles over a fire. 
 For valves tallow was used. 
 
 In the early 70s there were kept 
 at Woodsville three engines over 
 night. The mail train engine, the 
 way freight engine and the helper. 
 When the helper was not “over the 
 hill” it was used about the yard as a 
 shifter. Up to 1882 trains were sel¬ 
 
 dom moved by telegraphic orders. 
 Some attempts at train dispatching 
 were made but in rather a loose 
 way. In 1882 Mr. Stowell assumed 
 charge of the train service; opened 
 a dispatcher’s office at Plymouth, 
 and George Randall was taken from 
 the Central Vermont road and made 
 chief dispatcher. 
 
 The road was opened to Lancaster 
 July 4, 1871, and regular trains were 
 put on from that day. A run in 
 those days was Lancaster to Boston 
 and return. A three-car train was 
 made up with a conductor and one 
 man who acted as brakeman and 
 baggage man, making all the stops 
 by hand to Plymouth. Here another 
 car and brakeman would usually be 
 taken on. From Plymouth the re¬ 
 mainder of the run was somewhat 
 easier. On arriving at Boston the 
 train had to be “shifted” the cars 
 swept, kindling gotten for the wood 
 stoves ready for the start the next 
 morning which was made quite 
 early. The return trip was made in 
 about the same way as the down 
 trip the day before. The train crew 
 of course had to help wood up at in¬ 
 tervals and always keep the fires go¬ 
 ing and cars warm as possible. It 
 was the usual custom for the con¬ 
 ductor, when a passenger train 
 stopped to wood up, to have all those 
 riding on free passes go out and 
 help. By this method often times it 
 was made a “short job” of. The 
 company, to be economical, used to 
 burn Old ties, and every fall the ties 
 were picked up and put into piles 
 along the track where they got some 
 one to saw them up; then trains 
 would stop wherever there were 
 piles of ties and wood up. After¬ 
 wards they built three tie sheds: 
 one at Bridgewater, one at Woods¬ 
 ville and one at Wing Road. As is 
 mentioned elsewhere, Mr. Obediah G. 
 Smith of Plymouth was contracted 
 with to saw the old ties at so much 
 
80 
 
 a cord. Soon as the summer trains 
 were off they would start out a train 
 with ten or a dozen flat cars and 
 twenty-five or thirty men, with 
 hoarding cars, and fill up these 
 sheds, which usually took until snow 
 flew. The crew would stop where- 
 ever night overtook them. Smith 
 would put his sawing machine into 
 the shed and saw up the ties during 
 the winter. Smith was supposed to 
 saw them sixteen inches long, hut 
 they say from the time he cut them 
 until they were put into the fire box 
 they generally grew up to be any¬ 
 where from 24 to 30 inches long. A 
 larger part of these ties in the 
 handling would fall to pieces, and 
 every fall before the sheds were 
 filled they would shovel out a hun¬ 
 dred carlloadsitof chips iand| rotten rub¬ 
 bish. At a director’s meeting one 
 time the matter of using old ties for 
 fuel was brought up. Some thought 
 it was not economical, but the man¬ 
 agement thought it best to keep on 
 using them. One of the directors 
 expressed his opinion that, although 
 the ties would probably make just 
 as much steam as good hard wood, 
 the steam was undoubtedly of poor¬ 
 er quality. They 'later became 
 somewhat enlightened, and the 
 business of picking up old ties was 
 abandoned and they bought hard 
 wood instead. They seemed to 
 have an idea that cord wood was not 
 worth anything until it had laid be¬ 
 side the track for three or four 
 years. 
 
 Soon after the road was built to 
 Sanbornton Bridge and trains began 
 to run regularly between there and 
 Concord, one day Rev. John Cham¬ 
 berlain was at the Northfield sta¬ 
 tion and saw a passenger train com¬ 
 ing; he went into the depot and 
 wrote these lines. Later music was 
 written to them and for many years 
 the hymn was sung at religious 
 gatherings all over New England. 
 
 The verses were entitled “The Gos¬ 
 pel Train” and were as follows: 
 
 The Gospel train is coming, 
 
 I hear it just ait hand, 
 
 I hear the car wheels moving, 
 
 And rumbling through the land; 
 
 I hear the bell and whistle, 
 
 They’re coming ’round the curve, 
 
 She’s playing all her steam and power, 
 And straining every nerve. 
 
 O see the Gospel engine, 
 
 She’s heaving now in sight; 
 
 Her steam valves they are groaning, 
 
 The pressure is so great; 
 
 No signal for another train 
 To follow on the line, 
 
 O sinner, you’re forever lost, 
 
 If once you’re left behind. 
 
 O see the engine banner, 
 
 She’s fluttering in the breeze, 
 
 She’s spangled in the Saviour’s blood. 
 
 But still she floats with ease. 
 
 This is the gospel banner, 
 
 The motto’s new and old; 
 
 Salvation and repentance 
 Are burnished there in gold. 
 
 She’s nearing now the station, 
 
 O sinner, don’t be vain. 
 
 But come and get your ticket, 
 
 And be ready for the train. 
 
 The fare is cheap and all can go, 
 
 The rich, the poor are there; 
 
 No second class on board the train, 
 
 No difference in the fare. 
 
 I think she’ll make a little halt 
 To wood up on the line, 
 
 And give you all a chance to go. 
 
 But yet she’ll make her time. 
 
 She’s coming round the mountain, 
 
 By the rivers and the lake; 
 
 The Saviour, he’s on board the train 
 Controlling steam and brake. 
 
 We soon shall reach the station, 
 
 O how we then shall sing, 
 
 With all the heavenly army, 
 
 We’ll make the welkin ring. 
 
 We’ll shout o’er all oxir sorrows. 
 
 And sing forevermore 
 With Christ and all his army, 
 
 On that celestial shore. 
 
 Early in this article mention is 
 made of a steamboat being built to 
 run on Lake Winnipiseogee, and how 
 the Boston, Concord & Montreal road 
 helped finance the building of the 
 boat that the road’s revenue might be 
 increased by passenger traffic. The 
 boat was built and did service for 
 
81 
 
 forty-five years. April 20, 1894, 
 
 there was published in Warren News 
 an account of the old boat finding 
 her last mooring and she now sleeps 
 in a watery grave beneath the waves 
 over which she sailed for nearly half 
 a century. 
 
 The steamer Lady of the Lake, 
 which for many years has run on 
 Lake Winnipiseogee, is to go out of 
 commission. As soon as the ice is 
 out of the lake she is to be towed to 
 Lakeport, and near the very spot 
 where, forty-five years ago, the hull 
 was laid and the steamer built, she 
 is to find her last mooring. The 
 Winnipiseogee Steamboat Company 
 was organized in that year, their 
 charter dating June 24, 1848. At a 
 meeting held Oct. 25, 1848, Mr. 
 
 Walker presented a model for a boat 
 which was adopted. The boat was 
 121 feet long, with 21 feet beam. 
 William Walker, Jr., and B. J. Cole 
 were authorized to build it, the lum¬ 
 ber used in the construction of the 
 steamer being cut around the lake. 
 The building of the boat began in 
 January 1849, and was finished in 
 time to hold the meeting on board 
 July 20, of that year; William Walk¬ 
 er, Jr., of Concord, was the first 
 captain. Elezur Bickford was the 
 pilot, and succeeded Walker as cap¬ 
 tain after the latter had served some 
 ten or fifteen years. Then followed 
 Winborn A. Sanborn, James Beede of 
 Meredith, S. B. Cole, Captain San¬ 
 born again, and John S. Wadleigh. 
 The Lady ran some twenty years, 
 when a new hull was built at Mere¬ 
 dith. Later on, while lying at her 
 wharf at Wolfboro one night, her 
 hull was burned to the water's edge. 
 At one time, while carrying a moon¬ 
 light excursion, the Lady ran on to 
 a rock near Witch Island, and was 
 run to Davis Island and beached. 
 The loss of the season’s business and 
 repairs rendered necessary by the 
 accident, cost $10,000. No fatal ac¬ 
 cident or drowning of any person 
 
 ever occurred in connection with the 
 steamer. 
 
 Charles F. Carr, railroad bridge 
 carpenter in the employ of the old 
 road during last of its history was 
 well known to all employees. He 
 was a highly respected resident of 
 Woodsville. 
 
 Here is probably the first time ta¬ 
 ble issued by the old road. It was 
 published as a paid advertisement in 
 the New Hampshire Statesman, at 
 Concord, May 19, 1848. 
 
 BOSTON, CONCORD & MONTREAL. 
 Railroad. Opened to Sandbornton. 
 On and after Monday, May 22, 1848, 
 the passenger trains, in connection 
 with the Lowell, Nashua and Con¬ 
 cord railroads, will run as follows, 
 viz: leave Boston for Sandbornton 
 at 7*4 a. m., and 12 M.; leave Sand¬ 
 bornton for Boston at 9 a. m„ and 3 
 p. m.; leave Concord for Sandborn¬ 
 ton at 10 a. m., and 4*4 P- m., or on 
 the arrival of the cars from Boston. 
 
 JAMES N. ELKINS, Agent. 
 May 19, 1848. 
 
 Nathan S. Knight was among the 
 later B., C. & M., men. He was born 
 in Jefferson in 1849, worked for the 
 Brown’s Lumber Company at White- 
 field eight years and then went to 
 the B. C., & M. He started braking 
 for two years, then was baggage 
 master and later way freight con¬ 
 ductor, and then passenger conduc¬ 
 tor. In 1890 he was injured at 
 Northumberland by being caught be¬ 
 tween the saloon car of his train and 
 a cattle-guard, from which he never 
 fully recovered. 
 
82 
 
 Melvin J. Mann, passenger conduc¬ 
 tor between Concord and Woods¬ 
 ville has for the last thirty-six years 
 been in this capacity and his name 
 is familiar to the traveling public. 
 There is not a more cordial conduc¬ 
 tor on the whole system than he. 
 Melvin Mann was born in Benton 
 sixty-three years ago, where he 
 lived until he was one and twenty. 
 He worked on his father’s farm and 
 attended school. For six years be¬ 
 fore he became of age he carried the 
 United States mail between Benton 
 and North Haverhill. At the age of 
 21 he became brakeman on the old 
 B., C. & M., working at that on 
 freights for three years, when he 
 was - made conductor. For three 
 years more he had charge of the 
 freight train, when he was trans¬ 
 ferred to a passenger run in 1883, in 
 which capacity he is still serving. 
 
 George F. Smith was a B., C. & M. 
 man. He started railroading in 1872 
 as brakeman, two years later was 
 made baggage man, which he fol¬ 
 lowed for eight years, when he was 
 promoted to passenger conductor in 
 which capacity he continued for 
 about twenty years, making Woods- 
 ville his home. 
 
 Probably it is not generally known 
 today that J. N. Elkins, the second 
 superintendent of the old road was a 
 conductor on the Concord Railroad 
 before coming to the B., C. & M. 
 The name James N. Elkins is famil¬ 
 iar to many of the older generation 
 of railroad men, for it will be re¬ 
 membered that an inside connected 
 locomotive of early days bore this 
 name and her number was 9. The 
 name was on a large brass plate on 
 each side of the boiler, and later was 
 painted under the cab windows. 
 This engine was for a long time run 
 by that faithful employee, Alfred 
 Drake, better known among his as¬ 
 sociates as “Bogy”. Later George 
 
 Hutchins, his fireman, run the Elk¬ 
 ins on the AVhite Mountain express. 
 Mr. Hutchins’ name has appeared in 
 previous letters, and certainly he is 
 a pioneer in the care and running of 
 an engine in the mountain region. 
 Mr. Elkins, upon his retirement, was 
 succeeded by James M. Whiton, both 
 of whom had, according to records, 
 many sterling qualities worthy of 
 emulation. 
 
 The first superintendent was Peter 
 Clark, who was later succeeded by 
 Mr. Elkins. There was one of the 
 first locomotives bearing the name 
 Peter Clark, a picture of the old ma¬ 
 chine appearing elsewdiere. John 
 Lyon started out as a stable boy, 
 caring for the stage horses at Mere¬ 
 dith Village, and from that he went 
 to work for Jim Beede at the rail¬ 
 road station. He had great confi¬ 
 dence in the B., C. & M., and put 
 time and money into the old road, 
 but later learned more about starch 
 and dry goods than he did railroad¬ 
 ing. 
 
 George Stevens was succeeded by 
 P.alph Adams as master mechanic 
 about 1870. Stevens went west 
 where he died a few years after. 
 Henry Little, the veteran engineer 
 as old age overtook him, was given 
 a flagging job at Ferry street cross¬ 
 ing, Concord. John Davis, another 
 old and faithful engineer retired and 
 died at Woodsville about eighteen 
 years ago. 
 
 Although these dates have been 
 covered in a general way earlier in 
 this article, yet for convenience the 
 following are briefly given with ref¬ 
 erence to the Mountain road. This 
 road was opened from Woodsville to 
 Littleton in 1853 by the White Moun¬ 
 tain Railroad Company. Here funds 
 run out and there were heavy debts. 
 Later the road came into the hands 
 of the Boston, Concord & Montreal, 
 
83 
 
 and in 1869 was opened to Wing 
 Road. The following summer the 
 road was opened to Whitefield, 
 which was the terminal until Octo¬ 
 ber 1870 when it went to Lancaster 
 where the first train was run July 4, 
 1871. The branch was opened to 
 Eethlehem Junction in 1872, to Faby- 
 ans in 1S74, and to the Base of Mt. 
 Washington in 1876. I recollect 
 hearing my father tell of helping 
 build the extension from Lancaster 
 to Groveton in 1S73, connecting with 
 the Grand Trunk. The Pemigewas- 
 
 moved to Woodsville. Mr. William 
 A. Stiwell came over from the Mont¬ 
 pelier & Wells River road as super¬ 
 intendent to succeed Mr. Dodge. 
 
 For years the Peter Clark run be¬ 
 tween Littleton and Woodsvilie with 
 the trusty left arm of Isaac Sanborn 
 cm the throttle. They say the “Peter” 
 did all the work on the mountain 
 road for years, coming down in the 
 morning on the passenger train; go¬ 
 ing back with a freight, back down 
 to Woodsville bringing freight, and 
 
 TILTON FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. 
 
 set Valley road was built in 1883. 
 
 Along about 1856 the road got into 
 financial difficulties and the directors 
 wanted J. T. Coffin to take charge of 
 affairs which he did at their request. 
 Mr. Dodge took charge as superin¬ 
 tendent in 1858. He served in this 
 capacity at Plymouth until 1883 when 
 he retired on account of failing 
 health. Socvi after Mr. Dodge’s 
 death the railroad headquarters were 
 
 up with the mail at night. West 
 Lyons for a long time was Sanborn’s 
 fireman. Later Lyons was promoted 
 and made good as an engineer. 
 Though the “Peter” was the only en¬ 
 gine on the mountain branch San¬ 
 born and Lyon kept her looking spick 
 and span as a new dollar. Ed Cum¬ 
 mings says she run one time more 
 than a year without going to the 
 
 shop. Engineer Lyon in after years 
 went out west and today resides at 
 
84 
 
 Elkhart, Ind. Right here I will tell 
 of a circumstance Mr. Cummings 
 tells with reference to Ike Sanborn 
 finishing work for the road rather 
 than run one of the light engines, 
 the Mountain Maid. At the time 
 Cummings was a “wiper” in the 
 round house at Woodsville, waiting 
 untill he got old enough to go to 
 braking, a job Mr. Dodge promised 
 him soon as he was old enough. He 
 says: Along in the fall of 1869 Mr. 
 Dodge had an idea the business was 
 slack and that the Mountain Maid, a 
 small engine, weighing about twen¬ 
 ty-five tons, could do the work just 
 as well as the “Peter” and he noti¬ 
 fied Ike that he was going to send up 
 the Mountain Maid for him. Ike told 
 Mr. Dodge that if he sent her he 
 might send a man to run her. Mr. 
 Dodge did not believe that Ike would 
 leave, but one night John Davis 
 brought the Mountain Maid up from 
 Lake Village with orders for Ike to 
 take her the next morning, while he 
 would take the “Peter” back to Lake 
 Village. Davis was one of those fel¬ 
 lows who liked to see a little row 
 started up now and then, and he 
 made considerable talk about how 
 Ike would look running the Moun¬ 
 tain Maid. I was watching at the 
 time and he told me a lot of stuff to 
 tell Ike about what to do and what 
 not to do with her, and when Ike 
 came in from Littleton on the mail, 
 we had the Mountain Maid all ready 
 to go back on the freight. I com¬ 
 menced to tell him what Davis had 
 said about running her. He told me 
 to tell Davis and all the rest of them 
 
 to go to -, quite a distance from 
 
 Woodsville. Ike picked up his over¬ 
 alls and frock and everything he had 
 and got on the train as a passenger 
 for Littleton. We telegraphed Ad¬ 
 ams to send a man to run in San¬ 
 born’s place, and John Davis was the 
 man sent up. I told John all the 
 points of the Mountain Maid that he 
 told me to tell Sanborn, and a mad¬ 
 
 der man never left a station on an 
 engine than Davis on the Mountain 
 Maid. Ike was a particular friend 
 of Superintendent Chamberlin’s, hav¬ 
 ing known him at Littleton, and he 
 was soon provided with a job on the 
 Concord road, where he run for 
 many years, was later made round 
 house foreman at Concord, and died 
 in Concord in 1886, thirty-three 
 years ago. 
 
 Sid Russ, an old time stage driver 
 and later conductor who has been 
 mentioned several times elsewhere, 
 had outside business enough so that 
 he got rich and retired, and died in 
 Concord about 33 years ago. 
 
 Up to about 1872 Uncle Seth 
 Greenleaf run as conductor of pas¬ 
 senger trains more or less. Later 
 he was ticket agent at one of the 
 mountain houses and died about the 
 year 1880. George (Little was an¬ 
 other B. C., & M., man who left the 
 road and went into the mail service. 
 He lived and died at Plymouth. Like 
 every possessor of the name Little, 
 he was a good man. Then there was 
 John Colby, for years section fore¬ 
 man at North Concord; Uncle Eben 
 Hutchins, who I recollect in his last 
 days of actual railroad work as flag¬ 
 man at a crossing at Laconia. He 
 and his good wife were for years 
 regular attendants at the Alton Bay 
 camp meetings. 
 
 Many of the older men today will 
 remember T. P. Woodman, an early 
 agent at Holderness. For years he 
 was expressman at Ashland and in 
 his declining years, after he had re¬ 
 tired could not get out of the habit 
 of going to the depot. Henry Ram¬ 
 sey whose name has not yet been 
 mentioned; he used to be station 
 agent at Woodsville, and later went 
 out west where bte died. H. E. 
 Chamberlin was the first station 
 agent at Littleton. Another man 
 
who has been u;p to this time over¬ 
 looked is Dexter Hawkins, who used 
 to be a section man at Bath. He la¬ 
 ter became connected with E. B. 
 Mann & Co., druggists, Woodsville. 
 
 Mention has been made of several 
 fatalities of early times. No attempt 
 is made to record them all, but there 
 was one at Rum Hill bridge many 
 years ago when George Ramsey was 
 killed by striking a telegraph pole. 
 He was freight conductor at the time 
 and going on top of his train he 
 swung out too' far and the pole 
 struck him in the head and broke his 
 skull. E. P. Fisher, who was bag¬ 
 gage master through to Boston, was 
 killed at Amoskeag by being thrown 
 from the forward end of his baggage 
 car underneath the wheels. Only 
 until the last thirty years were con¬ 
 ductors or other trainmen uniformed. 
 In the old days the conductors or 
 brakemen wore no uniform or badge 
 indicating who they were. They 
 wore any clothes they saw fit and 
 any kind of a hat or cap. Everyone 
 along the line was expected to know 
 who the conductor was, and the con¬ 
 ductor usually took pains to have 
 everybody know who was in charge. 
 In fact the old conductors did just 
 about as they pleased, and did not 
 allow any one to dictate to them 
 very much. They ran the train as 
 though they owned the road; and, in 
 some cases, they did literally become 
 possessors of much of it. 
 
 The passenger cars would haul 
 freight cars behind their trains to be 
 left at points on the main line for 
 loading. They would wait at sta¬ 
 tions for passengers to do a little 
 business. Passengers could pur¬ 
 chase a ticket or pay on the oars 
 just as they chose. There was no 
 bothering with rebate slips. There 
 were no train orders. The train first 
 arriving would wait for the other, 
 except in cases where they were 
 specified in the time table to wait 
 
 five, ten or fifteen minutes and then 
 proceed. The first regular conduc¬ 
 tor on the B., C. & M., road was Ja¬ 
 cob Libbey, who graduated from a 
 coach in stage times to run as a 
 railroad conductor, without previous 
 exerienee to any extent. After him 
 came Sid Russ, Seth Greenleaf. La¬ 
 ter there was Tom Robie, who run 
 the train for years known as Robie’s 
 train. This train at the present day 
 is known as the paper train. Later 
 George Eastman took the train and 
 the public knew it as Eastman’s 
 train. In the early times Patch 
 Clifford was engineer along with 
 Tom Robie, and the name of the 
 train was about equally divided be¬ 
 ing called by some Patch’s train and 
 others Robie’s train. Seth Green- 
 leaf at one time was worth consid¬ 
 erable money but invested it in a 
 gold mining scheme at Lisbon and 
 lost it all. Tom Robie in later years 
 run the trains between the Fabyans 
 and Base of Mt. Washington sum¬ 
 mers and looked after the logging 
 business in the winter. He died at 
 his home in Plymouth in 1893. 
 
 The B., C. & M., owned and opera¬ 
 ted stage lines from Littleton to the 
 White Mountains and Plymouth up 
 the valley to the Profile and a num¬ 
 ber of their stage drivers later be¬ 
 came passenger conductors, as I 
 have already mentioned. 
 
 Several old timers not yet men¬ 
 tioned were, first, Eddy Petties, who 
 jumped from freight conductor to 
 passenger conductor;; Ed Fisher 
 and Bill Rawlins who run baggage 
 cars between Boston and Plymouth, 
 and later were conductors between 
 Plymouth and Littleton. I can re¬ 
 member when my father was fore¬ 
 man of the section between Warren 
 Summit and East Haverhill back in 
 the early 7(Ps. His section started 
 about midway of the “cut” near top 
 of the hill and extended to a point 
 
J 
 
 86 
 
 about a mile south of East Haverhill 
 station. For years the section men 
 would have to get up at 3 o’clock in 
 the morning and walk down over the 
 five miles of road before the way 
 freight which left Woodsville about 
 5 in the morning. There were three 
 men in the section crew and each 
 man took his “turn” over the road, 
 summer and winter, returning on the 
 way freight usually about 6 o’clock 
 in the morning. My father contin¬ 
 ued as foreman of the section gang 
 for a number of years and was later 
 made station agent, which position 
 he held for more than twenty years. 
 About the year 1853 there were about 
 five trains passing over Wells River 
 bridge daily, and Mr. Dodge got a no¬ 
 tion that it would be well for some¬ 
 one to go over the bridge after each 
 train, to look for fire, and the road 
 paid Ed Cummings $8 for doing this 
 one summer. Later this same lad 
 became superintendent of the road. 
 His father was section foremtn of 
 the North Haverhill section of the 
 road that summer. 
 
 Without the mention of the name 
 of Frank Titus this little history 
 would be like the play of Hamlet, 
 with Hamlet left out. Frank Titus 
 is a resent day passenger conductor 
 who started railroading along tow¬ 
 ards the last of the old B., C. & M. 
 days. Like most of the boys he put 
 in his usual number of years in the 
 freight service, a baggage car and so 
 up the line, and for years has been 
 in charge of one of the through 
 trains between Newport and Boston. 
 He has grown gray in the service 
 and is an efficient employee. He got 
 his start with the old road. 
 
 At the depots along the road the 
 first platforms were built about on 
 a level with the bottom of the bag¬ 
 gage car doors and proved more or 
 less dangerous owing to people fal¬ 
 ling between the trains and plat¬ 
 
 form. In the early ’80’s the legisla¬ 
 ture passed a resolution that all 
 passenger station platforms in New 
 Hampshire should be lowered ap¬ 
 proximately to a level with the 
 ground within a certain period of 
 months. The old “bunter” or 
 “bumpers” on all freight cars were 
 done away with by an act of the 
 United States congress; likewise all 
 cars had to be equipped with air 
 brakes; the side ladders on saloon 
 cars were eliminated in a like man¬ 
 ner as time went on. 
 
 On page 59 appears the names of 
 the superintendents of the road and 
 I regret the omission of the name of 
 William A. Stowell from the list. 
 Mr. Stowell came to the old road 
 from the M. & W. R. R. R., in 1882, 
 and brought with him George E. 
 Randall, who had been train dis¬ 
 patcher on the C. V. R. R., who was 
 made train dispatcher. Mr. Dodge 
 went to California in 1883 for his 
 health and Mr. Stowell became su¬ 
 perintendent between Concord and 
 Woodsville, and Mr. Corning super¬ 
 intendent north of Woodsville. 
 When the B. & L., took over the road 
 Mr. Corning retired and Mr. Stowell 
 was made superintendent of the en¬ 
 tire time to the interests of the M. & 
 W. R. R. R., as general manager be¬ 
 ing in that position at the time of 
 his last illness. 
 
 The road was opened from Warren 
 to Wells River July 4, 1853 and 
 trains began running regularly the 
 next day. It was just eighteen years 
 after, before the trains run to Lan¬ 
 caster. 
 
 W. H. Mathews, cashier of the 
 Rockwell Corporation, Boston, who 
 are New England distributors of 
 Nash cars and trucks writes me that 
 he saw service on the old B., C. & M. 
 He speaks of Capt. Colby, the 
 Manns, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Stowell 
 
87 
 
 and other men of the old road in its 
 later days. Elmer Gordon is an¬ 
 other B., C. & M. man who later 
 went out west and is now running on 
 the B. & M., with headquarters at 
 Lincoln, Neb. He started braking 
 for Ed Sanborn. 
 
 During my recent research for 
 ancient railroad history I have suc- 
 seedod in coming across seme good 
 matter with reference to how the 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal hap¬ 
 pened to be built, the opposition it 
 encountered, etc., all of which will 
 help to make this history the morrs 
 valuable to say nothing of its in¬ 
 terest. Had this been available at 
 the start it should have gone in the 
 first few pages, but even now it will 
 not lose its va'ue, therefore I will 
 treat the subject briefly. After a 
 railroad had been built from Boston 
 to Concord, for some years it was 
 thought it would not be extended 
 further into the country, and the 
 citizens at Concord were not de¬ 
 sirous it should be, and the ruling 
 political party who had control of 
 the state was opposed to granting 
 any more charters. They took the 
 ground, as I am told, that the state 
 had no constitutional right to take 
 private property to build railroads 
 without the consent of the owners. 
 There was no further action taken 
 for some time, when one evening 
 Henry Stevens of Barnet, Vt., was 
 visiting at the home of Dr. Phineas 
 Spaulding at Haverhill Corner, 
 which was at that time one of the 
 leading villages in this section of the 
 state. It was suggested by some of 
 them that a railroad meeting be got¬ 
 ten up and held in that village. The 
 suggestion was agreed to, some 
 hand-bills gotten Out, the public 
 from far and near was invited and 
 the meeting was fully attended by 
 prominent men from Canada, North¬ 
 ern Vermont and those who were in¬ 
 terested hereabout, together with a 
 
 great many from all parts of Graf¬ 
 ton county. The subject of building 
 a railroad from Concord to Mon¬ 
 treal was fully discussed and a com¬ 
 mittee chosen to obtain subscribers 
 or signers to a petition to the legis¬ 
 lature for a charter for a road from 
 Concord to Wells River or any point 
 where the corporation chose to cross 
 the Connecticut river. Dr. Spauld¬ 
 ing of Haverhill was chosen to ap¬ 
 point some efficient man in every 
 town in Grafton county to obtain pe¬ 
 titioners to the legislature for such 
 a grant. They say such a formid¬ 
 able array of names availed the Gen¬ 
 eral Court so that they granted a 
 liberal charter, an account of which 
 appears in part in the first of this 
 article. The corporation next issued 
 subscription papers for the stock 
 and commenced the survey of the 
 road. A meeting was held at Ply¬ 
 mouth and largely attended. The 
 people from Canada and on the line 
 of the Passumpsic united with the B., 
 C. & M., instigators with assurance 
 that they would take the road at the 
 crossing of the Connecticut river and 
 build it to Montreal, and claimed it 
 was all one enterprise. Apparently 
 there was perfect confidence be¬ 
 tween the two corporations. When 
 the Boston, Concord & Montreal 
 charter was granted there was an¬ 
 other also granted for a road from 
 Concord to the mouth of White Riv¬ 
 er to unite with the Vermont Cen¬ 
 tral. The stockholders of the two 
 roads saw the advantage they would 
 derive by defeating the building of 
 the B., C. & M., and induced the Pas¬ 
 sumpsic road to unite with them at 
 White R'iver Junction, and pledged 
 seven hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars toward building their road. 
 Here is where the B., C. & M., met 
 with obstacles and had difficult sled¬ 
 ding almost at the start. This bid 
 induced the Passumpsic to leave the 
 B., C. & M., and unite their interests 
 with these roads, and throw every 
 
1 
 
 88 
 
 obstacle in the way of building this 
 road possible. Almost all the in¬ 
 fluence and a lot of money was 
 against the B., C. & M., at that time. 
 
 A bitter controversy was in the mean¬ 
 time going on between the several 
 proposed roads. An offer was Anally 
 made that if the people in this sec¬ 
 tion of Grafton county would with¬ 
 draw from the proposed B., C. & M., 
 that a junction might be formed at 
 Canaan and a road go up on the New 
 Hampshire side of the river to Wells 
 River and there join with the Pas- 
 sumpsic. They thought New Hamp¬ 
 shire people and the influence of 
 Haverhill, the county seat, would 
 “bite” because of the possible gain, 
 and would join in the proposition. 
 This would have brought the depot 
 at Haverhill Corner, then the very 
 center of the village, and when the 
 Montreal should be built the junction 
 would have been at Haverhill also. 
 The argument was further put up 
 that if a road to Montpelier was ever 
 built it would go from Haverhill to 
 Bradford, Vt., up Wait’s river, 
 thence on to the Vermont Capitol. 
 Finally the B., C. & M., road was 
 built by the issuing of bonds and 
 preferred stock, the road being mort¬ 
 gaged to secure the payment of the 
 bonds. Work of building the road 
 from Concord to Woodsville was 
 started and rushed as fast as was 
 possible, as is told in the preceding 
 pages of this article. 
 
 I recently came across some good 
 history with reference to the old 
 road back in 1846, 1848 and 1849. 
 Several of these items appeared in 
 the Meredith Bridge Gazette, and 
 were reprinted in the New Hamp¬ 
 shire Statesman of Concord the fol¬ 
 lowing week. One article deals with 
 breaking ground for the road, an¬ 
 other tells of the trial trip over the 
 road from Concord to Sanbornton 
 Bridge (Tilton), another gives re¬ 
 ceipts of the road for the month of 
 August 1849, and number of passen¬ 
 
 gers carried. The last is of a shock¬ 
 ing accident which happened to one 
 of the B., C. & M. men in Boston, all 
 of which will add materially to the 
 interest of this work. 
 
 From the New Hampshire States¬ 
 man of February 13,' 1846. From the 
 Meredith Bridge Gazette, (Meredith 
 Bridge is now Laconia). 
 
 The Railroad—Breaking Ground. 
 
 On Thursday last, the occasion of 
 “breaking ground” on the Boston, 
 Concord, and Montreal Railroad was 
 celebrated in a style, and with a 
 spirit highly satisfactory to the 
 friends of the enterprise. In the 
 morning a salute was fired at Sand- 
 bornton Bridge, Union Bridge, Mere¬ 
 dith Bridge and Lake Village. At 10 
 o’clock a procession was formed in 
 this village, in stages, sleighs, etc., 
 which proceeded to Union Brdge, six 
 miles down the river. There we 
 were met by a like procession from 
 Sandbornton Bridge, etc., and a 
 crowd of people, who had assembled 
 to witness the ceremonies, who 
 cheered the procession most heartily 
 on its arrival. The whole company 
 then formed in procession and 
 marched with music to the place ap¬ 
 pointed for breaking ground, on the 
 swell of land upon the Gilmanton 
 side of the Winnipisogee river. 
 There Mr. Lyford, in the absence of 
 the President of the corporation, 
 made a short and very pertinent ad¬ 
 dress, alluding to the magnitude - of 
 the undertaking, its importance to 
 the central and northern parts of 
 New Hampshire, its present pros¬ 
 pects and some of the results which 
 are to be anticipated from its com¬ 
 pletion. Mr. Lyford was particular¬ 
 ly happy in his remarks; and was 
 most enthusiastically cheered by the 
 immense crowd of people assembled. 
 When he and Mr. Clement threw out 
 the first shovel of earth, the cheering 
 was immense. Minute guns were 
 fired on the hill in the vicinity dur¬ 
 ing the whole ceremony. It was 
 
89 
 
 judged by many that there were 
 three thousand people present. The 
 procession then returned to the vil¬ 
 lage at Union Bridge, formed in a 
 line and returned to this village, 
 passing through cur principal 
 streets; being greeted by the firing 
 of cannon, ringing of bells, and every 
 demonstration of joy that the occas¬ 
 ion was calculated to elicit. As to 
 the numbers who were present we 
 have no means of knowing; but we 
 know this—there were a great many 
 folks, “a mile of procession”, “a 
 world of people We have no doubt 
 there were more than 3,000 out on 
 the occasion at the different points 
 although there had been only two 
 days’ notice. 
 
 After this a “meeting house full” 
 of people assembled at the Univer- 
 salist Church, in this village, when 
 Hon. Samuel Tilton of Sandbornton, 
 was called to the chair, and Mr. 
 Ward of Plymouth appointed Secre¬ 
 tary. (The Gazette here gives a 
 sketch of the addresses of Messrs. 
 Stevens of Meredith Village; Low 
 and Robinson of this town; Lyford of 
 Meredith and Clement of Sandborn¬ 
 ton and then proceeds) :the meeting 
 was dissolved at about three o’clock, 
 after which about two hundred gen¬ 
 tlemen partook of a most excellent 
 dinner provided by Mr. Tilton at the 
 Winnipisiogea Hall. After dinner 
 many sentiments were given, and 
 short addresses made, which were 
 most enthusiastically responded to 
 by the company, but which we are 
 obliged to omit. On the whole it 
 was a grand affair, nothing occurred 
 to mar the pleasures of the day; 
 but every thing conspired to give 
 new courage and fresh vigor in the 
 great undertaking. 
 
 (Note. The date of this is evi¬ 
 dently Thursday, February 5, 1846). 
 
 From the New Hampshire States¬ 
 man of May 12, 1848. 
 
 Boston, Concord & Montreal R. R. 
 
 Experimental Trip. 
 
 An experimental trip over that 
 section of the Boston, Concord and 
 Montreal Railroad, lying between 
 this town and Sandbornton Bridge, 
 (18 miles) together with the annual 
 meeting of stockholders in the road, 
 took place on Wednesday last. A 
 train of four cars left Concord in the 
 morning for Sandbornton, and re¬ 
 turned at 10 o’clock a. m., laden with 
 a great number of people residing 
 upon the line of road now in opera¬ 
 tion and others from towns beyond 
 Sandbornton and onward to Haver¬ 
 hill. On the arrival of the morning 
 train from Boston, a multitude of 
 people from below, together with a 
 large body of those residing in Con¬ 
 cord, were accommodated with seats 
 filling in all ten spacious cars, which 
 were drawn over the road by the 
 powerful engine, “Old Man of the 
 Mountain” and the whole company 
 safely set down at the flourishing 
 village of Sandbornton Bridge at 12 
 o’clock under the roar of cannon and 
 the congratulations of a concourse of 
 people from towns in Merrimack and 
 Belknap counties. 
 
 The long and heavily laden train 
 of cars passed over the road six 
 times in the course of Wednesday 
 with no accident whatever. They 
 were in charge of Jas. N. Elkins, the 
 active and gentlemanly agent of the 
 road, and known by multitudes as 
 one of the conductors on the Concord 
 road from the commencement of its 
 operations in 1842 up to his transfer 
 last winter to the office he now holds 
 in the B., C. & B., road. 
 
 The last train down reached the 
 Concord station at 1-4 to 8, evening, 
 the passengers highly pleased with 
 the occurrences of the day. 
 
 (Note. The date of this trip was 
 Wednesday, May 10, 1848). 
 
90 
 
 From the New Hampshire States¬ 
 man of September 28, 1849. 
 
 The receipts on the Boston, Con¬ 
 cord and Montreal railroad for the 
 month of August (1849) alter de¬ 
 ducting the proportions of the lower 
 roads, were $10,273.88. Number of 
 passengers passing over the road 
 during the month, 10,692. 
 
 From the New Hampshire States¬ 
 man of January 25, 1850. 
 
 Shocking Railroad Accident. 
 
 Last Saturday afternoon in Bos¬ 
 ton, as the freight train was being 
 put in readiness to leave the city for 
 this place (Concord), Mr. Cosmo 
 Lund of this town, an active and en¬ 
 ergetic man connected with the 
 freight train on the Boston, Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal railroad, as conduc¬ 
 tor was caught between the “bunt- 
 ers” of two freight cars, while at¬ 
 tempting to fasten them together, 
 and so pressed as to compress his 
 body to the thickness only of three 
 inches, breaking four or five of his 
 ribs, driving one or more of them 
 probably through his lungs; yet he 
 returned home in the evening pas¬ 
 senger train of cars and was able to 
 walk from the carriage into his 
 house, but he died on Monday after¬ 
 noon. He was about 36 years of age 
 and leaves a widow and two chil¬ 
 dren. 
 
 From the New Hampshire States¬ 
 man of July 23, 1847. 
 
 (From the Meredith Bridge Gazette). 
 
 A. Beaman of this place has taken 
 the contract for the grading of the 
 railroad from the lower part of this 
 village to Lake Village about two 
 miles. From Lake Village to Mere¬ 
 dith Village, the grading is to be 
 done by Mr. Ela of Meredith Village. 
 The work upon the ledge near Long 
 Pond, which was commenced some 
 ten days since, is going on very well. 
 This point only nine miles this side 
 of Plymouth, is the one which has 
 
 been regarded by some presenting 
 the heaviest work of any upon the 
 whole line, but it will be much light¬ 
 er than was anticipated. The con¬ 
 tractors upon the railroad between 
 Sandbornton Bridge and this place 
 are on in strong force. Large num¬ 
 bers of Irishmen are busy at work 
 at different points upon the line and 
 the work has assumed an air of 
 briskness which looks encouraging. 
 All these contracts, by their terms, 
 are to be completed by the first of 
 November next. 
 
 FRANK W. JOHNSON 
 
 Frank W. Johnson went, to rail¬ 
 roading on the old B., C. & M., when 
 he was but thirteen years old, ob¬ 
 taining a position in the office at 
 Lake Village. A year later he went 
 to braking and kept it up for four 
 years. At the age of 18, he took 
 
91 
 
 charge of a freight run as conduc¬ 
 tor. In 1883 he was given a passen¬ 
 ger run which he held for many 
 years, and later was placed in 
 charge of the Concord passenger 
 station as local agent. Frank John¬ 
 son’s social qualities were well de¬ 
 veloped, and he was very popular 
 among his fellow employees. To 
 the patrons of the road he was ever 
 the same, obliging, whole-souled and 
 genial in his manner. 
 
 Five years ago there was printed 
 in Warren News a paragraph with 
 reference to Heber W. Hull of Ply¬ 
 mouth and a lantern which he lost 
 in the Sewell’s Falls wreck and re¬ 
 covered after thirty-six years. A 
 few days ago I wrote Mr. Hull ask¬ 
 ing that he give me a few facts with 
 reference to the wreck, how he lost 
 the lantern, etc. That same morn¬ 
 ing Mr. Hull’s letter was received— 
 our letters crossed on the way. Mr. 
 Lougee also gives a good account of 
 this wreck. 
 
 Conductor Pleber W. Hull last 
 week came into possession of a rail¬ 
 road lantern that he lost at the time 
 of the Seawall’s Falls wreck in 1878. 
 At that time Mr. Hull was a peddler 
 boy on this division, then the Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord & Montreal R. R. This 
 was in the days of wood burning lo¬ 
 comotives when all the train men 
 had to help wood up en route. Mr. 
 Hull’s duties at this time were to 
 climb up and pull the rope that let 
 the water into the tender. He was 
 on the night train and to please him 
 the train men gave him a lantern and 
 one of the men took the globe home 
 and cut Mr. Hull’s name on the 
 glass. At the time of the wreck, a 
 winter’s night 36 years ago, the lan¬ 
 tern was lost. Last week Engineer 
 Lindsay who lives at Rumney, found 
 the lantern in the ruins of an old 
 blacksmith shop and returned it to 
 Mr. Hull. Where the lantern had 
 
 been and how it came to Rumney is 
 a puzzle. 
 
 HEBER W. HULL 
 
 Plymouth, N. H. 
 
 May 5, 1919. 
 
 My dear Mr. Caswell: 
 
 I have been much interested in re¬ 
 cent articles appearing in the col¬ 
 umns of your valuable paper, per¬ 
 taining to old B., C. & M. times. Al¬ 
 though being away several years be¬ 
 tween 1879 and 1806, I began my 
 railroad life as “Peddler Boy”, (as 
 they were called in those days), on 
 the old Eastman train in the summer 
 of 1876, running from Plymouth to 
 Lancaster and return. George East¬ 
 man was conductor; Bill Kimball, 
 engineer; Hi Farnum, fireman and 
 John Pen nock, baggage mas ter and 
 brakeman; all dead now. On our 
 
92 
 
 
 return trip we run coupled on to the 
 Montreal express at Woods ville with 
 Ed Mann, conductor and Loren 
 Clough, brakeman and taken to Ply¬ 
 mouth, while Kimball wanted help 
 some freight over Warren Summit, 
 then run light to Plymouth to take 
 the Eastman train out in the morning. 
 About the same time that Eastman 
 train started north, another two car 
 train left Plymouth for Concord in 
 charge of Torn Roby and Patch Clif¬ 
 ford. I can well remember the dif¬ 
 ferent baggage masters on that train 
 as Frank Green, Dana Brown, Smith 
 Clark and Charlie Hill. All of the 
 above named have passed to the 
 Great Beyond. In those days there 
 was one way freight each way run by 
 Don Foley, A1 Haines, John Spauld¬ 
 ing and Frank Johnson, and one ex¬ 
 press freight each way in charge of 
 Henry Mann and Ed Sanborn. Pete 
 Hines run the “Shoo Fly” a night 
 train, Concord to Plymouth and later 
 on Frank Simpson took the place of 
 Hines. Sid Russ and Ed Mann run 
 the mail train during the winter 
 season between Concord and Ply¬ 
 mouth, Ed working one week and Sid 
 the next. All were good men, but I 
 used to think that Ed Mann was the 
 best man in the world, and although 
 a boy I was not the only one who 
 thought so. He always befriended 
 me and later on when I came back 
 home after an absence of seven years 
 I found him Superintendent, he gave 
 me a job and I have been here since 
 then. I well remember the wreck of 
 the “Shoo Fly” at Sewall’s Falls, 
 December 10, 1878 when Charlie 
 Hoyt and Jack Lawler went 75 feet 
 down the bank with engine, “Carrol”. 
 
 I have a lantern that I lost in that 
 wreck that was returned to me 37 
 years later. The frame of course 
 was rusty and spoiled but the globe 
 good as ever with my name on it, 
 which was cut in with a file by 
 Frank Whiteman, who was a fireman 
 at that time. 
 
 I don’t think there is a conductor, 
 engineer or station agent here now 
 who was acting in those capacities 
 when I began selling newspapers 
 and peanuts in 1876. 
 
 Wishing you best of success, I am, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 HEBER W. HULL, 
 
 Lakeport, N. H., May 6, 1919. 
 My dear Caswell: 
 
 0,n my arrival home last night I 
 found your letter waiting me. Speak¬ 
 ing of the Sewell's Falls wreck 41 
 years ago next December, would say: 
 
 I remember the night very well as 
 Clarence Adams and myself run the 
 wrecking train that night from Lake 
 Village. The bridge over the Merri¬ 
 mack was swept away, and we were 
 at East Concord from Tuesday night 
 until Friday night, when they got 
 across the bridge and we run what is 
 now 81 to Woodsville that,night. The 
 same night John Marsh and O. D. 
 Bailey went into Baker’s River at 
 Wentworth with the Franconia and 
 Moosilauke. Mr. Adams and my¬ 
 self came very near being in that 
 wreck. We left Concord Tuesday af¬ 
 ternoon with the empty stock racks,' 
 Henry Mann conductor. We had for 
 an engine the Ashland. We arrived 
 at Lake Village with a hot driver 
 box and they cut us out, and O. B. 
 Bailey and Harlie Whiting took the 
 train, hitched in with John Marsh 
 with engine Franconia, and they had 
 for engyie the Moosilauke. 
 
 Jack Lawler was firing what is now 
 train 81; he had for engineer Charles 
 Holt with engine Carroll. When 
 about two miles above East Concord 
 near where the dam is across the 
 Merrimack, they ran into a washout, 
 engine and baggage car going down 
 over the bank, Mr. Lawler was in¬ 
 jured quite badly and was taken to 
 the American house at Concord where 
 he remained for several weeks, there 
 being no hospital in Concord at that 
 time. There was a corpse on the 
 
93 
 
 front end of the baggage car and 
 when we got there with the wrecker 
 we found it standing up on o,ne end 
 against a tree with one end of the 
 box broken open. After getting the 
 wreck cleared we ran extra between 
 East Concord and Sewell’s Falls to 
 connect with a train they were run¬ 
 ning over the old 'Northern to Sew¬ 
 ell's Falls to bring passengers from 
 Concord and south who were going 
 over the B. C. & M. 
 
 We got our meals at Uncle John 
 Hutchins’ who was foreman of the 
 section at East Concord. Mr. Lor an 
 Clough was station agent and he had 
 all kiinds of musical instruments in 
 the depot and one was a hand organ. 
 Every time we would go to our 
 meals we would take the hand organ 
 and play through the streets. Uncle 
 John used to say that we were “aw¬ 
 ful boys,” and I guess he was right. 
 In one of Mr. Adams’ letters in re¬ 
 gard to the extra train we run to the 
 Weirs from Concord: It was called 
 the steer train, as we were only boys, 
 Mr. Adams being 19 years of age and 
 I was 18 years; hut we always got 
 by without any accidents. Those 
 were happy days, just like one family 
 of big boys. 'Some different than to¬ 
 day. There is not a conductor, en¬ 
 gineer or station agent between Con¬ 
 cord and Groveton here today who 
 were here when I started i*n rail¬ 
 roading excepting Mr. Adams, who 
 was then in the motive power de¬ 
 partment; in fact there are no en¬ 
 gineers running today who were run¬ 
 ning when I went to firing. I started 
 yi March 15, 1873 and worked one 
 year in the shops at Lake Village be¬ 
 fore I went to firing. Mr. F. H. Bur¬ 
 leigh went to firing in June of the 
 same year I went to firing, so I have 
 lived to see the old timers pass 
 away. George E. Hutchins of Berlin 
 was running for the Whitefield Lum¬ 
 ber Co., but was a B. C. & M. man be¬ 
 fore going to work for the lumber 
 road. I think this booklet will be 
 
 very nice in years to come as the 
 yoiyiger class can see how we old 
 timers got along in the early days of 
 railroading. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 F. W. Lougee. 
 
 To add to the interest of this little 
 volume Conductor A. J. Mooney of 
 the Southern division of the Boston & 
 Maine, now running the “Cannon 
 Ball,” Boston to Plymouth, writes a 
 most interesting letter. “Al” Mooney 
 started railroading, as will be seen 
 by his letter, in the old days of hand 
 brakes and wood burners, has grown 
 up in the service and looks back with 
 pride to the fact that he did “his bit” 
 in helping to develop the old Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal. 
 
 To the Editor Warren News, 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 Dear Sir: — 
 
 I have read several letters of late 
 in your paper written by some of the 
 old time railroad men on the old B. 
 C. & M., and they have been very in¬ 
 teresting to me as it takes me back 
 to those days when I first entered 
 the service at Lake Village, in 1871. 
 
 Miles Taylor was agent, and I was 
 his chief clerk. My work was up at 
 4 a. m., throwing switches, riding 
 cars, loading and 'unloading freight, 
 Checking and loading baggage on ar¬ 
 rival of all trains, whenever an extra 
 brakeman was needed, go to Concord 
 and back; all the spare time I was 
 to assist in sawing wood for the en¬ 
 gines, and it required at this station 
 about 25 cords daily. 
 
 Coal burning engines in this sec¬ 
 tion of New England were not even 
 thought of at that time. All engines 
 were burning wood, the cars were 
 heated with wood stoves, and lighted 
 with spermaceti candles. Large 
 sheds were located along the line, at 
 different points and filled with cord 
 wood during the winter months; the 
 most of the wood was drawn with ox 
 teams; and was sawed ready for train 
 
4 
 
 94 
 
 use by small steam engines or horse The night was dark and rainy; 
 power and thrown into small cars so about 11.46 the train pulled in, Peter 
 it could be easily moved to the tender. Hines conductor. I was stationed be- 
 June 24-th, 1872, I was called to tween the two rear cars. I was to 
 Plymouth to see iSupt. Joseph A. stand up at all times and near the 
 Dodge; after asking me lots of ques- brakes. The train consisted of en- 
 
 A. J. MOONEY 
 
 tions, did I drink, smoke or chew to- gine, baggage, passenger and a Pull- 
 bacco? and giving me lots of advice man sleeper. 
 
 he said, “I am going to give you a All the stops were made with hand 
 position as brakemajo on the night ex- brakes. Links and pins between each 
 
 press and you take it at Plymouth car, the platforms so far apart that 
 
 tonight, and if you prove a good, one had to jump from one to the 
 
 faithful boy, in due time you will get other. We made all the stops. Wood 
 
 something better.” and water at Warren and East Ha- 
 
95 
 
 verhill, arrived at Woodsville on 
 time. 
 
 On the return trip we stopped at 
 East Haverhill, Warren, Plymouth, 
 'Meredith village and Northfield for 
 wood and water. At each one of 
 these places, we took about five 
 cords, and it all had to be handled by 
 the train crew. Besides we had to 
 wood up the cars for the trip to Bos¬ 
 ton and return. 
 
 The train arrived in Concord 
 about 5.30 a. m. I was wet, hungry, 
 dirty, hands bleeding and discour¬ 
 aged. This was my first trip in the 
 passenger service, and would have 
 been my last had it -not been for my 
 brother Frank, who was baggage 
 master on the train that morning. 
 The lecture he gave me I have never 
 forgotten. I stuck to this job for 
 four long years without missing a 
 trip. I was in the wreck at Sewell’s 
 Falls when Charlie Hoit and Jack 
 Lawler were badly injured. The en¬ 
 gine went down the bank about 80 
 feet. George Smith and H. Hull, who 
 were on the train were both injured. 
 
 I was in a wreck at East Haverhill 
 when the night express struck three 
 freight cars opposite the siding. 
 These cars had been blown from the 
 siding. This was a fearful night, 
 snowing and blowing hard. A heavy 
 freight was following us from the 
 summit. Joe Hooker was engineer. 
 
 I went back to flag them and had just 
 reached the edge of the woods when 
 they hove in sight. Hooker made the 
 stop of his life, about six car lengths 
 from the rear of the express. I re¬ 
 member one dark night going down 
 the north side of Warren Summit we 
 struck and killed 1'2 sheep and Geo. 
 Smith and myself were chosen to cut 
 their throats with Frank Simpson’s 
 old dull knife. It was some job. 
 
 After four years of night work I 
 was put on the day express with Con¬ 
 ductor E. F. Mann, who was after¬ 
 wards superintendent of train serv¬ 
 
 ice. He was a Mann iby name, and a 
 gentleman by nature, loved and re¬ 
 spected by all who knew him. 
 
 My first trip was with Peter Hines, 
 conductor; engineer, Frank Swasey; 
 
 CHARLIE HOIT 
 
 An old time B., C. & M. Engineer 
 
 fireman, Frank Whiteman; baggage- 
 master, George F. Smith. Engine, 
 Laconia. The return trip, Conductor, 
 Hines; engineer, West Lyons; I. F. 
 Mooney, baggage master. About 
 three years later the road commenced 
 to equip the engines with air brakes; 
 the cars with air brakes, Miller plat¬ 
 forms and Miller couplers. The first 
 engine to be equipped was the Car- 
 roll and one baggage car, and made 
 their first trip on the night express, 
 Concord to Woodsville. A few years 
 later all the engines and cars were 
 
96 
 
 equipped with air and controlled by 
 the engineer. Since those days a 
 brakeman’s position has been a cinch. 
 
 The couplers now used between all 
 passenger and freight cars in the 
 
 I. F. MOONEY 
 
 Oldest present day conductor. See page 64 
 
 United iStates and Canada was first 
 thought of and invented by Mr. 
 Mitchell, an old man, who was watch¬ 
 man and cleaner in the engine house 
 at Lancaster, N. H., some time in 1875 
 to 1880. I have watched him whit- 
 ling the model. A company was 
 formed with Smith & Tinkham, both 
 of Lancaster at the head. Stock was 
 sold and a large number of cars were 
 equipped on the old Eastern R. R., at 
 Boston, but for some reason it was a 
 failure. Later it changed hands and 
 made improvements u t n'til it has be¬ 
 
 come one great success. This was 
 at that time called the United States 
 coupler. The only trains south of 
 Plymouth in those days was an early 
 train leaving Plymouth in the morn¬ 
 ing for Concord and return in the 
 evening, called the “Shoofily”; later 
 it ran through to Montreal ?fid was 
 called the Montreal air line express; 
 still later the Montreal night express. 
 
 Tom Robie’s train left Plymouth in 
 the morning for Concord, returning 
 in the afternoon; the mail train, Con¬ 
 cord to Plymouth and return; Dave 
 Furgerscfi and Sid Russ conductors. 
 
 There was only one freight daily, 
 Woodsville to Concord. Every Mon¬ 
 day, the cattle train, Woodsville to 
 Watertown, Mass. Some of the old 
 conductors were: cattle train, John 
 Butler, (Henry Mann, Manas Perkins, 
 A1 Uavnes. Chet Carpenter, engin¬ 
 eer. The through freights: O. R. 
 Farrar. Frank Drew (was killed at 
 Winchester. Mass ), (Nat Wyatt (killed 
 at Woodsville), George Strive (killed 
 at North Haverhill), High Moulton 
 (killed on the Mountain Division), 
 George Prescott, Dan Folley, George 
 Poor. 
 
 I remember all of the old engines. 
 At that time our largest ones only 
 weighed between 25 and 30 tons; to¬ 
 day we have them 160 tons. The pas¬ 
 senger coaches were about 33 feet 
 long, while today they are 70 feet 
 long. The rails at that time were 17 
 feet long; today they are 33 feet. 
 When the old Mt. Washington came it 
 weighed 40 tons. 
 
 The split switch that is now used 
 on every railroad in the United States 
 and Canada was invented by a poor 
 old Jrishman who worked on the 
 section on the White field and Jeffer¬ 
 son R. R., sometime in the eighteen 
 seventies, pftd was intended for an 
 expansion rail, and was first in use 
 as such on the curve just east of 
 Bethlehem Junction, by iSupt. W. A. 
 Stowe 11 in 1882 or ’83. I was there 
 and saw it in use on this curve. 
 
97 
 
 During extreme hot weather the rails 
 would spread or kink up and the 
 switch was used as an experiment. 
 Afterwards some one saw the idea of 
 U'syig it as above stated, and it has 
 been proven one of the greatest in 
 railroading. 
 
 Coming down Warren Summit one 
 night there was a very heavy fog in 
 the valley below, and the tops of the 
 old stub trees just stuck up through 
 the fog, and looking ship masts in a 
 harbor. I was standing inside Ojue 
 of the passenger cars and I heard 
 some one saying, “John, John, wake 
 up, we are coming into Boston, I can 
 see the ship masts in the harbor.” 
 The man’s voice answered, “'Go to 
 sleep you big fool, we have just left 
 Woodsville.” 
 
 I forgot to say that after wood 
 stoves came the Baker & Eastman 
 hot water heater, then came steam di¬ 
 rect from the engine. 
 
 The oldest conductor now living 
 and still in the service is my brother, 
 I. F. Mooney. iHad I stayed on that 
 division he and myself would have 
 been the only two left. I came to 
 the Southern division in 1885 and am 
 still in the service. 
 
 A. J. MOONEY, Conductor. 
 
 Southern Division. 
 
 84 Federal St., Salem, Mass. 
 
 Tilton, N. H., May 5, 1919. 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 Recalling some of the old B. C. & 
 M. days, there is one which I remem¬ 
 ber very well and that is the annual 
 meeting or as it was commonly 
 known, stockholders’ day. This meet¬ 
 ing was called the Monday proceed¬ 
 ing the last Tuesday in May, and it 
 was some day. This was the day on 
 which the stockholders received their 
 annual dividend, (and I guess about 
 the only dividend) a free ride. 
 
 About two weeks before the meet¬ 
 ing an order would be issued from 
 Mr. Dodge’s office at Plymouth to the 
 
 heads of the different departments 
 for a general cleaning up and every¬ 
 body got busy. The Road depart¬ 
 ment issued instructions to the sec¬ 
 tion men to clean up the right of 
 way, stations were cleaned up and 
 everything put in good shape. On 
 Sunday the men who were assigned 
 to run the special trains on Monday 
 the day of the meeting, would work 
 all day on the engine which they 
 were to have, cleaning and putting it 
 in order. The engine was closely in¬ 
 spected, every piece of 'brass work 
 was cleaned and polished so it shone 
 like a gold piece. Everything was in 
 perfect order before they left it. 
 Monday morning two engines would 
 go to Concord (Hght. and one to Ply¬ 
 mouth for the special trains. The 
 first extra as it was called, from 
 Concord would do the local work be¬ 
 tween Concord and Plymouth; the 
 second would handle the stock-hold¬ 
 ers and friends from points below 
 Concord, and generally was ahead of 
 the regular train. 
 
 Those holding several shares of 
 stock generally remembered their 
 friends and gave them a free ride, as 
 there were no restrictions on loaning 
 the stock as there is now. North of 
 Plymouth the people came to Ply¬ 
 mouth on the regular mail train and 
 returned on the extra which left Ply¬ 
 mouth albout 5 p. m., and run to 
 Woodsville. As a rule very few of 
 these people attended the railroad 
 meeting as most of them were out 
 for a good time and a free ride. 
 Around 1 o’clock the grounds around 
 the Pemigewasset House would he 
 covered with men, women and chil¬ 
 dren eating ,their dinner, as many of 
 them carried their own lunch. Some 
 of those who held stock would ride 
 all day between Woodsville a t nd Bos¬ 
 ton. I remember one man in particu¬ 
 lar, who lived at Lake Village, who 
 would start in the morning on the 
 “Shoofly,” now known as 52, land 1 
 
98 
 
 ride until 'the last train at night; that 
 was the way he collected his dividend. 
 
 ‘My first experience with the stock¬ 
 holders’ extra was the extra .north of 
 Plymouth. I do not remember the, 
 year, but think it was ’74 or ’75. I 
 had the Chocorua, and Seth Green- 
 loaf was the conductor, and it was 
 the last trip he ever run as con¬ 
 ductor. I very well remember .Mr. 
 Dodge sending for me to come to 
 the Pemigewasset House; he met 
 me at the head of the stairs and said 
 in his brusque way, “Clarence, you 
 going to run the extra to Woods- 
 vill'e?” 1 said, “Yes, sir”; he says, 
 “Mr. Greenleaf will go as conductor 
 but he has not ru,n for some time and 
 shall hold you responsible; now be 
 very careful.” I said, “alright,” and 
 left him. We left Plymouth around 
 5 p. m., and had one south bound 
 train to meet. I made Jarve’s track, 
 later known as Sanborn’s track, and 
 pulled in. After we got stopped Seth 
 put his head out of the baggage car 
 door and said, “What you stopping 
 here for, boy?” I said, “We have to 
 meet a freight.” “Oh! all right,” he 
 said and closed the door. As soo 4 n as 
 the freight passed we backed out and 
 proceeded. 
 
 Later I run the Concord extras for 
 several years, with different con¬ 
 ductors. One in particular I remem¬ 
 ber was with Dick Langdon. We 
 were ready to leave Plymouth and 
 the engine was near the old freight 
 house. Dick came down to the en¬ 
 gine and said “The ‘old ma^! _yyants 
 to see you.” I went up to the Pemi¬ 
 gewasset House and met Mr. Dodge 
 on the stairs. “How late you going 
 to be Clarence?” “About 15 minutes,” 
 
 I replied. “No gtops between here 
 and Laconia?” he says. “Not that I 
 know of,” says I. “Now Clarence, I 
 want you to be very careful through 
 the stations and over the switches, 
 and remember you have a lot o(f 
 people in your care, be careful.” I 
 said Mr. Dodge, I suppose you want 
 
 to get this train into Concord on 
 time, don’t you?” “Hm! Hm! I will 
 telegraph the Concord folks to wait a 
 minute for you,” was the reply. 
 Some leeway there. Mr. Dodge 
 would never convict himself that way, 
 but still he wanted time made where- 
 ever possible, and it was alright as 
 long as everything went along 
 smoothly. 
 
 I remember of one trip an the 
 stock train with John 'Butler con¬ 
 ductor. I got the tip at Plymouth 
 from Job 4 n that Mr. Dodge was going 
 with us so was very careful from 
 there to Meredith. Ait Meredith we 
 met Robie’s train and I supposed of 
 course Mr. Dodge would go back on 
 that, but he did not. We made a 
 quick run to Lake Village, stopped at 
 the freight house, cut off and run 
 down to woodshed. I got down to 
 oil and looked up towards the bridge 
 and saw Mr. Dodge and John walk¬ 
 ing down together. Mr. Dodge 
 stopped at the freight house and John 
 came along to the engine; I said 
 “Gee! I thought Mr. Dodge went back 
 from Meredith.” “Well, he didn’t,” 
 John said and “I guess you are in it 
 boy.” Well I was. The next day 
 when I showed up at Lake Village, 
 father showed me a letter from Mr. 
 Dodge, ordering him to lay me off 
 for ten days. 
 
 'Still those were the happy days 
 and every man was loyal to the com¬ 
 pany and each and every one felt as 
 though they were a part of the road. 
 How the train crews hi\og together! 
 If anything happened on the trip it 
 was every man “Johnny on the spot,” 
 to help out of the trouble to get out 
 of it the best and quickest way pos¬ 
 sible and keep it out of headquarters, 
 Many things occurred in those days 
 which never reached headquarters, 
 which today could not be kept under 
 your hat five minutes. 
 
 I might relate some instances rela¬ 
 tive to the loyalty of the train crews 
 of the old days, one of which appeals 
 
to me now, and no douibt Mr. Cum¬ 
 mings will recall it if I freshen Ms 
 memory a little, and if I am right I 
 think we two are the only ones left 
 to recall this occurrence of many 
 years ago. Around 1874 or ’75, we 
 were ruiyiing a work train in the fall 
 picking up old ties to be unloaded in 
 the sheds at .Bridgewater and Woods- 
 ville, later sawed and used as fuel 
 for the engines. We had about 12 flat 
 cars, a saloon and two or three board¬ 
 ing cars and lived on the trai*u and 
 made our headquarters at different 
 stations along the line and on the 
 road. At this time we were working 
 around Wentworth and had followed 
 the mail train north to pick up on 
 the straight line north of Wentworth. 
 
 After cleaning up there and having 
 a little more time to work, Mr. Cum¬ 
 mings said we would go south of the 
 station and pick up, so we started 
 down the straight line at a fair clip. 
 Unbeknown to us the section fore¬ 
 man, Ed. Glynn at W e^tworth, after 
 we went north had pushed a car of 
 ties out of the siding onto crossing or 
 near it to unload. After I whistled 
 for the crossing at Wentworth, I 
 stepped over to the left hand side, 
 (the engine was backing), and no¬ 
 ticed this car. I jumped back called 
 for brakes, and threw her over,—too 
 late though. We cornered the oar 
 and drove it in to clear; section men 
 jumped and no one was hurt. The 
 old Belknap was slightly disfigured, 
 but still in the ring. The tank was 
 moved a little, the coupling casting 
 on breast beam was laid right over 
 and bolt bent and stiff shackle bent. 
 We managed to get into clear after 
 awhile. Ed Glynn admitted it was 
 his fault and wanted to fix it up and 
 not have it reported. So he got a 
 carpenter and we went at it; worked 
 until nearly 2 o’clock the next morn¬ 
 ing and was ready to pull out agaitn 
 on time. No report was ever made 
 and so far as I know no one out¬ 
 
 side of our own crew knew anything 
 about it. As time passed, later the 
 Belknap was taken into the shop for 
 general repairs and the breast beam 
 was taken off and the piece we had 
 fitted in was discovered. One day 
 father spoke about it, arid I told him 
 the circumstances. He had a habit 
 of scratching the back of one hand 
 while thinking, and did so this time, 
 then looked at me and said, “You 
 kept that d—m still didn’t you?” 
 
 * C. W. ADAMS. 
 
 GEORGE M. SMITH 
 
 One of the First B., C. & M. Telegraph 
 Operators, now at Sanbornville, N. H. 
 
 C. E. Caswell, 
 
 Warren, N. H, 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I received the two recent copies of 
 the News for which thanks; also 
 
100 
 
 your circular letter. Am glad you 
 are to issue a book covering the his¬ 
 tory of the old B., C. & M., as it was 
 on that read I began work and knew 
 so many of the boys employed in the 
 early seventies. 
 
 I commenced work in January 
 1871 at Woodsville as telegraph op¬ 
 erator; Henry W. Ramsay, agent. 
 Have been in the employ of what is 
 now the Boston and Maine continu¬ 
 ously since thep and am No. 3 on 
 the Portland Division Roster of 
 Agents and Operators. Was train 
 dispatcher here 26 years until the 
 Northern Division was abolished and 
 merged with the Eastern and West¬ 
 ern Divisions. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 GEORGE M. SMITH. 
 
 Sanbornville, N. H. 
 
 May 18, 1919. 
 
 ing one o: the passenger trains be¬ 
 tween Woodsville and Concord. 
 John W. Buckley started as engine 
 cleaner at Fabyans, June 25. 1879. 
 He says Joe Prescott hired him at 
 $1.00 a day. He paid O. G. Barron 
 $4.00 a week for board, saving as 
 much as he could of the remaining 
 $2.00. Three months later he made 
 his first trip as fireman on the old 
 Laconia, whose number was 14. 
 This trip was Fabyans to Wing Road 
 and return. He was handicapped 
 for an education and that fall laid 
 off and attended school at South 
 Ryegate, Vt., working for his board. 
 The following spring he went back 
 on to the road and laid off again the 
 next fall for the same purpose. Two 
 years later he was promoted as en¬ 
 gineer. This was an unusually short 
 time for an apprentice to step on to 
 
 Railroad and River at Wentworth Today 
 
 In an article by J. Weston Lyons 
 of Elkhart, Ind., mention is made of 
 Little John Buckley being in a wreck 
 over on the M. & W. road near Gro¬ 
 ton, Vt., and losing his cap back in 
 the ’70s. This same lad is a present 
 day Boston & Maine engineer, haul- 
 
 the locomotive foot board, but John¬ 
 nie Buckley was a natural born en¬ 
 gineer, and the road officials realized 
 it. Some good fatherly advice from 
 Ralph Adams always stayed with 
 him. John Buckley “knows the 
 road” far south as Nashua and all 
 
101 
 
 the branches up this way, the Pas- field, who was in the North Haver- 
 
 sumpsic division to Sherbrooke, P. 
 Q., to White River Junction, St. J. & 
 L. C., and the Montpelier Road. 
 John Buckley certainly knows how 
 
 JOHN W. BUCKLEY 
 
 to handle a locomotive, especially in 
 this mountain region where he was 
 born and raised. 
 
 In another article I stated that 
 Edgar Davison was killed at Little¬ 
 ton a few years ago. Since it was 
 printed I learn this it not so. His 
 health failed him and he went to 
 California, and is now at Los An¬ 
 geles, in Y. M. C. A. work. 
 
 Dick Ben t nett was well known to 
 engineers for more than 40 years 
 being connected with the motive de¬ 
 partment. Zack Keniston of North- 
 
 hii:l wreck in 1882 when a freight 
 run back from East Haverhill, col¬ 
 liding with the way freight at North 
 Haverhill, was not killed, as pre¬ 
 viously reported in this article, but 
 was injured for life. 
 
 George Lyons was an engineer for 
 the old road many years ago, a 
 brother of J. Weston Lyons. George 
 went to Lincoln soon after the road 
 changed hands and run an engine 
 for the Hepry Lumber Company. 
 Westefi went out west. He now re¬ 
 sides at Elkhart, Ind. There is a 
 long letter from him near the close 
 of this series of letters. 
 
 I was talking with Frank (Stub) 
 Little the other day, and he had a 
 whole lots of good things to say 
 about the late Edward F. Mann. All 
 the boys liked Ed Mann. Stub said 
 one day he fell “between ’em” at Ply¬ 
 mouth and got quite badly hurt. Ed 
 came along and looked at him as he 
 was suffering from his bruises, and 
 said, “Better get on the express and 
 go home, you will feel better after 
 the ache is over.” He said he came 
 home and Ed Mann allowed his time 
 to go on all the while he was laid up. 
 That was but one trait of character 
 of iMr. Mann. 
 
 Eugene Dcpno of Lowell, present 
 day passenger conductor White 
 River to Boston, was a B., C. & M. 
 man 35 years or more ago. Then 
 there is A. P. Davis of Concord, an¬ 
 other old timer. Henry White of 
 Plymouth for a few years after 
 George Eastman died used to run 
 “'Eastman’s” train. Later he went 
 on the P. V. branch and became al¬ 
 most a part of that branch. 
 
 There were three Nourse boys at 
 Lancaster: Fred, Mel and Harry. 
 Harry Nourse began with the old 
 road and run a baggage car for 25 
 
102 
 
 years or more. Mel is an engineer 
 and Fred Nourse has served the pub¬ 
 lic in various branches. He went to 
 work for the road as passenger 
 brakeiman in 1876 and was promoted 
 to passenger conductor in 1880; after 
 serving in that capacity for two 
 years he was made station agent at 
 Lancaster, in 'September 1881 where 
 he remained for ten years, after 
 which he returned to the train serv¬ 
 ice, serving two years more as pas¬ 
 senger conductor, afterw hich he serv¬ 
 ered his connection with the com¬ 
 pany to take nip a general insurance 
 business which he has since fol¬ 
 lowed. 
 
 me lots of good. I have had a num¬ 
 ber of the railroad men for boarders 
 since I have been alone. I have a 
 good many of the young runners.'’ 
 
 Wilbur C, Gordon is another who 
 started railroading practically under 
 the old road. He and a number of 
 others who went to work about the 
 same time were always reckoned as 
 the “old boys,” although it was in the 
 last days of the B., iC. & M. they be¬ 
 gan signing the call-book. Gordon 
 is now on a farm here in Warren. 
 He was a good railroad man, worked 
 in various branches of the service. 
 He has a brother on one of the west¬ 
 ern reads. 
 
 B., C. & M. TRAIN 
 
 Mrs. A. L. Smith, 21 Wall St., Con¬ 
 cord, N. iH., writes in part: “My hus¬ 
 band was a railroad man, and if my 
 memory serves me right, he did all 
 his firing for Orrin Berdean. I don’t 
 think he ever fired for anyone else. 
 He run a shifter here in Concord 
 yard the first of his running. His 
 first trip out on the road was April, 
 1887. (I came across his first train 
 order a few days ago.) He was a 
 spare runner his last days. He has 
 been gone 23 years last March. 
 When I recently looked over the list 
 of those old time railroad men it did 
 
 Charles I. Swain, present day sta¬ 
 tion agent at Meredith commenced his 
 railroad work for the road handling 
 wood for the old engines to eat up 
 and throw out in smoke and cinders. 
 A year or two later he started doing 
 baggage work, doing spare work on 
 the line for a number of years, after 
 which he was station agent at War¬ 
 ren Summit, Rumney and for the last 
 14 years has been at Meredith. 
 
 Ernest R. Little is another fellow 
 of about the same “railroad age” as 
 Swain. Little is third trek operator 
 
103 
 
 at Laconia. He has done spare sta¬ 
 tion work for the road off-and-on for 
 thirty years. 
 
 .v<vv.v.v.v.\ 
 ■Vry////////.- 
 
 pplii 
 
 J. K. CORLISS 
 
 a more careful driver than J. K. 
 Corliss. Although by no means an 
 old man in the rank of service, he is 
 proud to know that he helped even 
 in a small way the development of 
 the old B., C. & M. and down through 
 the years has been instrumental in 
 “carrying on” up to the present day, 
 hoping for years of continued serv¬ 
 ice. 
 
 Superintendents of the road have 
 been: Peter Clark, James N. Elkins, 
 James M. Whiton, John T. Coffin, 
 Joseph A. Dodge, Edward F. Mann. 
 W. A. Stowell, 
 
 Eugene Donivan was another B., 
 C. & M. man who has been lost 
 track of. 
 
 One of the faithful engineers of 
 the present day who started on the 
 old road is Jep Corliss. Young Cor¬ 
 liss went to firing an old wood burn¬ 
 ing locomotive in October, 1879. He 
 made steam for the Boston, Concord 
 & Montreal until July 1, 1883, when 
 he was given an engine to run. 
 Being naturally mechanically in¬ 
 clined as the years have come and 
 gone he has taken pride in the me¬ 
 chanical workings of his machines 
 and has always been recognized as a 
 trusty and faithful employee, and 
 today is hauling one of the fast Ca¬ 
 nadian Pacific expresses between 
 Plymouth, 'N. H., and Newport, Vt. 
 Probably there is not or never was 
 another engineer on the road who is 
 
 FRED A. CLIFFORD 
 
 A good and faithful B., C. & M. engineer. 
 -Photo, by the Kimball Studio, Concord, N. H. 
 
104 
 
 One extremely cold morning dur- Andrew J. Pike, whose name has 
 
 ing the winter of 1918 engineer A. P. 
 Lake of the paper train was fatally 
 scalded by a safety plug blowing out 
 of the boiler of his machine, and died 
 a few days later. A1 Lake entered 
 the service as fireman for the old 
 road in February, 1881 and went to 
 running in 1888. He was highly re¬ 
 spected by a large circle of friends, 
 not only in railroad circles, but i«n 
 his home city, Concord, and all the 
 towns along the line through which 
 he had run for the many years. 
 
 Henry Corliss, an old engineer, is 
 now running a picture house at 
 North Woodstock. 
 
 been mentioned, began firing in 
 June, 1881 and got an engine to ru*u 
 in February, 1887. He never did 
 much running for the B., C. & M., but 
 is considered one of the good and 
 faithful men of the old days. 
 
 I have been trying to get in 
 touch with Henry Simpson, an old- 
 time B., C. & >M. man who was well 
 known up and down the line 40 and 
 45 years ago. He went out west and 
 the last I knew was at Omaha, Neb. 
 Ed Buckley was another B., C. & >M. 
 fireman, and later became an engin¬ 
 eer. Just where he went I am not 
 certain. 
 
 FATHER AND SON 
 
 Sylvester Swett, one of the men who sawed wood for the road forty years and more ago. 
 Andrew Swett, his son, a present day through feight conductor who learned railroading about 
 that time. 
 
105 
 
 As late as 1S57 the company had these regulations, or who is not dis- 
 
 ro engine house at Concord. It al¬ 
 ways had been accommodated with 
 rcom for its engines in the engine 
 house of the Northern Road, for 
 which a rent of $400 per year was 
 paid. A record made by the super¬ 
 intendent at that time was to the 
 effect that, so long as such an ac¬ 
 commodation is continued an engine 
 Louse would not be needed; but 
 should the wants of the Northern 
 Railroad at any time render it 
 necessary to discontinue the use of 
 their house by this road, a new 
 building for that purpose would be 
 necessary. He further stated that 
 the company owned land on which 
 it could be built whenever necessary 
 and the cost of a proper building 
 with suitable fixtures, he estimated 
 at less than $4,750. The fire at 
 Lake Village shops about this time 
 badly damaged four locomotives 
 which were in the buildings. There 
 was an insurance on the locomo¬ 
 tives amounting to $9,056.33 while 
 the loss was $11,600.00, leaving the 
 actual loss $2,543.67. 
 
 The Blue Book. 
 
 Present day railroad men don’t 
 know what it was. A copy of this 
 book lies before me on my desk. It 
 is a book of Regulations of the Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord & Montreal Railroad, 
 in force o,n and after Monday, the 3d 
 day of April, 1854, 65 years ago. It 
 is printed on blue linen paper with 
 stiff board covers. A notice at the 
 bottom of the title page says: Each 
 person employed on the road, (ex¬ 
 cept laborers on the wood and gravel 
 trains,) is required to have a copy 
 of these regulations with him at all 
 times. The book of rules contains 
 the duties of every employee of the 
 road from superintendent down. 
 
 Rule 3 in the General Rules reads: 
 Every person in the employment of 
 the Company who disapproves of 
 
 posed to aid in carrying out each and 
 all of them effectually is requested 
 not to remain in the service of the 
 Company. 
 
 Rule 11. Rudeness or incivility to 
 passengers will be followed by the 
 immediate dismissal of the offender 
 from employment; as also for any 
 profane, indecent, or abusive lan¬ 
 guage used in or about the cars or 
 stations. 
 
 Rule 13. No smoking must be al¬ 
 lowed in or around the engine or car 
 houses, or freight depots of the Cor¬ 
 poration, nor in the rooms of any 
 passenger station, or in any passen¬ 
 ger car; nor must passengers be per¬ 
 mitted to stand on the platforms 
 while the cars are in motion. 
 
 Rule 16. No person known to be 
 in the habit of using ardent spirits 
 or violent or abusive language will 
 be retained in the employment of the 
 Company. 
 
 Rule 22 of the Motive Power De¬ 
 partment says: No engine must ibe 
 sent out of the engine house or shops 
 for the employment on the road, un¬ 
 less the time table then in force, is 
 furnished to the engineer, and in¬ 
 structions in writing from the su¬ 
 perintendent of motive power to the 
 engineer, for his guidance, and the 
 engineer shall give a written receipt 
 for the same, on a copy which shall 
 be retained by the superintendent of 
 motive power. 
 
 Rule 36 to Section Men says: 
 Each section must be kept in com¬ 
 plete running order by the men em¬ 
 ployed upon it; and every part of it 
 MUST be inspected daily, before the 
 first train of cars passes over it. 
 
 Rule 50 to Station Agents I notice 
 says in part: It will be the duty of 
 each Station Agent to see that no 
 cars leave his station, unless they 
 are properly swept and cleaned out, 
 and washed out in all cases when 
 they cannot be sufficiently cleaned 
 by sweeping. 
 
106 
 
 ■Rule 54 in part was: Each. Station 
 Agent must return at the close of 
 each month by the Conductor of the 
 passenger trains, to the Master of 
 Transportation’s office, the money re¬ 
 ceived for freight during the month. 
 
 Rule 5S. Passengers are not al¬ 
 lowed to ride on the freight trains of 
 the road, and Station Agents will not 
 permit any person to get upon freight 
 trayrs at the stations, except in the 
 following cases when freight Passes 
 may be sold at regular fares, viz: 
 Station Agents may sell freight Pass¬ 
 es, at regular fares, to the following 
 persons, and to no others, viz,—to 
 persons actually engaged in getting 
 out freight to go over the road; to 
 physicians in attendance on sick per¬ 
 sons; to the sheriffs of Merrimack, 
 Belknap a^d Grafton counties. Each 
 ticket must be marked with the 
 amount received therefor. 
 
 Rule 72 to Engineers. The Engin¬ 
 eer must not start his train until he 
 has the signal -from the Conductor, 
 nor until the bell has been first rujug. 
 
 Rule 77. Although the Conductor 
 has charge of the train, the Engineer 
 will be held responsible for running 
 at any unnecessary risk, or without 
 taking all prescribed precautions; 
 and for violations of the rules of the 
 road, even if the same are ordered 
 by the Conductor. 
 
 Rule 79. When a Conductor is dis¬ 
 abled, the Engineer will be held re¬ 
 sponsible for the safety of the train 
 until a person duly authorized ca t n 
 take charge of it. 
 
 Rule 80. Engineers will be care¬ 
 ful not to approach stopping places, 
 or signals, at a rate of speed that will 
 require them to whistle for the 
 brakes. It is desirable that the sig¬ 
 nal whistle should be used as seldom 
 as possible except for obstructions 
 on the track, as too frequent use im¬ 
 pairs its value as a signal of danger. 
 
 Rule 84. Conductors will notify 
 Station Agents of the following 
 trains, when his engine carries a 
 
 flag; will check the Engineer if run¬ 
 ning too fast, and will require him to 
 conform his running to the time table 
 or slower if the track requires dimin¬ 
 ished speed. 
 
 Rule 95. The Conductor of the Up 
 Mail Train must compare and report 
 the correct time to all Station Agents 
 daily. 
 
 The time kept in the Coficord Rail¬ 
 road Passenger Depot was the stan¬ 
 dard time, which the conductors and 
 engineers must observe daily. 
 
 Rule 102, as to Running of Trains: 
 Conductors of 'Freight Trains must 
 not allow the train at -any time to 
 stand upon public road-crossings, so 
 as to prevent free passage to travel¬ 
 ers, not under any circumstances, 
 more than five minutes at any one 
 time, as per law of the State. 
 
 Rule 104. No train must be run in 
 the dark without a good light on the 
 front of the engyie. 
 
 Rule 109. No following train will 
 oe allowed to leave or pass any pas¬ 
 senger station nearer than 15 
 minutes of the preceding train. Con¬ 
 ductors and engineers will be held 
 equally responsible to observe the 
 15 myiute rule. 
 
 Rule 111. Section men must pass 
 over the road every morning before 
 any train, and in case of violent 
 rains, must be stationed at danger¬ 
 ous points at the time trains pass, 
 whether by day or by night. 
 
 Rule 114. No engine or extra trayi 
 will be allowed to be run upon the 
 roa-d without order of Superintendent 
 of motive power, and notice being 
 given to Station and Section Men. 
 
 Rule 128, one of the free pass 
 rules: In case of manifest poverty 
 or inability to pay, Conductors can 
 exercise their discretion in allowing a 
 pass free. 
 
 I have recently had sent in some 
 very interesting pictures of old Bos¬ 
 ton, Concord & Montreal engines, 
 tram crews, wrecks, etc. Most of 
 
107 
 
 these pictures were made 30 or 40 
 years ago, and are quite badly faded, 
 so much that it would be impossible 
 to produce them in these pages. One 
 in particular is the B., C. & iM. en¬ 
 gine IMt. Washington. The “Mount” 
 as she was known was the first ten 
 wheel locomotive ever in New Eng¬ 
 land and was a wonder of her day. 
 She was numbered 29. In the 
 group is shown the trai*n crew: Geo. 
 (Ferguson, engineer; Fred Whiting, 
 fireman; Joe Prescott, conductor; 
 Harvey Dexter, brakeman. The pic¬ 
 ture was made at the Base of Mt. 
 Washington the first summer the 
 road was opened. 
 
 ■Another picture is the 'Littleton, 
 No. 11 standing in Woodsville yard 
 showing Mt. Gardner in the back¬ 
 ground. Her tender is piled high 
 with wood which would be sufficient 
 to last the average family six months. 
 Another picture is of the first passen¬ 
 ger train to the Base of Mt. Wash¬ 
 ington, taken in front of the Fabyan 
 House. Then next is a three-car 
 passenger train ready to leave 
 Fabyans. Attached to the train 
 is the Winnipesaukee, No. 7, with 
 Jolyi Boynton, engineer and Fred 
 Whiting fireman. This picture was 
 made about 40 years ago. 
 
 Two other interesting pictures are 
 taken on Wells River bridge; one of 
 a three car train taken 47 years ago, 
 and another of the Canadian Pacific 
 express of the present day. The old 
 locomotive in the picture is the Peter 
 Clark. 
 
 Another photograph is a one-car 
 train on the Whitefield & Jefferson. 
 This road later came yi the hands of 
 the old B., C & M. The engine in 
 this picture shows the Waumbek, No. 
 3, made 34 years ago. There was 
 another locomotive, Star King, owned 
 by the W. & J. road. This engine 
 blew up at Belmont, and was after¬ 
 wards renamed the Belmonte 
 
 I very much regret that a picture 
 of the old Winnipeseogee, No. 7, is 
 so faded as to be useless from which 
 to make a plate for this history. 
 This picture was sent in by Frank 
 Lougee in hopes it could be used. 
 George Hutchins sends a picture of 
 two engines standing on Wells River 
 bridge 44 years ago. Frank Lougee 
 sent an old picture of the first Peter 
 Clark, which is reproduced here and 
 speaks for itself. The name is just 
 beneath the stack near the front of 
 the boiler. This machine is one of 
 the first passenger engines the road 
 owned and in her day was a marvel. 
 
 One of the last engines the old 
 road bought was the Haverhill. The 
 Concord & Montreal sent her to the 
 shop for an overhauling and she 
 blew up on her trail trip in Nashua 
 yard. Before me is a picture of 
 her in a wrecked condition. The 
 shell is about half demolished from 
 her boiler, the stack and headlight 
 gone and she is generally broken up. 
 Engineer Fred Clifford was running 
 her at the time of the explosion. 
 He was quite badly injured and his 
 hearing impaired, from which he 
 never fully recovered. His fireman 
 was badly scalded and jumped into 
 the man-hole in the tank to cool his 
 burns ayid relieve his excruciating 
 pains. 
 
 Lakeport, N. H., May 16, 1919. 
 Mr. Caswell: 
 
 With pleasure I give you some of 
 the dates regarding Mr. Ferguson 
 while employed by the old Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal and later the 
 other roads. Mr. Ferguson went to 
 work and learned the machinist trade 
 and did spare firing; then after two 
 years ran spare as engineer for a 
 while, after which he went to the 
 Fabyans and run the engine between 
 Fabyans and the Base of Mt. Washing¬ 
 ton for three successive summers, and 
 the fourth year he ban the engine to 
 
108 
 
 the Base and as conductor up the of a building in Pemberton Square, 
 
 mountain if I remember correctly four 
 summers; after which he was ap- 
 
 GEO. A. FERGUSON 
 
 pointed assistant Master Mechanic of 
 the B., C. & M. in April, 1881. Ap¬ 
 pointed Master Mechanic of the White 
 Mountain Division of the B. & L., 
 Sept. 1884; C. & M., June 1, 1889. 
 
 After the Boston & Maine leased the 
 B., C. & M. he was transferred to 
 Springfield, Mass. After six months 
 he resigned to accept a position as 
 foreman on the New York Central, 
 with headquarters at Depew, N. Y. 
 After four years he was transferred 
 to Boston, as foreman of four engine 
 houses. 
 
 After a few years he resigned on 
 account of poor health. He later ac¬ 
 cepted the position as superintendent 
 
 Boston. After four years there, he 
 moved to Lakeport, and lived the short 
 time of one year and two months, 
 passing away June 11, 1916. I hope 
 this will be of some help to you. It is 
 all I can remember. 
 
 Mrs. Geo. A. Ferguson. 
 
 Bob Carr of Andover succeeded 
 Mr. Cummings as wood agent for a 
 few years and up to the changing 
 from wood to coal. 
 
 Several who worked for the old 
 road and have not come in for men¬ 
 tion up to this time were F. E. Hay¬ 
 ward, telegraph operator, (now at 
 Laconia); Eid Buckley, fireman and 
 later engineer; John Colhy, fireman; 
 Ernest Little, now third trick opera¬ 
 tor at Laconia; Ed Large, through 
 freight conductor at the present day; 
 Frank Keysar, a. present day passen¬ 
 ger conductor. Keysar has repre¬ 
 sented the town of Haverhill several 
 sessions in the legislature and one 
 term in the senate; Charles I. Swain, 
 who started handling wood for the 
 old locomotives and is now station 
 agent at Meredith. Then there was 
 George Billings, who was agent at 
 Haverhill and later Rumney; Henry 
 Herbert, 15 years agent at Rumney; 
 Victor Heath, an old time freight 
 conductor; Charles Whitney, fireman 
 in the 80s; Clarence Caswell, tele¬ 
 graph operator. 
 
 There was one jolly old time pas¬ 
 senger conductor who always had a 
 pleasant word and cheerful smile for 
 everybody; and was unusually suc¬ 
 cessful in quieting “ugly men” on 
 the train This saintly old knight of 
 the punch should have been a sister 
 of charity or (Salvation Army worker 
 rather than in the vocation he fol¬ 
 lowed for so many years. There was 
 one man living at Meredith Village 
 who used to go down to Meredith 
 Bridge (Laconia) every few days and 
 
109 
 
 get drunk on purpose to kick up a 
 row on the train going up. fie had 
 cleaned out several of the conductors 
 £*nd this night the saintly old con¬ 
 ductor saw him and knew he was in 
 for a row. In telling of the circum¬ 
 stance the conductor said, “Hie looked 
 as though he had a hot box when he 
 saw me coming in the door and 
 grated his teeth. (He was full, boil¬ 
 ing over, and expected to fight all the 
 way to 'Meredith Village, where he 
 lived, and get off without paying. I 
 went up to him and sat down beside 
 him, and asked him if he had a good 
 time today, and thep. I pulled out 
 some picture cards that I got in 
 a store, and I said, 'Here, Pat, take 
 these pictures to your little girl at 
 home, and tell her, as she meets you 
 at the door, and throws her arms 
 around your neck, and kisses you, and 
 says she is glad you came home sober, 
 and that she loves you, and that you 
 are the dearest papa in the world, tell 
 her that I sent them to her, with a 
 kiss/ Well, you wouldn’t believe it, 
 but before I got half through talking 
 about his little girl, the big tears 
 came to his eyes, and rolled down his 
 red face, and he took them and 
 thanked me in a choking voice, and 
 said as he pulled out a five dollar bill, 
 ‘Take my fare out of this, and God 
 bless you.’ I’ll bet that rough fel¬ 
 low’s heart was touched, because 
 when he got off he was sober, and 
 was wiping his eyes on his coat 
 sleeve, and he pointed right straight 
 for home. Oh, a man can get in his 
 Christian work on a railroad train if 
 he wants to.” This good old con¬ 
 ductor has long since passed to his 
 reward and his works do follow him. 
 
 A story is told of a fellow at Mere¬ 
 dith Bridge back ip the 60’s, going to 
 the station and enquiring the fare to 
 Littleton “Three dollars,” replied 
 the station agent. 
 
 “An’ what d’ye charge for a pig or 
 cow?” 
 
 “Two dollars for a pig, and six dol¬ 
 lars for a cow.” 
 
 “Well,” directed the fellow, “book 
 me as a pig.” 
 
 One summer afternoon albout 3'7 
 years ago, a way freight was sliding 
 down the hill between Warren Sum¬ 
 mit and East Haverhilil and went into 
 a drove of cattle which had gotten 
 out of a pasture and opto the track. 
 Five oxen were killed. The animals 
 were not badly braised so but what 
 most of the meat was dressed and 
 sent to market. I remember helping 
 dress the cretaures, and coming 
 home at 11 o’clock at night on a hand 
 car. The old Moosilauke was on the 
 freight that afternoon. 
 
 Speaking of cattle being killed by 
 trains brings to mind what someope 
 wrote, as I have heard said, on the 
 door of a “buggy.” 
 
 No words were spoken when they 
 met, 
 
 By either—sad or gay; 
 
 And yet one badly smitten was, 
 ’Twas mentioned the next day. 
 They met by chance this autumn eve, 
 With neither glance nor bow; 
 They often come together so— 
 
 A freight train and a cow. 
 
 Warren, N. H., May 16, 1919. 
 My dear Caswell: 
 
 For almost twenty years my father, 
 Obediali G. Smith sawed wood for the 
 old B., C. & M. His first job was at 
 Plymouth where he lived at the time. 
 The company had a hundred cords of 
 wood landed in front of the Pemige- 
 wasset House which he sawed with 
 an old tread horse power. He did 
 the work so quickly and satisfactorily 
 that Mr. Dodge soon after sent for 
 him to come to his office, and asked if 
 he would like the contract to saw all 
 the wood for the road. Father being 
 but a lad and just starting out in life 
 jumped at the chance. Road carpen¬ 
 ters took an old box car, fitted some 
 
110 
 
 windows in the sides, some bunks and 
 a stove were placed in it, and a few 
 days later my father loaded his old 
 tread mill and two “skates,” along 
 with some camp duffle and securing 
 some boys from the town they left 
 Plymouth one morning attached to the 
 way freight. The natives remarked, 
 “there goes Smith’s menagerie.” The 
 crew lived in the car on sidings at 
 various woodsheds and sawed wood 
 under difficulties; finally two more 
 better horses were bought, and as cold 
 weather came on other cars were 
 added. A Grey horse power was another 
 purchase and he began to prosper. 
 In a year or so the old horse power 
 was discarded for a hot air compres¬ 
 sion engine; the exhaust could be 
 heard two miles away, the boiler being 1 
 scarcely larger than a barrel with a 
 six foot balance wheel. Later the 
 Baxter engine took the place of this 
 contraption. For almost twenty 
 years my father kept up this pace, 
 helping to develop this section of the 
 state in the way he did. The road 
 furnished him several boarding cars, 
 which I can remember were painted 
 light green with gold letters a foot 
 high running the entire length of the 
 sides, reading, O. G. Smith’s Board¬ 
 ing- Car. The family or living car 
 was fitted out with conveniences of 
 home life, and the cars were moved 
 from one town to another and the 
 family or “crew” (there were three 
 crews) made many pleasant friends in 
 the varius neighborhoods from Con¬ 
 cord to Groveton. I was a little boy 
 along the last of the wood-sawing 
 days, and you can imagine what such 
 a life (on the rail) of enjoyment or 
 novelty meant to a boy. I would 
 only like to live the days over again. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 Geo. E. Smith 
 
 The section men of early times 
 were furnished with hand-cars, or 
 belt-cars. This was a small con¬ 
 
 traption about four foot square hav¬ 
 ing 12 inch wheels, propelled by two 
 large cranks which turned a 30 inch 
 pulley over which run a 6 inch leath¬ 
 er or rubber belt down -to an 8 
 inch pulley on one of the axles be¬ 
 neath the car. Later a heavy hand¬ 
 car was adopted with 30 inch wheels, 
 a seat across each end on which four 
 or six men could ride down the hills 
 and the cars were propelled up the 
 hills by four men. This car weighed 
 about half a ton, and was propelled 
 by gears, a large gear wheel mesh¬ 
 ing into a smaller gear on one of 
 the axles. There was a “bonnet” or 
 “hood” over the gears. The cranks 
 had about a four foot sweep. 'These 
 cars were painted bright red. 
 
 Up to sometime in the early 80’s 
 whenever a corpse was transported 
 on a train the casket or box had to 
 be placed on the platform of the bag¬ 
 gage car; a corpse was not allowed 
 in the car. Mr. Lougee tells in a 
 letter elsewhere of a casket being 
 roughly handled at the time of the 
 Sewell’s Falls wreck in 1878. 
 
 Here is a seniority list of engineers 
 who were working in January, 1908, 
 who started firing for the old road 
 which was taken over by the Boston 
 & Lowell in 1884, showing when 
 they were promoted to engineers, as 
 well as the year in which they started 
 firing. Most of them were employed 
 by the railroad previous to the time 
 when they started firing. 
 
 First date, entered service as fire¬ 
 man; second date, promotion. 
 
 W>m. R. Kimball, Jan. 1865, May 1869. 
 O. D. Bailey, Apr. 1868, Oct 1871. 
 
 F. A. Clifford, Apr. 1869, June 1872. 
 
 F. H. Burleigh, June 1871, June 1874. 
 
 G. E. QHDutchins, June 1866, Sept. 1874. 
 Milo H. Annis, June 1872, Apr. 1876. 
 James Badger, /1870, June 1878. 
 
 F. S. Whiting, May 1872, Aug. 1879. 
 
 J. /H. Lawler, June 1874, Aug. 1880. 
 
 G. D. Pebbles, July 1876, Aug. 1880. 
 J. W. Buckley, 'Sept. 1879, Feb. 1882. 
 
Ill 
 
 C. L. Cummings, July 1876, June 1882. 
 J. K. Corliss, Oct. 1879, July 1883. 
 
 G. H. Tewfeslbury, Dec. 1880, Fe!b». 
 1885. 
 
 Edw. F. (Hoit, Jan. 1881, 'Feb. 1885. 
 
 H. G. Corliss, Feb. 1881, Aug. 1880. 
 
 F. C. Gale, June 1882, Oct. 1886. 
 Edward Bowler, July 1882, Feb. 1887. 
 
 E. F. Lake, Feb. 1880, Apr. 1887. 
 
 F. E. Sargent, Aug. 1880, June 1887. 
 
 A. G. Webster, Apr. 1882, June 1887. 
 A. J. Pike, June 1882, June 1887. 
 
 A. P. Lake, Feb. 1881, Jan. 1888. 
 Elmer Cross, Apr. 1883, Feb. 1888. 
 
 J. A. Harris, May 1883, Feb. 1888. 
 Edw. M. Buckley, Oct. 1884, Feb. 1888. 
 F. C. Danforth, June 1884, June 1889. 
 J. E. Burkett, Sept. 1880, June 1889. 
 Geo. M. Spaulding, June 1884, May 
 1890. 
 
 Fred Ma 4 nn of WoodsvUle has been 
 very kind in loaning me some pic¬ 
 tures of tbe wreck at Fogg’s hill in 
 1882, a write-up of which appears 
 elsewhere. It is regretted too, that 
 these pictures are faded, therefore 
 will not be used in this article. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 With your permission I would like 
 to add a few words to what is being 
 said about old times on the Boston, 
 Concord & Montreal. To start with 
 I would say when my mother was a 
 young lady she used to work at the 
 old Pemigewasset House, Plymouth. 
 Benjamin Brown, my grandfather, lived 
 where Mr. Wright now lives, just 
 south of Rumney railroad yard. At 
 that time there boarded at the old 
 “Pemmy,” such railroad men as Seth 
 Greenleaf, a passenger conductor, Ike 
 Sanborn, an engineer. One of the 
 Irish girls who worked there with my 
 mother used to say to Ike Sanborn, 
 “Isaac, will you tak you machine and 
 carry us girls up to Mr. Brewn’s?” 
 which he often used to do. There 
 
 were many other interesting circum¬ 
 stances and anecdotes I have heard 
 my mother tell of which would be in¬ 
 teresting if I could rcall them. 
 
 Speaking of that Christian man, 
 Uncle John Marsh who used to run a 
 gravel train from West Rumney 
 gravel pit in the fall of 1881 which 
 was 39 years ago. I remember it, 
 because it was that year my father 
 died, and I was working for Uncle 
 John on the gravel train. We young¬ 
 sters in those days always called him 
 “Uncle John.” Often when we were 
 sidetracked waiting for some train to 
 pass Uncle John would gather the 
 boys one side on the grass and ex¬ 
 pound the scriptures to us; and I 
 want to tell you it did a lots of us 
 lasting good. One day in particular 
 I remerber of his telling us of his 
 faith in the keeping power of God. 
 Near as I can remember it one day 
 Uncle John was taking a heavy freight 
 out of Concord. The rails were wet 
 as it was during a heavy rain, and 
 when the train got to Plymouth or 
 Lake Village, I don’t just remember 
 which they hooked on another engine 
 to help the train over Warren Summit. 
 When they hitched up someone told 
 the engineer of the helper that he nev¬ 
 er would run that train up Warren 
 Summit. He replied, “I will run it 
 up the hill or run it to Hell.” Uncle 
 John heard him and felt sorry for a 
 person who would use such language. 
 He climbed into the cab and before 
 the fire box door knelt and prayed to 
 God to take care of him if anything 
 happened or went wrong with the 
 train, and to keep him from accident 
 and spare his life. Soon the train 
 proceeded on its way. A few miles 
 north it encountered water on the 
 track in a number of places, and still 
 a few miles farther on the roadbed 
 was soft from the heavy rains, but 
 when the train got almost to Went¬ 
 worth depot both engines went off the 
 track into the water. The train crew 
 
112 
 
 saved their lives by jumping. Uncle 
 John was last to leave his post of 
 duty and jumped into mid-air from 
 the gangway of his engine almost the 
 instant she pitched over in a mass of 
 wreckage. The current was so 
 swift his body was sucked under the 
 wreckage, passing under the track to 
 the opposite side, carried on quite a 
 
 W. F. TRUE 
 
 Nearly Forty Years Station Agent at 
 East Haverhill 
 
 ways down the stream where he 
 grasped some alder bushes and pulled 
 himself to safety. He then and 
 there thanked the Lord for a safe de¬ 
 liverance from a watery grave. This 
 incident I can remember made an im¬ 
 pression on we boys. 
 
 I remember a circumstance of that 
 same summer when we were carrying 
 
 gravel from the West Rurnney pit to a 
 fill at the end of Jarve Sanborn’s side 
 track at Loon Pond. There was a 
 decline from the main line and a little 
 farther on up the siding an incline. 
 We were going in with a trainload of 
 grade and the engineer could not get 
 over the bunch. After trying a num¬ 
 ber of times without any success, 
 Uncle John came over the train and 
 asked if he might take the throttle, 
 wlieih he was permitted to do. He 
 backed the train down to the main 
 line and told us boys to stand by the 
 brakes and when he whistled to put 
 them up quick and hard. The train 
 started and Uncle John put the outfit 
 up over towards Loon Lake like a vet¬ 
 eran. The whistle sounded and we 
 boys did the rest. Uncle John cer¬ 
 tainly was a good man. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 John O. Rollins. 
 
 Wentworth, N. H., May 20, 1919. 
 
 Concord, N. H., 
 
 May IS, 1919. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 Well do I remember the engines mi 
 the old B. C. & M. and could tell many 
 by the the sound of the whistle, and 
 the men that ran them by the way 
 that they sounded the whistle. I see 
 that you speak of Uncle John Marsh 
 on one engine at the washout at Went¬ 
 worth. Mr. Bailey was the engineer on 
 the second engine and when asked 
 what he was doing when he went into 
 the washout, he answered that he was 
 looking out for Bailey’s big ears. In 
 regard to section foremen, Josiah 
 Hardy went to work on the East 
 Concord section and after working 
 about a year was promoted to foreman 
 and Uncle John Marsh worked for him. 
 Then Mr. Hardy was sent up to Ash¬ 
 land section and Mr. Marsh had the 
 East Concord section. After a time. Mr. 
 Hardy was taken from the Ashland 
 section to Haverhill and from the Ha¬ 
 verhill section toNorth Haverhill sec¬ 
 tion, or Blackmount as now called. 
 
113 
 
 When I was a boy he had A. Bowen 
 as second hand, and a man by the 
 name of Wetherbee as third hand. Ezra 
 Witherby of North Haverhill worked 
 one or two summers and Arthur Carr 
 now a conductor on the B. & M. work¬ 
 ed one summer. What would the sec¬ 
 tion think today if they had to get up 
 at midnight and walk from Black- 
 mount to Woodsville before the first 
 train south out of Woodsville as they 
 did then? I well remember the 
 wreck at North Haverhill 38 years ago. 
 That morning was father’s turn over 
 the road and he came back from 
 Woodsville on the way freight and I 
 was up and most over to the depot to 
 meet him. I saw by the paper that 
 Mr. Stone and his brakeman were 
 both killed but the brakeman was only 
 badly hurt and is still living, for I 
 was talking with him only a few years 
 ago at Lakeport. Mr. Hardy worked 
 for the old B. C. & M. CO years, then 
 retired and went to farming but has 
 since passed on. A. Bowen, his sec¬ 
 ond hand went barefooted summers 
 with a piece of sole leather fastened 
 on his right foot to use on a shovel. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Charles E. Hardy, 
 
 42 Beacon Street, Concord, N. H. 
 
 Tilton, N. H. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 To one who has not seen and fol¬ 
 lowed the improvements on a locomo¬ 
 tive for the past 50 years one could 
 hardly believe it possible and to 
 many of the present day the stories 
 of the old days of railroading will 
 read like fairy tales. 
 
 The word locomotive was seldom 
 used 40 or 50 years ago and they were 
 known simply as an engine. Inspira- 
 tators, injectors, air brakes, Miller 
 Hooks, automatic couplers and many 
 other things' were unknown; despatch- 
 ers were also unknown. The engines 
 were equipped with two plunger pumps, 
 one on each side, the plunger being 
 connected with cross head by 
 
 what was known as a yoke and it was 
 only possible to put water into the 
 boiler when the engine was moving. 
 When running, the flow of water was 
 gauged by a valve in the bottom of the 
 tank controlled by a handle on top of 
 the tank. After the engineer got used 
 to the ways of the engine he would 
 put one or more prick punch marks 
 on the rod and after that always set 
 it on one of those marks and vary it 
 according to the forking of the engine. 
 There was what was called a “pet 
 cock” which was screwed into the 
 pumps above the top valves, this was 
 used to let the air out when the pump 
 was started and also to see if pump 
 was working good. Incidentally it 
 was often used to wet us boys with if 
 we got too close tto the track. iDater 
 came the “lazy cock” which every 
 man thought (and it was) a great im¬ 
 provement and were anxious to have 
 it. This consisted of a valve brazed 
 to the end of the supply pipe and 
 connected by a rod on to a quadrant 
 attached tc the boiler butt with a 
 handle which the driver could handle 
 without getting off the seat. At the 
 time I commenced glass water gauges 
 were unknown, and we had to run by 
 the gauge cocks; there were four of 
 those, and the rule w u a to pump so as 
 to have enough water in the boiler 
 so it would just show in the top 
 gauge; this could not always be done, 
 especially if the engine was steaming 
 hard; in that case you Lad to “baby” 
 her and many times close the valve 
 and run the water as low as possible 
 in order to have steam to make the 
 hill. After making the hill open the 
 valve wide and pump all the way 
 down the hill. When we were to 
 meet another train at some station we ; 
 always planned to have the boiler as 
 full as possible before setting off as 
 there was no knowing how long we 
 would have to wait and there was no 
 way of puttng water into boiler after 
 the engine stopped. The first injector 
 we had was the “Mack,” then carnet 
 
114 
 
 the Hancock Inspirator, but it was 
 some yeais before the old engines 
 were all equipped with them and the 
 old pumps were done away with. Usual¬ 
 ly they would ^ve one pump on the 
 left side; the injector on the right. 
 There was no shutting the cylinder 
 cocks from the cab as now; after the 
 engine had run slowly two or three 
 rods the fireman would drop off run 
 forward, close them on one side, cross 
 track ahead of engine and close 
 them on that side and then climb on, 
 and we were off. If setting on siding 
 for any length of time they were always 
 opened and closed again after pulling 
 out on main line and always when 
 putting engine in house. 
 
 There were no self feeding oil cups 
 on steam chests. This was done by 
 the fireman taking a can, going out on 
 running board and turning a lot of oil 
 into the cups, let it run in and close 
 cup, pass around the front end, oil 
 that side and back into cab; this was 
 done about every 20 miles and when 
 coasting down the hills and always go¬ 
 ing into a terminal station. It 
 was some ticklish job if going 30 or 
 more miles an hour and more es¬ 
 pecially in the winter when the run¬ 
 ning board was covered with ice and 
 snow and the wind blowing a gale and 
 many a night I have had to go around 
 the front end on my hands and knees. 
 Later a pipe was run through the 
 hand rail cementing with a pipe into 
 top of steam chest with the oil cup in 
 the cab. This was sure some im¬ 
 provement and the danger of traveling 
 outside overcome. 
 
 Then came the Dreyfus self-oiler. 
 This was a large cup placed on the 
 steam chest and would hold about a 
 quart of oil and would run about a 
 hundred miles with one filling. Then 
 came the lubricators which are now 
 in use. Firing with wood in the old 
 days was not always a picnic and 
 there was hardly a man but what had 
 the trade mark on his hands and some 
 of them carried it to their graves. 
 
 This mark was on the fingers and was 
 caused by catching the fingers between 
 the end of a stick of wood and the fire 
 box door and badly crushing the end 
 of the finger. Sometimes they 
 
 would only loose the nail and be all 
 right in a short time, but I have 
 known of instances where the end of 
 a finger or thumb was so badly crush¬ 
 ed it had to be amputated. 
 
 With good wood and a good steamer 
 it was a pleasure to run, but with 
 poor wood which we got more often 
 than good, it w T as altogether different 
 and we had to figure all ways to make 
 time, and at that often had to wait at 
 stations and blow up steam as it was 
 called. 
 
 I well remember one time on the 
 mail in 1876 of sitting at Wentworth 
 40 minutes blowing up. We had a 
 load of old tires out of Plymouth and 
 they were from the bottom of the shed 
 at Bridgewater and were full of wa¬ 
 ter ; we managed to get to Warren 
 with just steam enough to get to the 
 wood shed and got enough dry wood 
 to get over the hill. George Y. 
 Moulton was conductor and no doubt 
 will recall the time. 
 
 Braking by hand on a passenger 
 train and making good stops was some 
 stunt with 3 or 4 cars. The baggage 
 master would handle the baggage 
 car brake, the brakeman the two rear 
 brakes the engineer would always shut 
 off steam at a certain point and then 
 it was up to the brakeman to do the 
 rest. Baggage master would set his 
 brake fairly well, brakeman would 
 set one on next to rear car, step across 
 to the other one and take up the slack, 
 train gradually slowing down; when 
 near the platform the brakeman 
 would lay onto the rear brake, 
 baggage master take another turn and 
 the stop was made and they seldom 
 ran by. 
 
 Signals by bell cords were seldom 
 given and it was only used as an em¬ 
 ergency or “stop at once.” For sta¬ 
 tion stops there -was a target on the 
 
115 
 
 opposite side of each end of the pas- promoted to engineer; went down with 
 
 senger cars and this was used as a 
 signal to stop at flag stations and was 
 thrown out by the conductor or brake- 
 man and always on the engineer’s side 
 and after stop was made it was 
 tipped back into place out of sight. E. 
 F. Mann as baggage master and James 
 C. Badger as brakeman were the 
 “king pins” in making stops with the 
 hand brakes in those days. 
 
 C. W. Adams. 
 
 Ex-Mayor Hutchins of Berlin adds 
 one more to his several other already 
 interesting letters. I am glad Mr. 
 Hutchins sent this bit of information 
 as it is just what I wanted. In 
 one of the annual reports of the di¬ 
 rectories of the old road there was 
 mention made of heavy losses sustain¬ 
 ed from high water in 1869, but up to 
 now nothing definite could be ascer¬ 
 tained as to the extent of the several 
 washouts. 
 
 Berlin, N. H 
 May IS, 1919. 
 
 C. E. Caswell: 
 
 I have not as yet seen any account 
 of the great flood in Oct. 1869. 
 
 It began raining Sunday morning, 
 rained all day Sunday, that night and 
 Monday. I was firing the mail train 
 at the time; left Woodsville Monday 
 morning on time; George A. Furgur- 
 son was engineer; Sid Russ, conduc¬ 
 tor ; we found water running over 
 track in places all the way down to 
 Laconia. I would get off and wade 
 through ahead of the engine to see if 
 the track was safe. When we got 
 to the bridge south of Winnisquam we 
 found it down against the fence. We 
 started right back. When we reach¬ 
 ed Durkee Sands, found 60 feet of 
 track washed out, stayed there that 
 night. I watched the engine: Peter 
 Hinds watched train; next day the 
 track was repaired so we got back to 
 Lake Village. Next morning I was 
 
 men to the brook south of Union 
 bridge (now East Tilton,) where the 
 track was washed out; there was an¬ 
 other washout south of Sanbornton; 
 another at Bryant’s brook, between 
 Northfield and Canterbury; dump all 
 washed out about fifty feet deep and 
 two hundred feet across; another at 
 Cold Brook south of Canterbury about 
 the same size; another at Burnham’s 
 Brook south of North Concord (now 
 Boyce), fifty feet deep and a hundred 
 and fifty or two hundred feet across; 
 track was washed badly between .East 
 Concord and Concord, 
 
 There were no trains run below 
 Tilton for about four weeks; trans¬ 
 ferred across from Tilton to Franklin 
 by teams. 
 
 The Connecticut River through Ha¬ 
 verhill and Newbury was one great 
 lake and was filled with corn and 
 pumpkins. The road between Woods¬ 
 ville and Littleton was washed badly 
 in places. 
 
 I think it was the greatest damage 
 by water in the history of the B. C. & 
 M. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 George E. Hutchins. 
 
 431 Yz South Main St. 
 
 Elkhart, Ind. 
 
 Mr. C. E. Caswell: 
 
 Dear Sir:—So you thought that I 
 had gone to the happy hunting 
 grounds, but not yet. If you are the 
 son of Ed. Caswell, then I knew your 
 father well. He and I roomed to¬ 
 gether and boarded at the old maid’s 
 at Woodsville. He worked for Bax¬ 
 ter Kimball, who was road master 
 then. Your father could tell you a 
 lot about my work on the railroad. 
 The last I knew of him he was station 
 agent at Warren Summit. 
 
 You wish me to write of my experi¬ 
 ence on the B. C. & M. I will try 
 to do so, or some of it. 
 
4 
 
 116 
 
 In the spring of ’63 I went to work 
 on the section. I was sixteen years 
 old. In the fall I ran the stationary 
 engine at Woodsyille and sawed wood 
 for five engines and fired the McDuffee 
 over the hill (Warren Summit.) I 
 did that for two months, then Ike 
 Sanborn’s fireman enlisted in the war 
 and Henry Ramsey, then station agent 
 at Woodsville, put me to firing for Ike 
 Sanborn who was running the Mail 
 train between Littleton and Woods¬ 
 ville. With Mountain Maid both 
 Mail and freight, four trips a day. I 
 did all of my firing for him and 
 George Eaton who ran the McDuffee 
 then. 
 
 In the fall of ’64, Ike Sanborn laid 
 off and I run his engine. When he 
 came back I fired for him until he 
 laid off again in the spring of ’65, then 
 I run the engine until he came back, 
 then fired for him when not running 
 extra out of Woodsville. 
 
 In ’66 I was sent to Lake Village to 
 run extra from there. In the sum¬ 
 mer of ’67 I run the Mountain Maid 
 from Plymouth to Littleton and re¬ 
 turn. Will Moore fired for me; it was 
 his first firing. Dave Furgerson 
 conductor. Ike Sanborn took the 
 Peter Clark and my brother George 
 fired for him, while I was running the 
 summer train. In the fall I run the 
 Mountain Maid and hauled the gravel 
 train between Woodsville and Ply¬ 
 mouth. In the winter Ike Sanborn 
 got me the chance to fire for him 
 again as I wished to be in Littleton 
 until the summer train was put on 
 again. He laid off a part of the win¬ 
 ter and brother George Lyons fired for 
 me. It was the last firing I did. 
 
 In the summer of ’68 I run the 
 Mountain Maid and hauled the train 
 between Plymouth and Littleton. 
 George Eastman conductor, Peter 
 Hines brakeman and baggage master, 
 Rufe Huckins fireman. It was call¬ 
 ed Eastman’s train. In the fall and 
 winter I run the freight from Woods¬ 
 ville to Lake Village. In the sum¬ 
 
 mer of ’69 I hauled the Eastman train 
 again, Orrin Bailey fireman. The ex¬ 
 tension from Littleton to Whitefield 
 line started in ’69 and after the two 
 first bridges were built I took the 
 Mountain Maid and pushed the work 
 train with rails and ties until we got 
 to where the three mile bridge wa^s to 
 be built. John Butler conductor,, I 
 helped to build that bridge with the 
 engine. The bridge builders were do¬ 
 ing the work by hand. I told them 
 to hitch a rope to the engine and I 
 would haul the girders and stringers 
 into place, and they did so. After 
 that bridge was done I had the engine 
 Laconia to run the work train to 
 Whitefield line. I run the freight 
 from Woodsville to Whitefield, after 
 the road was built to that place, and 
 return. I had engine Peter Clark, 
 Charlie Hoyt fireman, Ezra Mann con¬ 
 ductor. 
 
 When the freight went to Lancaster 
 I hauled it with the Paugus. Martin 
 Perkins fired, Ezra Mann conductor. I 
 cannot give dates. 
 
 George Lyons was running the 
 Granite State with work train; when 
 he got through with that he took the 
 Paugus and hauled the freight and I 
 went back on my old train, the freight, 
 with the engine Ammonoosuc. I kept 
 that run a number of years. Then I 
 hauled the Mail train one summer 
 from Woodsville to Concord with the 
 Coos. 
 
 When the Montpelier and Wells 
 River railroad extended to Groton I 
 run the first passenger train, a special, 
 from Woodsville to Groton with the 
 Coos one evening. Henry Ramsay, 
 who was station agent at Woodsville, 
 conducted the train, Billy Woodbury 
 fireman. Part of one winter after 
 the extension was laid from the 
 Fabyans to Lunenburg, I ran the Lan¬ 
 caster and hauled a passenger train 
 for the P. and O. road. Jack Lawler 
 fired, George Eastman conductor. We 
 were there part of one winter, the 
 rest of the winter I had the Lancas- 
 
- 117 
 
 ter with the snowplow out of Woods- rails spread and cars and engine went 
 ville. Baxter Kimball road master, over the dump into the river. He 
 Jack Lawler fired part of the time and his fireman, Curt Chamberlain, 
 George Bamsay a part. My conduc- jumped. George got one arm broken, 
 tors at different times on freights be- Little John Buckley was on the engine 
 tween Woodsville and Lake Village and took a ride to the river. He lost 
 were Manus Perkins, Chet. Carpenter, his cap on the way and when they 
 High Moulton, Henry Mann. Conduc- took him off the engine he asked for 
 tors on opposite freight O. R. Farrar, it. He is an engineer now on the 
 Frank Butler, George Moulton, En- Mail train from Woodsville to Con- 
 gineer Ossie Berdeen. cord, or was when I was in New 
 
 My firemen were Martin Perkins, Hampshire a few years ago. Jack 
 Billy Woodbury, Orrin Bailey. Lawler run the train opposite him. 
 
 When I was given the Mail train be- I had other firemen and conductors 
 tween Woodsville and Concord, I run than those I have named. Brother 
 engine Northumberland, Milo Annis Charlie fired on that road aWhile. I 
 fired, then Billy Woodbury, Fred Whit- do not remember who for. j 
 ing and probably more. James W. Foster of Bath, has sent 
 
 George Moulton conducted the train the Warren New*s to me and I enjoy 
 from Lancaster to Plymouth, and Sid reading about the old timers. 
 
 Russ conducted from Plymouth to I wish you success with your book 
 Concord and back. George Randall about them. 
 
 run the engine for the train opposite 
 mine, when I left the B. C. & M. R. R. 
 and came to Elkhart, Ind., in 1881. 
 
 I hauled other trains, the White 
 Mountain express for one, from Con¬ 
 cord to Woodsville and brother Gteorge m 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. Weston Lyosns. 
 
 fiaL /it'?- 
 
 
 I 
 
 ^eld#' :v |||..,a letter from George F. 
 il^^^Osfmaster at Ashland, N. 
 
 took it from there up to Lancaster FTimmev put in twenty-five 
 
 the Fabyans _ I do not remember. I#ekrs at station work on the old B., 
 ran a special, just an engine, to & M., and was anxious to see men- 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher to the Tmn|- ma( , e of some 0 f the old time sta- 
 Mountam house. He got left at C<ga-^|j on a g entg 
 cord. He was conducting meeti^s - 
 at the mountains that summer. Jgl Friend Caswell: 
 
 took an excursion train there fr<§jn, '*§.■ I have greatly enjoyed reading- the 
 Woodsville, one Sunday to hear h|b-a|^icles you have published regarding 
 preach. (I was on that train going<|oFea%^days on the B. C. & M. 
 
 Fabyans House to hear and see the ^ Possibly it might be well tio men- 
 ted evangelist.—Caswell.) irt your pamphlet that i J. A. 
 
 While I was on that railroad I tun Dodge was the 'first station agent, 
 every engine that they had then and As the road was built from Concord 
 every kind of train from the work north, Mr. Dodge moved north with 
 train to the superintendent’s train. the road and as each station was 
 
 Master Mechanic George Stevens set opened, be would take charge of it and 
 me to running an engine. Ralph stay until a man had been hired, and 
 Adams took his place after he left, broken in to do the work, when Mr. 
 
 George Lyons was sent with engine Dodge would then move on to the 
 Marshfield over on the Montpelier next town and repeat the process, 
 road loading wood and bark. He Some of the men entering the station 
 was pushing a loaded train and the service in those early days remained 
 
 ) 
 
118 
 
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 • •. \ 
 
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 • • ••-. -V* 
 
 
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 V'/' «■ 
 
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 5 ''jkj' - f • f 
 
 
 NED T. CASWELL 
 
 For thirty years connected with the road in various branches. 
 
 Born at Haverhill, 1845 
 
 Died at Warren, 1915 
 
119 
 
 many years and were men of note in 
 their communities. 
 
 Among these were Curt Leavitt of 
 Laconia, Beede of Meredith, Colby of 
 Plymouth, Harris of Ashland and Riley 
 Swain at West Rumney, whose an¬ 
 nual sugar parties are still re¬ 
 membered and whose name is per¬ 
 petuated in Swainboro station. There 
 were also the Davisons and many 
 others of the agents who were well 
 known men and long in the service. 
 
 1 remember one thing in regard to 
 Engineer “Joe Hooker” who has been 
 mentioned several times in your 
 articles. One morning he was going 
 south with a freight,—on leaving Went¬ 
 worth said he was due at West Rum¬ 
 ney in just 8 minutes. Perhaps he 
 would have made it but an axle broke 
 under one of the cars, on the Bulls 
 Eye Curve, and while I do not re¬ 
 member that any one was hurt much, 
 the train was a sorry sight, and the 
 adjoining field piled high with the 
 wreck. When the first wrecking 
 crew reached the scene, Joe was busy 
 explaining to the bystanders what a 
 lucky Jiing it was he was going as he 
 expressed it “damned slow and easy” 
 at the time or the wreck would have 
 been much worse. I notice in the list 
 of engines the “Lady of the Lake”. 
 No\y I well remember the engine; for 
 many years she ran north from Ply¬ 
 mouth on the morning train and her 
 name then was simply, “Lady” there 
 was no Lake to it in my time and I 
 w r onder if there ever was. This en¬ 
 gine was about as big as a Ford car, 
 and w r as gay with glittering brass and 
 red paint. I have now in my 
 possession the board with the name 
 Franconia painted on it, which I found 
 floating in Baker’s River after the 
 Franconia, together with the Moosi- 
 lauke were wrecked in a washout at 
 Wentworth more than 40 years ago. 
 It was Edward Henry Mann’s opinion, 
 freely expressed, that the alderbushes 
 did more than John Marsh’s prayers 
 
 toward saving John’s life on that oc¬ 
 casion when he was being sw r ept aw r ay 
 in rushing water. 
 
 Railroading in those days was in 
 some ways rather a happy-go-lucky 
 aliair. But the men as a rule worked 
 hard and were devoted to the service. 
 I very much doubt if the present gen¬ 
 eration contending with the same diffi¬ 
 culties could make a better showing. 
 
 It is my impression the record for 
 time Woodsville to Concord made 
 many years ago by Engineer William 
 Kimball and the Tip-Top still stands 
 unbeaten. 
 
 I am glad you are doing what you 
 are to perpetuate the memories of 
 those days; for some of us at least 
 “Them were the Happy Days.” 
 
 George F. Plummer. 
 
 My dear Mr. Caswell: 
 
 I have been much interested in 
 reading the letters and various items 
 that have appeared from time to time 
 in your valuable paper, regarding 
 some of the events connected with old 
 times on the railroad. They bring to 
 mind many things connected with my 
 own experience as a railroad man and 
 by your kind permission I will refer 
 to just a few. 
 
 I went to work for the B. C. & M. 
 railroad in 1868 at Lake Village as it 
 was then called as a blacksmith. 
 
 Joe Lougee was the firemen of the 
 shop, Ralph Adams master mechanic 
 and Moses Elkins master car builder. 
 Among my associates in the shop I re¬ 
 member Frank Randall and John Don¬ 
 ovan as blacksmiths with Joe Judkins 
 and Bartlett Hall as helpers. All of 
 them have passed to the great beyond 
 I believe, except Judkins who is a sub¬ 
 stantial farmer in Belmont. We 
 went to work in those days at 6:30 
 o’clock in the morning: and left off at 
 6:30 at night with one hour at noon. 
 About every thing was done by hand, 
 very little machinery being in use, al¬ 
 though we did have the trip hammer 
 
120 
 
 to help shape some of the heavier pieces 
 of iron. When there was a wreck on 
 the railroad every one had to get out 
 and lend a helping hand. This was 
 not especially conducive to an even 
 
 ORRIN H. BEAN, 
 
 Started work for the B., C. & M. in 1868 — 
 fifty-one years ago and still at it. 
 
 temper when the thermometer was at 
 zero or below, or when there was a 
 north east snow or rain storm raging 
 at the same time. In October 1869 
 the great freshet occurred when every 
 railroad bridge was washed out be¬ 
 tween Laconia and Concord. Then 
 the boys had to hustle, working night 
 and day, not excepting Sundays until 
 the trains could resume their regular 
 schedule. 
 
 A gang would leave home at 5 
 o’clock in the morning and get back 
 
 anywhere from 7 to 9 in the evening 
 and think themselves lucky by so do¬ 
 ing. No labor organizations in those 
 days to watch out that you did not 
 work over time. I think it was in 
 the same month as the great freshet 
 that an engine ran off the track one 
 mile north of Plymouth and went 
 down an embankment over 20 feet 
 turning completely over. Henry 
 Little was the engineer and strange to 
 say was not injured to any great ex¬ 
 tent, but the fireman Frank ISwazey 
 was badly hurt, although as I re¬ 
 member not fatally so. We worked 
 all day Saturday and into the night in 
 the rain and all day Sunday, then 
 work was suspended until the next 
 Saturday when it was resumed and we 
 finally got the engine back on the iron 
 and towed it down to Lake Village for 
 repairs. I remember well all of the 
 engines referred to by C. E. Cum¬ 
 mings in his interesting article in your 
 paoer, • except the Jenny Lind and the 
 Starr King; these I don’t seem to re¬ 
 call. 
 
 In 1871-2 I was in Vermont, but in 
 1873 I came back to N. H. and went 
 to work for the Northern Railroad in 
 Concord, under J. N. Lauder as mas¬ 
 ter mechanic where I remained for six 
 v’ears. In 1879 I went to the old 
 Concord road under James T. Gordon 
 master mechanic and continued suc¬ 
 cessively with the Concord, the Con¬ 
 cord & Montreal and Boston & Maine, 
 where I am still pounding iron which 
 I have been doing for over 50 years. I 
 am some little past the three score and 
 ten mark but my courage is good and 
 it is possible that a kind and beneficent 
 providence will vouchsafe to me 
 the privilege of rounding out four 
 score years, before I am obliged to lay 
 down the implements of life and pass 
 on to that “undiscovered country from 
 whose bourne no traveler returns.” 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Orrin H. Bean, 
 
 194 South Main St., Concord, N. H. 
 
121 
 
 There has been more or less con¬ 
 troversy with reference to the Mt. 
 Washington and Carroll. John Buck- 
 ley tells ml the road owned an engine 
 named Mt. Washington, No. 20; later 
 they bought the first ten wheel loco¬ 
 motive Owned in New England, a 
 heavy machine to run between the 
 Base of the mountain and Fabyans, 
 and named her Mt. Washington, her 
 number being 29, and the other 
 ‘ Mount” was renamed Carroll. No. 20. 
 
 Both the Lancaster engine and Car- 
 roll were said to be very attractive, 
 and had more brass in their mount¬ 
 ings than any other engines in the 
 country. They cost the road $17,000.00 
 each. 
 
 It was thirty-five years ago the old 
 road first went out of existence, 
 (1884). . One of the boys who went 
 to work about that time and had a 
 part in railroad affairs about that 
 time and along down the years since 
 was Amos Wheeler, who was brake- 
 man, conductor, later station agent at 
 Whitefield twenty-five years ago, 
 later agent at Berlin. Then I recol¬ 
 lect Fred Burnham, conductor, 
 George Baiiley, Fred Loveley; I had 
 almost forgotten Mary Buckley tele¬ 
 graph operator; Clarence Caswell 
 used to telegraph for the old road 
 when the office was in Jerry Jewett’s 
 store near the railroad crossing here 
 at Warren. There was Jim Jones, 
 Havey Titus, Bill Morrison, Charles 
 Ordway, Gilbert McConnell, as good a 
 man as ever walked on shoe leather. 
 Bill Taylor used to be station agent 
 at Lake Village, and if he could 
 come back and see them doing things 
 there today he would stop and shake 
 hands with himself because of his ef¬ 
 forts in the early days. 
 
 Early in this article appeared a pic¬ 
 ture of the old depot at Tilton. The 
 first stations were practically all the 
 
 same style. At the present day the 
 station buildings at Haverhill, Bath 
 Rumney and Canterbury are of fifty 
 years ago. The interiors have been 
 somewhat remodeled. In early days 
 soon after the road was built to 
 Whitefield Thomas Powers was the 
 “whole shop force” at that point. He 
 is now retired and living at Newark, 
 N. J: He has a son, Charlie Powers 
 who is yard master at Berlin. Charles 
 A. Upton, a blacksmith here in War¬ 
 ren put in two years as baggage mas¬ 
 ter for the old road working along 
 with A1 Mooney. Chester B. Averill, 
 a local merchant here began as tele¬ 
 graph operator at Lake Village about 
 the time the road first changed hands 
 and stayed on for years. 
 
 Then there was Dave Eaton and 
 Will Howe at Wentworth in the B. & 
 L. days. 
 
 Here follows a letter from W. H. 
 Mathews, cashier of the C. P. Rock¬ 
 well, Inc., of the Nash. Car Co., Bos¬ 
 ton, who was connected with the old 
 road and Pemigewasset House, thirty 
 or more years ago. 
 
 Boston, Mass., June 3, 1919 
 C. E. Caswell. 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 Dear Sir: — 
 
 I commenced service with the 
 B., C. & M. in the Passenger Depart¬ 
 ment in the early eighties and at the 
 Boston and Plymouth offices. 
 
 Was associated with Supt. J. A. 
 Dodge, W. R. Brackett, and George W. 
 Stoner, and was transferred to the 
 Boston and Lowell which leased the 
 B,. C. & M. and White Mountain Di¬ 
 vision, with W. A. Stowell and E. F. 
 Mann, as Supt. and Asst. Supt. 
 
 Lucius Tuttle as General Passen¬ 
 ger Agent, and G. W. Storer as A. G. 
 P. A. and went to Plymouth as Cash¬ 
 ier at Pemigewasset House, under 
 Carl Morse, B. W. Angell and C. E. 
 Sleeper as Managers. 
 
122 
 
 This House was the central resting House Keeper was out and the Head 
 
 spot for all the officials of several 
 railroad systems while taking trips to 
 the White Mountains also for meals, 
 over night and week end ’vacations. 
 Edwin Morry as President also stop¬ 
 ped for two days when making 
 monthly inspections. C. H. Brown of 
 Hogg-Brown-Taylor Co. Dry Goods, 
 Boston; C. H. Breed, Lynn, Mass, in¬ 
 terested in Miica Mines in Groton, E. 
 H. Kidder, Banker, Boston and New 
 York. G. H. McCaniley, Leader of U. S. 
 Marine Band, Washington, D. C. 
 
 One little incident occurred the fif¬ 
 teenth of July 1886. which will never 
 be forgotten by those who saw it. 
 
 The Ancient and Honorable Artil¬ 
 lery of Boston were booked to dinner 
 at the “Perni” on their pilgrimage 
 and trip to Montreal. On the morn¬ 
 ing of that day the Head Waiter and 
 House Keeper had discussion who 
 should iron the table linen, viz; the 
 table waiters or the chamber maids. 
 The House Keeper took the stand 
 former should do it and Head Waiter 
 claimed the latter should do it. 
 
 The result was the waiters struck 
 and left at 11—A. M. dinner was to 
 be served at 12:30 to 4 00 people on 
 arrival of train from Boston. The 
 employers left that could be spared 
 were sent out and comm\aindeered 
 every man and woman to act a recep¬ 
 tion committee. 
 
 On the arrival of the train the Artil¬ 
 lery let themselves loose and when 
 orders came slow they made their 
 way to the kitchen, helped themselves 
 and greatly aroused the indignation 
 of the Italian meat cook, the German 
 pastry cook, and French vegetable 
 cook, and several doors bore the 
 marks of carving knives and cleavers, 
 and it was very fortunate that no one 
 was injured except their dispositions 
 and train delayed two hours. 
 
 Before night all but two waiters 
 p'eaded so earnestly to be taken back 
 that they were accepted, and the 
 
 Waiter resigned. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 W. H. Mathews. 
 
 Everybody along the road today 
 knows Fred L. Chase, a popular pas¬ 
 senger conductor on the White Moun¬ 
 tain division. Fred Chase in his early 
 
 FRED L. CHASE. 
 
 days was a printer at Littleton. I 
 have often heard it said a printer has 
 a knowledge of matters and things 
 which enables him to engage in most 
 any business or line of work, he so 
 desires. Fred Chase finally laid 
 down the stick and rule and went to 
 work for the B , C. & M. As the old 
 road went out of existence and other 
 managements came and went he stay¬ 
 ed through thick and thin, worked 
 his way up the ladder of promotion 
 
123 
 
 frcm a humble beginning, learning 
 all branches of railroad work and to¬ 
 day is one of the few men in the har¬ 
 ness who started his railroad career 
 on the old B., C. & M. Lie is a resi¬ 
 dent of Concord, highly respected in 
 that city, as well as in the many 
 tGwns along the line through which 
 he has run for so many years. 
 
 It is impossible to close this history 
 of the old B. C. & M. and the men who 
 he ped make it without briefly refer¬ 
 ring to the triumph with which en¬ 
 gineering skill has achieved in the 
 construction of the Mount Washing¬ 
 ton Railway, as many of the men of 
 the B. C. & M. had to do with the 
 building of and work on the road 
 up the mountain which was 
 built in 1869 by the Mount Washing¬ 
 ton Railway Company. During the 
 summer season, steam cars daily run 
 over the track which passes up the 
 west side of the mountain to the sum¬ 
 mit. The B. C. & M. extended its line 
 to the Base, bought a special locomo¬ 
 tive, the Mt. Washington, No. 29, 
 (which was the first ten wheel loco¬ 
 motive ever in New England) and 
 special observation cars to run from 
 Fabyans to the Base. The construc¬ 
 tion of the road up Mount Washing¬ 
 ton was due to the enthusiasm and 
 inventive genius of Mr. Sylvester 
 Marsh, of Littleton, N. H. At first it 
 was difficult to convince mechani¬ 
 cians of the feasibility of the scheme, 
 and little encouragement was afford¬ 
 ed by capitalists until an engine was 
 actually running over a portion of the 
 route. Finally, the necessary funds 
 having been subscribed, the railroad 
 was finished in 1869. It starts from 
 a point 2,668 feet above the sea, and 
 about 3,600 below the summit. The 
 average grade is 1,300, the maximum 
 1,980 feet to the mile. There are nine 
 curves on the line, varying from 497 
 to 954 feet radius. The track con¬ 
 sists of three rails, the outer four 
 
 feet, seven and a half inches apart, 
 which sustain the principle weight of 
 the rolling stock, and an inner ccg- 
 rail, four inches wide, into which the 
 teeth of the driving-weel of the en¬ 
 gine play, and, as it revolves, the 
 whole engine is made to move, resting 
 on the cuter rails. Practically, the 
 operation is accomplished by one cog¬ 
 wheel working into another. The at¬ 
 mospheric brakes reduce the possi¬ 
 bility of accident to a minimum risk. 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON. 
 
 Reminiscences of Walter Aiken and 
 the Mountain Railroad. 
 
 The services commemorating the 
 100th anniversary of the opening of 
 the Crawford Bridle Path to the 
 summit of Mount Washington and 
 the 50th anniversary of the opening 
 of the Mount Washington railway 
 were jointly observed July 5th in a 
 grove near the Crawford house. The 
 speakers were Frank H. Burt, Frank¬ 
 lin K. Reed of the federal forest ser¬ 
 vice, and Ex-United States Senator 
 John W. Weeks of Massachusetts. 
 
 Frank H. Burt, son of the late 
 Henry M. Burt, founder of “Among 
 the Clouds,” published upon the 
 summit of Washington, and the first 
 mountain newspaper in the world, 
 gave his reminiscences of the build¬ 
 ing of the Mount Washington rail¬ 
 way. Mr. Burt said: 
 
 “Fifty years ago today—Monday, 
 July 5, 1869—the Boston Journ. . 
 
 printed the following dispatch under 
 date of Concord, N. H., July 4: 
 
 “ ‘Asst.-Supt. Rowell telegraphed 
 that the Mt. Washington railway was 
 completed yesterday and that trains 
 now run to the Tip-Top house.’ 
 
 “Thus was announced the greatest 
 triumph of railway engineering up to 
 that time in the United States. The 
 vision and enterprise of a son of New 
 Hampshire, Sylvester Marsh, of 
 
124 
 
 Littleton, aided by the skill of other 
 New Hampshire men, had created the 
 first cog railway built to the summit 
 of any mountain in the world. 
 
 “It is fitting that we commemorate 
 today this event in conjunction with 
 the work of the pioneer, Ethan Allen 
 Crawford, who 50 years before made 
 the first step in the conquest of Mt. 
 Washington by the opening of the 
 first footpath. Mt. Washington has 
 always offered a challenge to adven¬ 
 turous spirits. The first to feel this 
 challenge were those who simply 
 came for the pleasure of the climb; 
 next those who, like Dr. Jeramy Bel¬ 
 knap, came for scientific study. To 
 Ethan Crawford the challenge was 
 the question of how to make the 
 ascent easier for those not accustom¬ 
 ed to the wilds. Then in succession 
 the way for visitors was made easier 
 by bridle path, by carriage roads, and 
 finally by railroad. 
 
 “Sylvester Marsh, a native of New 
 Hampshire, went to Chicago in early 
 life and engaged in business for 
 many years. During a visit to his na¬ 
 tive state he went up Mt. Washington 
 and appears at that time, or soon af¬ 
 ter, to have formed the idea of the 
 building of the railroad. In 1858 he 
 was granted a charter for railroads 
 to the summits of Mts. Washington 
 and Lafayette, declining with thanks 
 the satirical proposition that the 
 charter should permit him to build to 
 the moon. In 1864, having retired 
 from business, Mr. Marsh came East, 
 and many Bostonians of that time 
 were amused by the enthusiasm of 
 this visionary old gentleman when be 
 exhibited the model of his proposed 
 railroad in an office on Washington 
 street while seeking to raise funds. 
 He met with about as much encour¬ 
 agement as though he had proposed to 
 start an orange grove in Greenland, 
 and when he finally made a beginning 
 toward his venture he had to depend 
 largely on his own means. 
 
 “In May, 1866, Mr. Marsh began the 
 building of the road. The first engine 
 was built by Campbell Whittier & Co. 
 of Boston. On August 29, 1866, when 
 a quarter of a mile of track had been 
 laid, a demonstration was given to a 
 group of practi'cal railroad men, who 
 found that Mir. Marsh actually had a 
 device safe and efficient for climbing 
 and descending mountains. The 
 ‘dreamer’ had triumphed. 
 
 “The remaining construction of the 
 railroad was financed by the railroads 
 interested in White mountain travel 
 and within two years the track was 
 laid half way to the summit. The for¬ 
 mal opening took place August 14, 
 1868. Construction was rushed the 
 rest of that season and work was kept 
 up until Oct. 16, when, with only 500 
 feet of track to build, the workmen 
 were driven away by a fierce snow 
 storm. Work was resumed the fol¬ 
 lowing June, and in three weeks’ time 
 the brack was finished to the summit, 
 the first trains running to the top on 
 Saturday, July 3. 
 
 “Mr. Marsh’s right hand man in the 
 enterprise was Walter Aiken of 
 Franklin, N. H., who became the man¬ 
 ager and the largest individual stock¬ 
 holder. 
 
 “He designed and built several of 
 the engines used upon the road, mak¬ 
 ing many improvements on the ori¬ 
 ginal plan, both in the direction of 
 safety and efficiency. His father, 
 Herrick Aiken, was undoubtedly the 
 first to conceive the idea of a railway 
 up Mt. Washington. He constructed 
 a model and sought to interest rail¬ 
 road men in his scheme. But the 
 ‘practical’ men of his day could see 
 nothing in it but peril and loss, and 
 it remained for the dreamer. Marsh to 
 make the idea a reality. Herrick 
 Aiken’s designs, however, in the 
 hands of his son, undoubtedly played 
 an important part in the final shap¬ 
 ing of the road. 
 
125 
 
 "'Walter Aiken was a typical exam¬ 
 ple of the old-time New England 
 manufacturer—a mechanical genius 
 and a successful business man. He 
 was a man of indomitable will and 
 tireless energy, and it is safe to say 
 that without such a man the railroad 
 never would have been the success 
 that it has ten. One incident shows 
 his characteristic spirit. Early in the 
 history of the road he received on a 
 Saturday at his shop in Franklin a 
 telegram that engine No 2 had broken 
 an axle on Jacob’s Ladder and asking 
 to have a new one made and skipped 
 at once. Work began on the axle at 
 noon. 
 
 “At 10 that night Mr. Aiken, with 
 the finished axle and gears, stepped 
 aboard a special engine at Tilton and 
 was rushed through to Littleton, the 
 railroad terminus, where he was met 
 at 4 o’clock Sunday morning by one 
 of the mountain engineers, John L. 
 Davis, with a pair of old horses and a 
 dilapidated express wagon. Loading 
 the axle and gears' into the wagon, 
 they dared not trust any more weight 
 to the rickety affair, and Aiken and 
 Davis were forced to walk every step 
 of the 25- miles from Littleton to the 
 Base station. 
 
 “They had breakfast at Bethle¬ 
 hem, dinner at the Twin Mountain 
 house, and reached the base at 5 p. 
 m., expecting to find a train ready to 
 carry them up to where the disabled 
 engine awaited its new axle. But 
 most of the workmen, not looking 
 for such energy cn Mr. Aiken’s part, 
 had gone to the Crawford house to 
 spend the day. 
 
 “Rounding up the few that were 
 left, engine No. 1 was fired up and 
 ran up the mountain to Jacob’s Lad¬ 
 der, where the new axle was placed 
 under engine No. 2, which was then 
 fired up, and Davis Tan one engine 
 back to the base and Aiken the other, 
 arriving at 9 p. m., so that the road 
 would be ready for business Monday 
 
 morning, ‘My men were somewhat 
 surprised,’ wrote Mr. Aiken in de¬ 
 scribing the incident, ‘when they re¬ 
 turned from the Crawford, to find 
 everything in running order again.’ 
 
 “Just what he said to his em¬ 
 ployers, who had enjoyed the Sunday 
 holiday while he was toiling over the 
 hot* and dusty road from Littleton, 
 may safely be left to the imagination. 
 
 “Just before the completion of the 
 road a Swiss engineer named Otto 
 Gruninger visited the mountain to 
 make drawings and studies of the 
 track and apparatus. He came in 
 the interest of Nicholas Riggenbaeh, 
 superintendent of the Central rail¬ 
 way of Switzerland, who had been 
 granted patents in 1863 on a some¬ 
 what similar cog railway for moun¬ 
 tain climbing, and purposed to build 
 a railroad up the Rigi. Just what 
 influence the studies of the Mt. 
 Washington system had upon the 
 Swiss plans is not known, but the 
 Rigi railway was soon under con¬ 
 struction and was opened in 1870 or 
 1871. The Riggenbaeh patents were 
 used and everyone who is familiar 
 with the Mt. Washington device can 
 see at a glance that the mechanism 
 is decidedly different. > But no doubt 
 the demonstration of the cog railway 
 in actual operation up a mountain 
 gave great encouragement to the 
 projectory of the Swiss railway, and 
 thus Mt. Washington pointed out the 
 way for the building of the Alpine 
 road. 
 
 “’Ihrough Mr. Aiken’s enterprise 
 the Summit house was built, capable 
 of accommodating 200 persons. The 
 house was built in part on land 
 leased from the owners of the terri¬ 
 tory, and this fact, combined with 
 the rivalry of tihe two enterprises, led 
 to friction and ultimately to litiga¬ 
 tion. ‘We do not feel disposed to 
 pay for the use of the summit and to 
 have to fight for it,’ wrote Mr. Aiken 
 to his antagonists on one occasion; 
 
126 
 
 ‘we are willing to do one or the 
 other, but do not want to do both.’ 
 
 “It is am interesting coincidence 
 that the surveyor who laid out the 
 road, Col. Freeman of Lancaster, N. 
 H., was a son-in-law of Ethan Allen 
 Crawford and the line adopted for 
 the railroad followed closely the 
 route of Crawford’s second path. 
 
 “No train on the Mt. Washington 
 railway ever carried a more unlock¬ 
 ed for load than the one which in the 
 middle of July, 1877, conveyed to 
 the top a printing press and the 
 whole outfit for a daily newspaper. 
 My father, Henry M. Burt of Spring- 
 field, Mass., author of a guide to the 
 White Mountains, in the course of 
 one of his visits in the early days of 
 the railway, when storm bound on 
 the mountain, conceived the idea of 
 a newspaper on this lonely peak. 
 Here was a mountain with a railway, 
 a hotel, telegraph and nearly every¬ 
 thing that civilization required; why 
 not a newspaper? 
 
 “From this thought grew the 
 paper in two daily editions for a 
 third of a century. The office was 
 for several years in the old stone Tip 
 Top house, after which a small frame 
 building near the hotel was put up 
 for the use of the paper. My father 
 continued for 22 summers as editor 
 and publisher of the paper, until his 
 death, March 7, 1899. 
 
 “The difficulties attending the 
 running of a newspaper in such an 
 isolated spot are many, and the over¬ 
 coming of them has been a constant 
 stimulus to ingenuity and often times 
 a strain upon one’s endurance and 
 patience. In its unique field Among 
 the Clouds has had to deal with al¬ 
 most every phase of life which con¬ 
 fronts the newspaper man in the 
 world below. It has recorded the 
 visit of one President of the United 
 States to Mt. Washington—R. B. 
 Hayes —and of countless men of 
 fame and influence from every coun¬ 
 
 try of the civilized world. The hap¬ 
 pier side of life has, of course, pre¬ 
 dominated, but the tragic has not 
 lean wanting, as those who remen- 
 ber such calamities as the deaths of 
 William B. Curtis and Allan Ormsbee 
 wi.l recall. 
 
 “Then we have had the newspaper 
 man’s delight at a ‘scoop’ and we 
 have utilized the famous ‘slide 
 beards’ to send a special edition fly¬ 
 ing down the mountain side at a mile 
 a minute. The files of Among the 
 Clouds preserved in several libra¬ 
 ries, afford a mine of information of 
 White Mountain events for the last 
 40 years. 
 
 “Not the least interesting feature, 
 as I look back on the career of 
 Among the Cl'oudA has been ‘the 
 number of brilliant young men who 
 in their summer vacations were as¬ 
 sociated with our staff. There was 
 Harry M. Cheney, afterward speaker 
 of the New Hampshire House of Re¬ 
 presentatives; John Scammon and 
 Harry Lord, who have presided over 
 the New Hampshire Senate; Rev. W. 
 C. Gordon of Auburndale and the 
 Hon. Louis S. Cox, now judge of the 
 superior court of Massachusetts. 
 But the most interesting of all was 
 the coincidence that in November, 
 1918, Massachusetts and New Hamp¬ 
 shire each chose to high office one 
 who had rendered brilliant service on 
 the staff of Among the Clouds—Chan- 
 ning H. Cox, who went from the 
 speakership of the House to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor’s chair of the 
 Bay State, and John H. Bartlett, who 
 worthily fills the chief magistrate’s 
 chair in New Hampshire.” 
 
 Franklin K. Reed was the next 
 speaker. He told of the entry 
 of the United States government 
 into the plans for technical and 
 standardized trail building in con¬ 
 nection with their work in the 
 United States forest reserve, which 
 
127 
 
 now embraces 400,000 acres in the 
 White Mountains alone. 
 
 At the close of Mr. Reed’s talk a 
 historic shield, the gift of the United 
 States forest reserve, was unveiled. 
 The inscription reads: “Moaimt 
 
 Washington 8 y 2 miles via Southern 
 Peaks and Lakes of the Clouds. 
 First tourist path in the White Moun¬ 
 tains opened by Abel and Ethan Al¬ 
 len Crawford in 1819. Improved as 
 a bridle path by Thomas J. Crawford 
 in 1840. United States forest ser¬ 
 vice official trail since 1917.” 
 
 Ex-Senator John W. Weeks of 
 Massachusetts, who came from his 
 summer home in Lancaster, con¬ 
 cluded the exercises with a talk upon 
 the early history of this part of the 
 country, and said that his ancestor, 
 Maj. John Wingate Weeks, was not 
 only one of the first party to make 
 the ascent of the Crawford bridle 
 path, but assisted at that time in 
 naming the peaks of the Presidential 
 range. He said: ‘‘The first path to 
 the top of Mount Washington was 
 constructed by Crawford in 1819, the 
 anniversary of which we are cele¬ 
 brating today. This was followed by 
 several paths, and in 1840, a bridle 
 path was constructed This com¬ 
 menced at the Giant’s Grave, passed 
 up the Ammonoosuc valley, over 
 Mts. Clinton, Pheasant, Franklin and 
 Monroe to Washington. Another 
 bridle path constructed at this time 
 was known as the Davis path, which 
 passed over Mount Crawford, along 
 the Dry or Mount Washington river 
 to Mount Washington. 
 
 The exercises were under tbe aus¬ 
 pices of tbe New England Trail con¬ 
 ference. Paul Jenks, its president, 
 and councilor of improvements for 
 toe Appalachian Mountain club, pre¬ 
 sided. Gov. John H. Bartlett was 
 rep~e"erted by State Senator Jar«es 
 A. Tufts of Exeter. 
 
 Since writing it a number of times 
 there has come to my knowledge that 
 the name on the old engine No. 7 was 
 spelled Winnlpisseogee and not the 
 modern way of spelling the lake to¬ 
 day. This old engine was a part of the 
 road itself in early times, and every 
 engineer on the road forty to fifty 
 years ago run her, and she was actu- 
 
 FRANK N. KEYSER 
 A present day passenger conductor 
 who learned ropes of the B., C. & M. 
 
 allly worn out and had to be scrap¬ 
 ped. The ‘‘Winnie” was in memory 
 of an Indian tribe. Like the red man, 
 she was tough, and endured much 
 grief. 
 
 Ed. Bowler was another of the 
 veteran railroad men who started in 
 when railroading was in its crude 
 
128 
 
 stages, before the day of the automa¬ 
 tic coupler, air brake and steam- 
 heated cars. He was in the freight 
 service for many years and his home 
 was at Lake Village. 
 
 Many a man has gone through life 
 and to his grave minus a finger or two 
 or a crippled hand to testify to the 
 danger of hand-coupling in the days 
 of making hitches with the link and 
 pin. 
 
 In early days the method of con¬ 
 necting together was by what was 
 known as “blocks”. These were 
 pieces of oak wood thirty inches long 
 and about three inches square bolted 
 to the outside of the rails at the 
 joints, with a “fish-plate” on the in¬ 
 side of the rails. There was a “chair” 
 beneath each joint. This “chair” was 
 a flat piece of iron six inches square 
 spiked to a tie, and the rail ends or 
 joints rested on these irons. As time 
 went on modern methods were adop¬ 
 ted and the antiquated fish, chairs and 
 side-blocks were discarded. 
 
 Following is a letter from E. C. 
 Whitcher, cashier of the National 
 Bank at Concordia, Kansas, with ref¬ 
 erence to three of the old boys who 
 went ont west some thirty-five years 
 ago. Mr. Whitcher was a Warren lad 
 and like all hoys was more or less in¬ 
 terested in early railroading, and got 
 acquainted with many of the men of 
 those times. 
 
 Concordia, Kansas 
 June 12, 1919 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 I enclose draft $2.50; don’t know 
 just when this will pay to, but you 
 can give proper credit. 
 
 I have been much interested in 
 your history of early R. R. men. Many 
 years ago, perhaps thirty or more, I 
 got on a train here, (the B. & M. in 
 Neb.) to go to Omaha; out of Concor¬ 
 dia was Conductor Green, next divi¬ 
 sion was McGregor, then W. H. 
 
 Weeks, all were formerly from the 
 B, C. & M. R. R. and well remembered 
 Com my boyhood days in New Hamp-' 
 shire. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 E. C. Whitcher. 
 
 Back forty-five or eight years ago 
 Sam Heat, as has been mentioned, 
 run a rail repair shop in one end of 
 the engine house at Wafren. The 
 first time I ever saw Sam Hoit I went 
 into the shop One day while waiting 
 for the mail train. There was a lead 
 of wornout rails on a push car. Hoit 
 was a man of unusual strength, 
 weighing as he did probably 275. He 
 brought a 50-lb sledge-hammer down 
 on one of the rails and I nearly jump¬ 
 ed twenty feet up through the roof. 
 Sam Hoit had two boys. Naturally 
 they “took to railroading.” Charles 
 was the older of the two and “got on” 
 first. Ed, the younger went to sea for 
 several years, and one day came home 
 
 a surprise to his folks, as they did 
 not know his whereabouts. Soon after 
 he went to firing for his brother 
 Charlie, and today is an old man run¬ 
 ning one of the way freights between 
 Woodsville and Plymouth. Charles 
 Hoit, like most of the good and faith¬ 
 ful B., C. & M. men has passed on to 
 rest from his labors. 
 
 Just what year the telegraph line 
 was put through is not known, but it 
 was soon after the Civil War, as I 
 have heard my father tell how he 
 helped set the poles. My mother was 
 telegraph operator and for years be¬ 
 sides doing her housework did all the 
 telegraphing at Warren Summit, (Now 
 Glencliff.) Later my father learned 
 and held the key along with his sta- 
 ion duties. This was thirty-five to 
 forty years ago. 
 
129 
 
 C. E. Caswell. 
 
 Editor Warren News. 
 
 In the Early History of the B., C. & 
 M., you speak of the rail repair shop 
 in the engine house at Warren. 
 
 The first shop for repairing of rails, 
 was situated a little south of R. R. 
 Crossing, and near a large Elm tree, 
 Charles Hicks, was the first to repair 
 rails there, for a number of years. . 
 
 Afterwards it was moved down into 
 the old engine house, (which is now 
 the freight depot,) and Samuel Hoit 
 did the mending there for a number 
 of years afterwards. 
 
 The R. R. had a car house south of 
 the Passenger Station and very near 
 the rear of C. B. Averill’s store. 
 
 At the time the Hotel burned, 
 (which stood where the store now is) 
 Mr. Arthur Knapp had a cow jump 
 through a window into the car house 
 and was burned to death. 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 May 23rd, 1919. James H. Williams. 
 
 Henry Williams tells about loading 
 slabs on a push car at, a mill near the 
 crossing here, running the car out on 
 the main line, carrying slabs some¬ 
 where down into the yard. One da> 
 this car got away from him and run 
 down the biltl. Morrill Sanborn was 
 station agent and telegraphed Went¬ 
 worth to put obstructions on the 
 track and derail the car. It got by 
 Wentworth, and West Rumney was 
 notified to do the same. A freight 
 was at that station. Dye Sargent 
 was engineer. He pulled the pin and 
 started up the line to meet the on¬ 
 coming runaway car. He saw it 
 coming on the straight line above the 
 yard. Running as near as he thought 
 safe, he reversed the engine and 
 started back down the yard, gradually 
 letting the runaway car come up a- 
 gainst the pilot and it stopped with¬ 
 out doing any damage. Henry says 
 this was his only railroad experience, 
 and for years the fellows joked him 
 
 for jumping and leaving his train at 
 Clough’s Crossing. He was a lad at 
 the time and since then has had no 
 desire for railroad life. 
 
 Next is a letter from Eu¬ 
 gene B. Lane of Berlin, N. H. When 
 a boy he left the old farm on Briar 
 Hill, in Haverhill, and went to work 
 for the B., C. & M. Lane is very pre¬ 
 cise and from the start learned rail¬ 
 roading thoroughly, and probably 
 there isn’t a man on the road with a 
 beter understanding of the handling 
 of traffic than Gene Lane. While lit 
 is by no means an old man, he started 
 in the old days of hand brakes and 
 wood burners, has seen the road 
 change hands to the Boston & Lo¬ 
 well, the Concord & Montreal and Bos¬ 
 ton & Maine and ha§ kept abreast of 
 the times as the years came and went. 
 For a number of years he and George 
 Hutchins have been in charge of pas¬ 
 senger trains on the Berlin Branch, 
 between Whitefield and Berlin. They 
 work shoulder-to-shoulder, Hutchins in 
 the cab and Lane in the coaches, and 
 the officials for years have been given 
 but little anxiety as to the safety of 
 passenger traffic on the Berlin Branch, 
 because they realize there is no ma¬ 
 terial cause for anxiety when these 
 capable men are in charge. 
 
 Berlin, N. H. 
 
 March 15, 1919. 
 
 Friend Caswell: 
 
 I have been very much interesed in 
 the letters of early days of railroading 
 on the B. C. & M. 
 
 And in reading them they bring to 
 my mind many incidents of those days. 
 
 Then the train crews were assigned 
 to certain trains and many times kept 
 together month after month and some¬ 
 times years. 
 
 I remember one crew I worked with 
 all “gone West’’ now, but myself. Con¬ 
 ductor Ed. Williams, Engineer Austin 
 Olney and Fireman Elisha McConnell, 
 and we run the “special freight” from 
 
130 
 
 Woodsville to Whitefield and return. 
 This train was put on to handle the 
 output from the big saw-mill of 
 Brown’s Lumber Company then opera¬ 
 ting at Whitefield. We used to make 
 
 EUGENE B. LANE 
 
 up a train of empty cars and go to 
 Wing Road, turn the engine on the- “Y” 
 and back on to the caboose and back 
 the train to Whitefield. 
 
 It was my duty to ride the front 
 end of trains to look out for persons 
 on the track or at the crossings ; a 
 cold job some winter nights. At 
 Whitefield after setting off the empty 
 cars we made up a train of loads for 
 the return trip. 
 
 The train consisted mostly of flat 
 cars loaded with lumber, and we con¬ 
 sidered ourselves lucky if we could get 
 one or two box cars next the caboose 
 for brakes to help hold the train 
 
 down the hills. No air brakes on 
 freight cars those days. 
 
 After making up tne train we usual¬ 
 ly had a helping engine as far as 
 Burns’ which was a little four wheel 
 shifter, “The Doctor Ordway” and 
 afterwards “The Pony.” 
 
 Sometimes when the train was 
 unusually heavy and likely to be st: li¬ 
 ed I’ve seen Ed. go over and count the 
 cars the helper was pushing, then 
 when we arrived at Wing Road, Aus¬ 
 tin would sometimes tell him he had 
 taken too many cars. Ed. would say 
 “Well, the helper was pushing four 
 cars and the buggy and you ought to 
 pull the rest of them,” and Elisha 
 would say “Well she was hot anyhow, 
 had plenty of steam.” 
 
 At that time there was a lumber 
 mill at South Littleton, at the foot 
 of a long down grade and (hose days 
 the mill crews sometimes did shifting 
 with horses pulling cars out of one 
 track and back on another, which 
 helped some train crew who had that 
 work to do. 
 
 Evidently someone had given the 
 mill foreman a switch key so.he co^ld 
 open 'Bife main line switch. One 
 night we were coming down the hill 
 with an unusually heavy train, having 
 picked up six or eight carloads of 
 fbur-foot wood at Wing Read; when 
 hear the South Littletbn switch the 
 engineer whistled for brakes, and al¬ 
 most! immediately another call for 
 brakes. I sometitnes think an en¬ 
 gineer could almost make an engine 
 talk with the whistle, at any rate 
 that second whistle startled me and I 
 climbed up on top of a car load of 
 wood. I had hardly got there when I 
 heard the engine in reverse, and al¬ 
 most immeditely a grinding crash as 
 engine and cars left the rails and 
 smashed into the ditch. 
 
 I whs clinging on to the end of a 
 wood car with all the strength I had, 
 and when the train stopped I started 
 for the head end expecting to find the 
 
131 
 
 engineer and fireman either killed or 
 badly injured. 
 
 It was very still, the only sound was 
 the escaping steam from the wrecked 
 locomotive. 
 
 . Then I called to them, hardly ex¬ 
 pecting to get an answer but Lisher 
 answered me. I asked him if he was 
 hurt, lie said “No,” and Austin was 
 there and all right 
 
 They had both jumped just as the 
 engine left the rails and cleared them¬ 
 selves of the wreck. 
 
 Just then we heard Ed coming from 
 the rear, he was on the run, all out of 
 breath and very much excited, “Say 
 are ye alive,” was his inquiry: “Yes 
 we are all right,” Austin shouted 
 “Where is Gene?” was his next query; 
 “He is here all right,” Lisher told him 
 “Well, if you fellows are r 11 right I 
 feel better,’ was his comment. 
 
 The agents those days at the sta¬ 
 tions between Woodsville and White- 
 field are all gone to their long home. 
 
 E. H. Weston was agent at White- 
 field, with Hazen Fiske as clerk; John 
 Clifford at Wing Road; Alden Quimby 
 at Littleton; Jule Kelsey at Lisbon, 
 Mr. Lang at Dalton, Harvey Ross at 
 Bath; Fred Nourse at Lancaster, good 
 and true men every one, and worked 
 hard for the interest of the company 
 which they served. 
 
 Those days the log train business 
 was an important part of the service 
 in the winter, and it was quite a sight 
 to see trains of 16 or 18 lengths of 
 logs coming down the Branch from 
 Fabyans to Whitefield or South Little¬ 
 ton. These trains consisted of trucks 
 with four wheels and a heavy bunk 
 with stakes nearly a foot in diameter, 
 which was set at the log landings 
 that were built big enough so the 
 logs could be rolled over the top of 
 the stakes and drop on to the bunks. 
 The trucks being coupled together 
 with reaches some of them 30 feet 
 long with coupling iron on each end. 
 
 Some of the men who manned these 
 
 trains were Len Morrill, engineer; 
 Harvey Caswell, brakeman; A1 Haynes 
 and John Quimby. 
 
 One cold January morning we pull¬ 
 ed out of Fabyans with 14 lengths; 
 it was so dark we couldn’t see the 
 second length from the caboose. Cas¬ 
 well was holding the train down the 
 grade with the caboose brake and we 
 appeared to be going all right until we 
 were going through the Ammonoosuc 
 Bridge, a couple of miles north of 
 Bethlehem Junction. Just as the 
 caboose was going into the bridge 
 there came an awful crash, the splint¬ 
 ering of boards, breaking of stakes 
 and the whole front end of the car 
 seemed to come crashing inward and 
 with it the end of a big spruce log. I 
 was sitting on a seat that ran length¬ 
 wise of the car and the end of the log 
 came altogether too near to me for 
 my peace of mind. I jumped for 
 the rear and put up the brake hard as 
 I could, and signalled the engineer to 
 stop. When we stopped I went for¬ 
 ward to investigate. I found Harvey 
 laying among the wreckage, groaning 
 and in great pain. We found the 
 forward stake on one side of the length 
 next the caboose had worked almost 
 out of the socket, letting the logs sag 
 out so far that they hit the bridge, 
 driving one big spruce directly 
 hack into the caboose; this had hit 
 Caswell and injured him severely. 
 
 It took the united efforts of half a 
 dozen huskv lumber jacks with cant- 
 dogs to pull that log out of the ca¬ 
 boose. Caswell eventually recovered. 
 
 Another time coming down the 
 branch, with a heavy log train, on 
 rounding the big curve just north of 
 Bethlehem Junction, it was begining 
 to get light enough so I could see. I 
 discovered we had an empty length 
 near the middle of the train. I know 
 that length was loaded when we left 
 Fabyans. We stopped at the station 
 and I went over to investigate. The 
 trucks appeared to be all right except 
 
132 
 
 one blink stake iron was broken off. 
 
 On returning that afternoon we 
 found this length had been derailed on 
 the big curve at Ammonoosuc Fails and 
 the wheel on the left side going over 
 
 J. A. DODGE 
 
 Appointed Superintendent B., C. & M. R. R. 
 to succeed John W. Lyon. He resigned in 
 1882 and died a year later. 
 
 and striking the rail on the right side 
 with such force as to break the stake- 
 iron on the rear bunk letting every log 
 down the high bank; the truck was 
 drawn off track at Zealand where it 
 struck a frog and came on the track 
 again, and the men on the train know¬ 
 ing nothing about it until it began to 
 get light enough to see it at Bethlehem 
 Junction. 
 
 The old Mitchell coupler came near 
 being my finish when they were in 
 operation. I was running the way- 
 freight between Woodsville and Con¬ 
 
 cord and one day I had a car to set off 
 at Concord transfer; it was equipped 
 with a Mitchell coupler, and was sup¬ 
 posed to be uncoupled by pulling up 
 a rod from the dog stand at top of the 
 car. The rod was a little too long ? t \d 
 the coupling pin was not fully clear of 
 the link and when I gave the engineer 
 the stop signal he reversed the engine 
 and the car not being uncoupled I was 
 thrown from the top to the track; 
 fortunately I was not hurt in the least. 
 
 A friend of mine told me today of 
 one of the old timeB. C. & M. station 
 agents at North Haverhill, Adolphus 
 Willey, who was a shoemaker as well 
 as railroad man, and who had his 
 shoemaker’s bench in his little office in 
 the station, and when the duties of 
 agent did not keep him busy he work¬ 
 ed at repairing shoes and boots for the 
 villagers. 
 
 Thinking of the old B. C. & M. days, 
 memory of men comes back and of 
 some funny incidents, funny to re¬ 
 member but not always to participate 
 in. Like slipping off the top of an 
 icy freight train in motion, like Ike 
 Paling did when coming down through 
 Keyes’ Woods one slippery winter day. 
 It had been raining and froze almost 
 as fast as it fell making the tops of 
 the cars completely covered with ice. 
 
 Ike was on top “holding them down 
 the hill” when by a sudden lurch of 
 the car he lost his footing and slid off 
 the top, striking outside the track 
 and rolling down the bank to the foot: 
 strange that one could take such a 
 tumble without being killed, but he 
 was not seriously hurt. Another old 
 timer that took some such tumble was 
 Mike Glynn wav-freight brakeman at 
 East Tilton. Mike was not hurt. 
 
 Lockhart Johnson and Harvey Dex¬ 
 ter old time freight conductors on the 
 Mountain Hoad long since gone, Elmer 
 Hall and Riley Avery, trainmen who 
 were sent to the St. J. & L. C. for a 
 year or two, and never liked there. 
 
 Ike Glynn an old time engineer who 
 
133 
 
 run on the Branch, Sam Carr who used 
 to look after engineers at Woodsville, 
 who lost his foot by being crushed by 
 an engine, John Quimby and Will 
 Conner, two engineers of those days. 
 
 Will Frizzell was engineer on what 
 was called the Mountain freight, who 
 run with Harvey Dexter with Eugene 
 Clough as brakeman. Then there were 
 Will and Gene Mclntire, freight con¬ 
 ductors ; afterwards Gene was station 
 agent at Wing Road. George Mason 
 another old time trainman who after¬ 
 wards was an engineer on a Pennsyl¬ 
 vania Road. 
 
 George Thyng and Jed Bean en¬ 
 gineers on the way freight. The 
 Leonard boys, Charley went on the 
 Upper Coos Railroad .afterwards the 
 Maine Central and there run an en¬ 
 gine for years. Frank Clark conduc¬ 
 tor also went to the Upper Coos Rail¬ 
 road, and now is a prosperous mer¬ 
 chant in Portland. 
 
 Then there were the Dolloff boys. 
 Their father was road master and 
 looked after a rail shop at Lancaster. 
 Charlie Dolloff is now road master on 
 the M. & W. Railroad. 
 
 James Sawyer another old B. C. & 
 M. man used to superintend a rail 
 shop at Woodsville. 
 
 Then there were the Gannon boys— 
 Jim, Tom and Tim: John Bisson, a 
 passenger conductor thirty years ago; 
 Martin Perkins, and Dave, his broth¬ 
 er. two old time engineers. Then I 
 well remember Frank Simpson who 
 has already been mentioned. 
 
 It’s a pleasure to recall those days 
 of early railroading, the hardships be¬ 
 ing forgotten and the pleasant memo¬ 
 ries of those times and the men we 
 worked with, remain only clear in 
 our memory. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Eugene B. Lane. 
 
 Loren Clough, still living at East 
 Concord, was one of the leading 
 lights in the system of the olid road 
 forty years ago, in charge of East 
 
 Concord station and at times acting 
 as passenger conductor. It is evident 
 it was a custom for many of the trus¬ 
 ty station agents in early railroad 
 times, to run passenger trains when¬ 
 ever an extra was run, or someone 
 took a vacation. Loren Clough was 
 and is still faithful to God, man and 
 his employers. 
 
 Laconia, N. H. 
 
 April 29, 1919. 
 
 Mr. C. E. Caswell, 
 
 Warren, N. H. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Replying to yours of April 1; beg 
 to say that I remember the Went¬ 
 worth wreck very well. 
 
 It happened forty years ago last 
 December. The train had forty-two 
 cars and two engines, the Franconia 
 and Moosilauke. The crew was 
 Henry Mann, conductor; Melvin Mann, 
 brakeman; Orrin Bailey, engineer; 
 Hiarley Whiting, fireman on the Moo¬ 
 silauke. John March as engineer and 
 myself as fireman on the Franconia. 
 
 We left Lake Village about 8 :30 in 
 the evening. At Plymouth we stopped 
 for wood and water and made good 
 time from there to Rumney. At the 
 little cut at the north end of Rumnty 
 yard the Franconia gave a lurch that 
 was followed by a call for brakes from 
 Bailey. This proved to be a soft 
 place that allowed the track to settle 
 under the weight of the engines. We 
 hunted up the section men and left 
 them to take care of this place. 
 
 At the upper twin bridge, between 
 West Rumney and Wentworth, we 
 were stopped by John Roberts, who 
 was foreman of the West Rumney 
 section at that time. The water was 
 running over the track just north of 
 the bridge; but had not washed out 
 to do any harm, so we got over that 
 all right. 
 
 I got the firebox full of.wood about 
 the time we got to the little bridge 
 where the highway passes under the 
 railroad. Henry Mann was on my 
 
134 
 
 seat, and luckily for the boys behind, 
 I stepped to the right hand side to get 
 a look ahead. The wind was with us 
 and we were going so slow that the 
 smoke and steam was hiding the track. 
 
 CHAS. F. G. CLARK 
 
 Now Residing at Marlboro, Mass. Was B., C. 
 & M. Passenger Brakeman in 1882 
 
 In fact, when I first looked, I could 
 not see our own smoke-stack. I 
 stooped down between the engine and 
 tender to get a look under it, but 
 couldn’t. 
 
 Perhaps a hundred feet from the 
 trestle, the wind gave a little fluke 
 and lifted the steam for a moment and 
 I saw that the track was out of line. 
 I shouted to John, “It’s gone,” and 
 jumped! Bailey saw me and calling 
 to his fireman, they both jumped. I 
 stood by the track and heard John 
 
 whistle for brakes; saw the fire fly 
 from the drivers as he reversed her; 
 saw him come into the gangway; fold 
 his old coat around him ;i jump 
 straight out into the water and disap¬ 
 pear; and then things began to hap¬ 
 pen. 
 
 The old Franconia seemed to settle 
 straight down; while the Moosilauke 
 tilted over on her side; and the cars 
 filled in on top of them. Something 
 got on the old Moosey’s whistle lever 
 and opened it up; and the moans end 
 gurgles and groans and shrieks that 
 came from her as the water washed 
 over her, had the last notes of a dying 
 swan beat to a frazzle. 
 
 As soon as the train stopped, we 
 crawled under and started down the 
 bank after John. He had been car¬ 
 ried quite a ways down strepm to 
 where the current was not quite so 
 strong; and had finally got hold of 
 some alders and pulled himself out. 
 I met him coming up the bank and 
 his greeting was “Wal George, the 
 Lord saved us that time.” I had 
 heard him say that a good many times 
 before but perhaps never when I felt 
 so much like agreeing with him. 
 
 We went back to the saloon, where 
 we found, the conductor. It seems 
 that he had climbed to the top of the 
 cab to get a look over the smoke; and 
 had jumped from there to the ground 
 on the opposite side from us and not 
 seeing any of us thought we had all 
 gone in. 
 
 I have seen a few papers of “The 
 Warren News” containing letters and 
 sketches on the old B. C. & M. and 
 was much interested in them. Am 
 glad you have decided to put it in 
 book form, so I can get it all. 
 
 Wishing you succes in your venture, 
 I remain 
 
 Yous truly, 
 
 George W. Slierwell. 
 
 In the early 50’s passenger fare 
 was 5 cents extra when paid on the 
 trains and there were no rebates. 
 
Early Days on the B. & M. 
 
 135 
 
 (From a Pamphlet Distributed by the 
 National Shawmut Bank.) 
 
 “The Boston & Maine was origin¬ 
 ally the ‘Andover Branch,’ running 
 from Wilmington, on the Boston & 
 Lowell, nine miles to Andover, over 
 the road-bed now used for the Law¬ 
 rence branch of the southern divis¬ 
 ion, as far as Wilmington Junction, 
 
 WILLIAM “Bill” KIMBALL 
 
 An old time B., C. & M. Engineer 
 
 thence substantially over the present 
 western division road-bed to And¬ 
 over. The construction was con¬ 
 tinued each year, first to Haverhill 
 (Lawrence was not built then), 
 thence to Exeter, N. H., thence to 
 South Berwick, Maine, where it con¬ 
 nected with the Portland line, after¬ 
 wards part of the Eastern. The 
 road then ran from a junction 15 
 
 miles from Boston to a junction 40 
 miles from Portland, and was a one- 
 horse affair run by prudent, earnest 
 but small men. They had three lo¬ 
 comotives—the Andover, HaverhilL 
 and Rockingham—and N. G. Paul, a 
 part owner and afterward an official, 
 was an engine man. He is said to 
 have been the original actor of the 
 ‘Locomotive and tfie Old Ladies’ 
 Clothes-line scenario,’ and the inven¬ 
 tor of the glass wind sield from 
 which the locomotive cab was de¬ 
 veloped, The management was petty 
 in character, disputes with the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell as to each other’s cars 
 and engines ocupying certain tracks 
 at Wilmington being frequent. The 
 public, in fact, was often inconven¬ 
 ienced as a result of trivial quarrels 
 of this kind. In 1844, the Boston & 
 Marne built from the present Wil¬ 
 mington Junction to Boston, and 
 abandoned the track from that point 
 to Wilmington, having nothing more 
 to do with the Boston & Lowell, with 
 which it was not friendly. It also 
 later built from South Berwick into 
 Portland. In the late forties, Law¬ 
 rence was built and the road-bed was 
 changed from Andover so as to pass 
 through the south side of the new 
 city. Shortly after this, the Boston 
 & Maine thought to tap some of the 
 Poston & Lowell business by build¬ 
 ing from the present Lowell Junction 
 to Lowell. The Boston & Lowell re¬ 
 taliated by building into Lawrence, 
 over the old abandoned Andover 
 branch road-bed from Wilmington to 
 Wilmington Junction, thence over 
 the Salem & Lowell to Tewksbury, 
 thence into Lawrence. Competition 
 was carried on fiercely, at times in 
 fare and freight, but mostly in train 
 service, but the Boston & Lowell al¬ 
 ways felt that they had the advan¬ 
 tage. The equipment of the Boston 
 & Lowell was always superior to that 
 of the Boston & Maine and the man¬ 
 agement in the hands of men of 
 
 larger calibre. Even in the late 
 eighties the Boston & Maine had 
 
136 
 
 light rail with wood fish-plates (tie 
 bars) on their main line, and their 
 express locomotives were mostly 
 equipped with the Westinghouse 
 brake. Block signals were almost 
 unknown. At that time the Boston 
 & Lowell had several 60 to 80-ton 
 express locomotives, Hall and Union 
 block signals, and the Westinghouse 
 brake on all passenger equipment. 
 At the time of the lease of the Bos¬ 
 ton & Lowell to the Boston & Maine 
 the old employees of the former, it is 
 said, wept,as they thought they were 
 making a poor swap of employers 
 from the progressives of the Boston 
 & Lowell to the hitherto picayunes 
 of the Boston & Maine.” 
 
 Boston & Maine Oldtime Wages. 
 
 (By Judge Wells in Somersworth Free Press.) 
 
 In 1849 the Boston & Main rail¬ 
 road, under the acts of the Legisla¬ 
 tures of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
 sire and Maine, had been extended 
 from Boston to South Berwick, Me., 
 where it united with the Portland, 
 Saco & Portsmouth railroad, a dis¬ 
 tance of 74 1 / i miles, having 19 Ms 
 miles of double track, and branches 
 to Medford and Methuen and Great 
 Falls, amounting to 10% miles. A 
 report of the committee of investi¬ 
 gation appointed by the stockholders 
 of the Boston & Maine railroad, pre¬ 
 sented at a meeting in Exeter, N. H., 
 May 28, 1849, has just come to light. 
 
 From that report we learn that the 
 45,000 shares of the stock issued 
 was owned by people of the three 
 states. The books showed an ex¬ 
 penditure, from the beginning of the 
 road to June 1, 1849, of $843,532.- 
 27. Of that amount bridges had 
 cost $358,683; depots, engine 
 house, machine shops and other 
 buildings, $404,854 and land and 
 fencing and rolling stock the bal¬ 
 ance. 
 
 At that time the road employed 
 430 persons, and, in view of the de¬ 
 velopment of the road since, the list 
 is of interest. 
 
 In the superintendent's office 
 there was a cashier who was paid 
 $1,000 a year, two clerks at $480, 
 and an office boy at $180. 
 
 There were nine conductors on 
 pasenger trains, five being paid $50 
 a month; one at $45 a month; two 
 at $41.67; and one at $35 a month. 
 There were four conductors on 
 freight trains, one at $45 a month, 
 and three at $40. 
 
 There were 24 ticket masters, the 
 highest salaried man being the offi¬ 
 cial at Boston at $60 a month. Those 
 at Lawrence and Great Falls received 
 $50 a month, while Andover, North 
 Andover, Exeter, Newmarket and 
 Dover paid $40 a month; Somerville, 
 South Reading, Reading, Haverhill 
 and Rochester paid $3 5 a month; 
 Medford, $33.99; Malden, Ballard- 
 vale, Durham and Salmon Falls, 
 $30; Melrose, Plaistow, East Kings¬ 
 ton and South Newmarket, $20; 
 Bradford, $16, and Newton, $13. 
 
 Thirty-seven men were employed 
 at the freight house in Boston and 
 14 at freight houses elsewhere on 
 the system, laborers * receiving no 
 more than $1 a day. 
 
 There were six train baggage 
 masters at $35 a month; ;five depot 
 baggage masters from $25 to $35 a 
 month; four porters at stations, 
 ranging from $26 to $30 a month; 
 ten watchmen, ranging from $2 6 to 
 $30 a month; 13 switchmen, ranging 
 from $15 to $33.33 a month, the 
 highest paid man being at Boston; 
 17 enginemen, 11 of them at $60 a 
 month, one at $50, one at $45, and 
 three at $40; 14 firemen, 11 of them 
 at $30 a month and three at $26; 14 
 brakemen, 13 of them at 30 a month 
 and one at $26; eight gatemen, paid 
 from $26 to $30 a month; 31 wood¬ 
 men, receiving from $26 to $35 a 
 month; three draw-tenders, one at 
 $30 a month, one at $1 a day and 
 one at eight shillings a day; two 
 blacksmiths, receiving $1.50 and $1 
 a day; 75 repairmen receiving from 
 80 cents to $1 a day; 15 men in the 
 
]37 
 
 car and machine shops at Lawrence, 
 60 men at the engine shop in Boston, 
 all of whom received from 66 cents 
 to $2.20 per day; two roadmasters 
 at $750 a year each; one wood agent 
 at $1,000 a year and one master of 
 transportation at $9 00. 
 
 The superintendent was paid 
 $2,000 a year, the president $2,000, 
 the treasurer, $1,500. 
 
 In 1849 the Boston & Maine own¬ 
 ed 35 passenger cars and 40 stoves, 
 appraised at $51,265; 16 passenger 
 baggage cars, valued at $9,052; 24 
 engines, which, with appurtenances, 
 were valued at $121,050; eight snow 
 plows, valued at $2,895. 
 
 William Kimball was engineer 
 when the stack of a locomotive fell 
 off near Northfield and the engine 
 continued her run to Concord. 
 
 It was Star King which blew up at 
 Belmont soon after the Tilton & Bel¬ 
 mont road was built. She was re¬ 
 paired and named Belmont. 
 
 George Plummer said in a letter 
 he doubted if there ever was a loco¬ 
 motive known as Lady of the Lake. 
 He always knew her as “Lady.” I 
 have heard quite a number say the 
 same. By research I find that one 
 time the “Lady” was named Lady of 
 the Lake, but owing to there being a 
 steam boat on Lake Winnipesaukee 
 by the same name, the two conflicted 
 and the railroad people had to 
 change her name. I am told the 
 name was just beneath the stack 
 along the sides of the boiler. 
 
 Mrs. Learned of East Piermont, 
 daughter of the late Josiah Hardy, 
 writes me that when she was a child 
 a year and a half old her father was 
 foreman on North Haverhill section, 
 nearly 60 years ago. One night he 
 was going over the road and found a 
 broken rail which must be changed. 
 He returned home, told his good 
 wife he must attend to the break in 
 
 FRED H. NOURSE, Lancaster 
 
 For Twenty Years with the B., C. & M. 
 
 the track and the south part of the 
 section could not be gone over that 
 night. Mrs. Hardy, at the midnight 
 hour, dressed, left her sleeping child 
 in bed and herself inspected the 
 south of the section in the darkness, 
 making the three miles alone, re¬ 
 turned home and had a warm break¬ 
 fast waiting for her husband on his 
 return at daybreak. What changes 
 in 60 years! 
 
 Since some of this matter has been 
 put in type there have come to hand 
 some facts which might have been 
 written differently had I known the 
 real circumstances. For instance: 
 The Lady of the Lake was sunk at a 
 point near Glendale, and not at Lake- 
 port; J. Fred Leonard, postmaster 
 at Woodsville, writes that the last 
 he knew of Henry Simpson he was 
 
138 
 
 running a baggage car between 
 Omaha, Neb., and Denver, Colorado. 
 Charlie Sanborn, an old time en¬ 
 gineer, is now running on the A. T. 
 & S. Fe., between Kansas City and 
 Newton, Kan. Ed. Buckley is still 
 working for the Boston & Maine and 
 resides at Concord. Charles Rowen, 
 a freight conductor 6 5 years ago, 
 was one day cautioning a brakeman 
 about overhead bridges, and before 
 night be himself was struck by a 
 
 Frank E. Clifford was the first en¬ 
 gineer to run a locomotive to Fab- 
 yans. The boys of those early days 
 all respected Frank Clifford, for he 
 was a good and faithful man. He 
 learned railroading here in the 
 mountains and in after years went 
 to running on the New York Cen¬ 
 tral and resided at Buffalo, N. Y. 
 On July 1, 1919, he lost his life in a 
 wreck in which 11 others were killed 
 at Dunkirk, N. Y. A press dispatch 
 
 CHOCORUA—Pet Engine of the B., C. & M. Forty-five years ago. 
 
 bridge and killed. Frank Swasey, 
 whose name has several times been 
 mentioned with the old employees, is 
 now residing at Laconia. Swasey 
 drove an ox-team and distributed the 
 rails between Wing Road and Fab- 
 yans. I have many times listened to 
 my father tell of those days when he 
 was helping to build the “exten¬ 
 sion.” As I used to sit on his knee 
 and listen to those “bedtime” stories, 
 little did I realize that some day I 
 would write a history of the days of 
 wood burners and hand brakes. 
 Those days and years are left far be¬ 
 hind in the progress of time which 
 is so swiftly passing. Newton New¬ 
 kirk once said, “How time ske¬ 
 daddles.” 
 
 in part said: “Engineer Clifford of 
 the New York Central’s Western Ex¬ 
 press desperately tried, according to 
 his dying statement, to avert the 
 rear-end colision with train No. 41,' 
 which caused the deaths of 12 per¬ 
 sons, the serious injury of 18 others 
 and slight cuts and bruises to as 
 many more. The air brake failed to 
 work, the engineer declared. Wit¬ 
 nesses said that the siren was still 
 screeching for the hand-brakes when 
 the Westerner, going 5 0 mile an 
 hour, plowed into the rear coach of 
 .No. 41. Engineer Clifford stuck to 
 his post to the end. He was dying 
 when his body was taken from the 
 wreck of his engine. ‘The brakes 
 wouldn’t hold; they wouldn’t work,’ 
 
139 
 
 he gasped just before he d’ed. The 
 finding of a body, apparently that of 
 tramp, wedged in the wreckage back 
 of the tender, is the basis for a 
 theory that a man stealing a ride on 
 the blind end of the baggage car, ac¬ 
 cidentally or deliberately turned the 
 cock rendering the air brake useless 
 throughout the length of the train.” 
 
 Albert A. Kidder, a retired mer¬ 
 chant of Meredith, was in my office a 
 few days ago and I found him a jolly 
 good fellow of the old B., C. & M. 
 days. In a recent letter he says in 
 part that he started with the B., C. 
 & M. in 1869, as newsboy. “Pedd¬ 
 ler Boy,” as he was known. To pay 
 for his job all he had to do was carry 
 a can of drinking water through the 
 trains. He tells me he would leave 
 Meredith for Concord in the morn¬ 
 ing, making two round trips a day. 
 Down with Tom Robie in the morn¬ 
 ing as conductor, Patch Clifford, en¬ 
 gineer, Fred Clifford (his son) fire¬ 
 man; back to Meredith on the noon 
 or mail train, with Sid Russ, conduc¬ 
 tor, Bogy Drake, engineer, George 
 Hutchins, fireman, Will Rollins, bag¬ 
 gage master, and George V. Moulton, 
 brakeman. The second trip would 
 be with Sid Russ as conductor, Dave 
 Furgeson, baggage master, Ed. 
 Mann, brakeman, Henry Little, en¬ 
 gineer, and Frank Swasey, fireman. 
 The last trip of the day was on 
 Roby’s train. Tom Robie was con¬ 
 ductor, George Dow, baggage mas¬ 
 ter, Patch Clifford, engineer, and his 
 son, Fred Clifford, fireman. In this 
 way he came in contact with every 
 passenger on the road traveling on 
 those four trains He kept this up 
 for three years, and then left to at¬ 
 tend school. Kidder says ‘that good 
 friend of mine’ Mr. Dodge, enquir¬ 
 ed what I was going to do after get¬ 
 ting through school, and said if I 
 wanted to railroad, come to him. So 
 in 1875 Mr. Kidder was placed in 
 charge of the first parlor car the 
 road ever owned and on its first trip. 
 
 This car was named “Plymouth.” 
 Mr. Kidder remained with the old 
 road for a number of years and knew 
 everybody connected with it in the 
 ’70s. He tells me how he used to 
 take pride in going into Dodge’s, 
 Whittier’s and Rodger’s office at 
 Plymouth and turn in his reports 
 and cash. He tells how Sid Russ 
 would find fault if a link was too 
 long, as he was short legged, and 
 would often say, “Sonny, sing out 
 Mosquito Bridge” (now Winni- 
 squam). However, Sid was good to 
 all the boys. The writer of these 
 pages can remember the kindness of 
 Sid Russ with fond recollections 
 when he was knee high to a grass¬ 
 hopper. 
 
 Warren, N. H., 
 
 Friday, July 11, 1919 
 Mr. Caswell. In today’s News I 
 read that you wanted to get in touch 
 with Henry Simpson. I am quite 
 sure that he died many years ago. 
 He went West more than 40 years 
 ago and I am sure he died in Wyom¬ 
 ing. Frank Simpson, a brother of 
 Henry, married Caira Page, a sister 
 of Mrs. Burleigh’s. The mother of 
 the Page girls was a sister of Aunt 
 Ruth Harriman, they being sisters to 
 my grandmother. Has anyone given 
 you information of William Simp¬ 
 son, another brother,' who was sta¬ 
 tion agent at East Haverhill 4 5 years 
 ago? He sold his property at auc¬ 
 tion (where Mrs. Henry Dearborn 
 now lives) and went to Larami, 
 Wyo., in October, 1876, and died the 
 next June from drinking cold water. 
 His wife was Laura Jenkins, a sister 
 of the late Robert Jenkins, who used 
 to deal in granite at Haverhill. 
 Their father was “Wash” Simpson, 
 who was one of the first conductors 
 on the road. His father was Green- 
 leaf Simpson, an old stage driver 
 from Boston to the North Country. 
 Charles Simpson died at East Haver¬ 
 hill many years ago. Henry Simp¬ 
 son was a soldier in the Civil war 
 
140 
 
 and married a girl from the South. 
 I have her recipe for making rum 
 pickles. Think of it! Your series 
 of letters was running when I be¬ 
 came a subscriber so I wonder if you 
 have date on Sidney Davis, his 
 brother, Frank Davis, Neil Cutting, 
 Leonard Crouch, Fred Nason, who 
 broke for Moody Marston. There 
 was Henry Corliss, Chauncy Bryant 
 and Caleb Burleigh. I knew all 
 these I have mentioned and many 
 others. There was Johnnie Ayer, a 
 brother of Charles at Plymouth, 
 their mother being one of Aunt 
 Ruth’s family. As long ago as I can 
 remember Frank Cutting was section 
 boss at East Haverhill. His son, 
 Frank later was on the road, I think, 
 as station agent. I think your book, 
 as I understand it to be, will be very 
 interesting. 
 
 MRS. A. B. PERRY. 
 
 Elkhart, Ind., 
 
 July 30, 1919 
 
 Mr. C. E Caswell: 
 
 Dear Sir: Please accept thanks for 
 the papers you sent to me. I was 
 glad to see in it the pictured face of 
 your father. It is a good likeness of 
 him, and a bright fellow he was. I 
 thought a great deal of him. I am 
 sorry he has passed away for he was 
 not old. 
 
 I could have told you a great deal 
 more about the B., C. & M. road and 
 of the boys that worked on it when I 
 did, could I have seen and talked 
 with you, or if I had been feeling 
 well. There are only a few on the 
 road now who were there when I 
 worked. Some that fired for me are 
 there yet and I am glad that I have 
 had the privilege of reading about 
 them and seeing the pictured faces 
 of some of them, as James W. Foster 
 has sent the papers to me. 
 
 Did your father ever tell you of 
 the wild ride some of us'took over 
 the summit with a load of mast logs? 
 Conductor Ezra Mann, and I as en¬ 
 gineer, and Charlie Hoyt, fireman, 
 
 went to Littleton with engine La¬ 
 conia and got 2 4 cars loaded with 
 mast sticks and hauled them to 
 Woodsville. George Furgeson 
 
 shoved us over the hill from there 
 with the mail train engine. When 
 we got to East Haverhill we asked 
 Mr. Dodge to let him go to Warren 
 with us as we had only three brakes, 
 but he said “No,” that the way 
 freight was in on the side track and 
 
 J. WESTON LYONS 
 
 One of the B., C. & M. Engineers 
 
 would remain there until we passed 
 through. We broke two of the 
 brakes just after passing Week’s 
 crossing. That left us with just the 
 caboose brake, behind. We went 
 through Warren 50 miles an hour 
 and did not stop unntil we got half 
 way to Wentworth. Charles Hoyt 
 would look at me and I at him. I 
 told him that my wife would be left 
 
141 
 
 a young widow, as we had not been 
 married long then. We made out to 
 get to Rumney, there we broke into 
 the depot and got wood enough to 
 take us to Plymouth; also shoveled 
 snow into the tank and melted it 
 with the blowback to get water to 
 take us there. We left the load of 
 masts at Plymouth and returned to 
 Woodsville with engine and caboose. 
 Ezra Mann told us at Plymouth the 
 lumber men (the Brown’s) were 
 hanging on to the box on top of the 
 caboose while the train was racing 
 down the summit and praying that 
 they would land safe somewhere at 
 the foot of the summit. We broke 
 three frogs in Warren yard that 
 night. What great risks the boys 
 run with those old engines and 
 freight car brakes, but we did not 
 realize our danger, knew our duty 
 and tried to do it well. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. WESTON LYONS. 
 
 F. D. Gourley, now traveling pass¬ 
 enger agent for the Boston & Marne, 
 was in the early railroad days a bar¬ 
 ber at the Fabyan house. Later he 
 became connected with the B., C. & 
 M., and since has made railroading 
 his life profession. William Gib¬ 
 son and George Spaulding were B., 
 C. & M. men who are working at the 
 present day, both being engineers on 
 the mountain road. 
 
 Edward J. Large is a present day 
 freight conductor, who has always 
 proven a good railroad man. He 
 was raised in Haverhill and has an 
 unusually good reputation as a citi¬ 
 zen and railroad employee. We al¬ 
 most forgot to mention Fred Rob- 
 shaw, who has become a part of the 
 freight system of today. He started 
 in “climbing the ladders of the old 
 B., C. & M. box cars” and has always 
 kept in practice and has proven a 
 good man for the several roads 
 which have succeeded the old sys¬ 
 tem. 
 
 PETER CLARK 
 
 One of the old engines. This machine 
 had the drop-hook coupling. The 
 name was beneath the stack*. 
 
142 
 
 Elsewhere in this book appears a 
 letter from A. J. Mooney of Salem, 
 Mass., who is one of the oldest con¬ 
 ductors on the road today. Al. 
 Mooney has seen much of this coun¬ 
 try, as for years he conducted over¬ 
 land tours. It was back in 1882 he 
 took a leave of absence from the B., 
 C. & M., and made his first trip for 
 Raymond & Whitcomb with a per- 
 
 conductor on the P. .& F. N. R. R., 
 from Bethlehem Junction to Bethle¬ 
 hem street, and practically had 
 charge of the narrow gauge road 
 during those years. For 29 suc¬ 
 cessive years after his return from 
 the South, during the months of 
 September and October, he made 
 regular personally conducted excur¬ 
 sions to Washington, Atlantic City, 
 
 THE OLD PEMIGEWASSET HOUSE 
 
 Owned by the B., C. & M.—This picture is inserted by W. H. Mathews, Boston, an em¬ 
 ployee of the house thirty-five years ago. (See page 121.) 
 
 sonally conducted tour to California. 
 About the year 1885 he went down 
 South as conductor of a sleeping car 
 for Lewis & Alden of New York, 
 where a little later he was made gen¬ 
 eral passenger agent of one of the 
 Southern railroads, but owing to the 
 climate not agreeing with his health, 
 
 he returned to New England and 
 went to work for the Concord & 
 Montreal as passenger conductor. 
 For 12 successive seasons he was 
 
 Montreal, Quebec, Niagara Falls, the 
 White Mountains and other points, 
 “known as Mooney’s personally con¬ 
 ducted tours.” Mr. Mooney made 
 the trip to the summit of Mt. Wash¬ 
 ington with Dr. Ordway of Lawrence, 
 Mass., who ran the first excursion up 
 the mountain. 
 
 Harvey Titus and Jim Jones were 
 two men well known in their day and 
 helped to make railroad history 40 
 years ago. 
 
143 
 
 For 18 years George L. Wilson 
 was station agent at Haverhill. Wil¬ 
 son could not telegraph and his 
 daughter, Carrie, did the operating 
 for seven years. She is now Mrs. 
 Harvey Large of Haverhill. 
 
 Joseph Mooney, a younger brother 
 of I. F. and A. J. Mooney, made his 
 start on the old B., C. & M. as brake- 
 man for W. J. Morrison and O. R. 
 Farror, old time freight conductors, 
 and later went West and made good 
 as conductor on the Union Pacific 
 railroad, where for the last 2 5 years 
 has runs from Denver to Cheyenne 
 and North Platte. He lives in Den¬ 
 ver and has a large ranch a few 
 miles out. 
 
 Here is a letter from an old passen¬ 
 ger conductor I well remember in my 
 boyhood days. I recollect often hear¬ 
 ing my father and mother speak of 
 George V. Moulton as being a “good 
 man.” As I got older I found this to 
 be true and shall remember George 
 Moulton as long as I live. Mr. Moul¬ 
 ton is unable to give any dates in his 
 letter, but it is exceedingly interest¬ 
 ing nevertheless, and for a man of his 
 years is well written. Mr. Moulton 
 has passed four score years and must 
 have commencedi radlllroadUnig more 
 than fifty years ago. 
 
 Laconia, N. H. 
 
 June 16, 1919. 
 
 C. E. Caswell: 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Have been very much 
 interested in the letters published a- 
 bout the old B., C. & M. and will try 
 end add my bit. 
 
 I cannot give dates. But commenc¬ 
 ed brakeman between Lake Village 
 and Plymouth. On my arrival at 
 Lake Village the first day, the con¬ 
 ductor, Natt. Batchelder, told me I 
 would have to go with an extra to 
 Concord. I had never been over this 
 road; it was my first time into Lake 
 Village. While waiting for Roby’s 
 
 train to come up I walked down to 
 the head of the train where I met the 
 engineer who was Ralph Adams. I 
 asked him if he was to take the train 
 to Concord? He informed me he was; 
 I told him I was to be conductor and 
 brakeman and had never been over 
 the road. He looked at me and said, 
 “Be careful and not get your d—d 
 head knocked off on the bridges, and 
 hold the Red Lantern where I can 
 see it.” After the arrival of Roby’s 
 train we started. I was perched on 
 the top of a box oar with a lantern in 
 each hand. Believe me, when we pas¬ 
 sed under the bridges it made me shi¬ 
 ver. After a few weeks between Lake 
 Village and Plymouth I broke from 
 Lake Village to Woodsvillle; then af-. 
 ter a few months from Lake Village 
 to Concord. When 'they commenced 
 the extension from Littleton, Mr. 
 Dodge sent John Butler up there to 
 run the construction train and he 
 promoted me as freight conductor, 
 running between Woodsville and Bos¬ 
 ton, four days for this round trip. I 
 was there two and a half years. When 
 Charles Simpson left the road and 
 went to farming at East Haverhill, 
 Mr. Dodge transferred me to a passen¬ 
 ger train, running from Littleton to 
 Boston. Baggage man from Littleton 
 to Plymouth, brakeman from there to 
 Boston via Nashua and Lowell. Bill 
 Rollins conductor, Littleton to Ply¬ 
 mouth, Sid Russ, conductor from Ply¬ 
 mouth to Concord. 
 
 After the death of Rollins, Mr. 
 Dodge promoted me to conductor to 
 run from Lancaster to Plymouth 
 which I did twelve years down and 
 back every day for $60 per month, no 
 extra pay but lots of extra time. I 
 think I lived in Littleton about two 
 years while they were building the 
 road through to Lancaster and then 
 I moved there. Run from Fabyans to 
 Concord two seasons. 
 
 Well I rembmber after the P. & 0. 
 was built from Fabyans to Portland 
 
144 
 
 running excursion trains to Upper 
 Bartlett. Mr. Dodge put me on to run 
 them from several points on the road. 
 The fare was one dollar for the round 
 trip; and such crowds we used to get! 
 I made twelve trips one Pall, and ten 
 the next. Great times for excursions 
 in those days. After the death of Col. 
 Alden Lorimo who was agent at Lit- 
 
 GEORGE V. MOULTON 
 
 tleton my good and true friend Ed. 
 Mann persuaded me to leave the 
 train and go there as agent which I 
 did and acted as agent two years then 
 left the road. 
 
 Those were good old days for 
 railroad men, all except the pay. 
 We were all as one great family if 
 either one got in trouble aill the oth¬ 
 ers tried to help him out. I well re¬ 
 member how when we had trouble 
 we would tell Sid Russ and he would 
 
 listen to the story and if we were not 
 in the fault would say I will go over 
 and see the captain (Mr. Dodge) and 
 would say the boy was not to blame, 
 that would be the last of it. 
 
 I still have my trunk which I car¬ 
 ried for a good many years which was 
 a present from Mr. Charles M. Whitti¬ 
 er. It is the same today as it was 
 the day I left the train; many things 
 in it, that remind me of my old days 
 of railroading. In looking over an 
 old Diary I find that in the month of 
 October 1874 I collected and turned 
 in to the office at Plymouth $987 85 
 cash collected for fares on the train, 
 an old time table 1867, 1870, and many 
 other old relics. 
 
 I can think of many things that 
 happened in those days that I would 
 like to talk about but don’t think they 
 would look well in print. 
 
 Will close by saying 1 am now liv¬ 
 ing one mile from the station at La¬ 
 conia, N. H. on a five acre farm. 
 Would like to hear from any or all of 
 the R. R. men who may read this. 
 
 Geo. Y. Moulton. 
 
 I am certain what Fred C. Sanborn 
 has to say will prove mighty interest¬ 
 ing reading to the railroad men of to¬ 
 day, to say nothing of the old boys of 
 forty years ago who are now living, 
 as well as the public in general. Mr. 
 Sanborn’s letter is worthy of a place 
 in any railroad history, and I was 
 pleased to receive it and give it to the 
 world as follows: 
 
 Lakeport, N. H. 
 
 April 7, 1919. 
 
 Dear Friend Caswell: 
 
 Your papers sent me from week to 
 week, containing letters from the old 
 B., C. & M. men, have been read with 
 much enthusiasm and greatly enjoyed, 
 so now I will endeavor to do my bit by 
 adding one more letter. 
 
 I will begin by writing of the days 
 back in the winter of 1873 and ’74 
 when I was driving two horses with 
 
14 ; 
 
 dump carts attached, building the road 
 from Twin Mountain station to Fa¬ 
 byans. 
 
 Only a few are living now who took 
 part in the grading, and laying of the 
 rails to the Fabyan House. However, 
 it was my good fortune to distribute 
 the spikes, (in company with Harvey 
 Dexter,) that laid the first rails to the 
 Fabyans. Dexter in after years was 
 killed in the Hoosac Tunnel. 
 
 The road was completed on the 19th 
 of .Tune 1874, if I remember correctly. 
 On the day of completing the laying of 
 the rails, Mr. Fabyan, then an old man, 
 came out to greet us with several pails 
 of ice cold lemonade which disappeared 
 very rapidly, it being an extremely 
 hot day. 
 
 On a trip with my auto through the 
 mountains a year ago, I stopped at the 
 Fabyan House, and my thoughts ran 
 hack to the time when the rails were 
 first laid there, great changes having 
 taken place meanwhile. 
 
 Right here I wish to say that the 
 old engine, Peter Clark, was the first 
 engine that ever poked her nose into 
 the Fabyans. Frank Clifford was the 
 engineer, and Dan Dolloff, the fireman. 
 This engine was used to push two or 
 three flat cars every day, loaded with 
 ties, rails, spikes and other material 
 used in building the road. 
 
 Trains began running regularly to 
 Fabyans about July 1, 1874. 
 
 Mr. Edward Plaisted was the man 
 who had charge of laying the rails, 
 and grading the road. He left the 
 road in the fall of 1874, and went to 
 Columbus, Ohio, where he died a few 
 years ago. Possibly M. E. Cummings 
 will remember Mr. Plaisted, as at that 
 time, his family lived in the tenement 
 of the depot at Woodsville. 
 
 The trainmen on the Wing Road 
 branch that summer were Hi Moulton, 
 conductor, and also had charge of the 
 branch. Ira Wallace was his bag¬ 
 gage master, and soon afterwards went 
 to California to live. John Boynton 
 was engineer, with Fred Whiting, fire¬ 
 
 man. The engine was McDuffy. One 
 part of the White Mountain express 
 ran to Fabyans, the other through to 
 Lancaster, with George V. Moulton, 
 conductor, who is living at the present 
 
 FRED C. SANBORN. 
 
 time in Laconia, directly across Lake 
 Opechee from my home 
 Harrison Sargent ran a parlor car 
 between Fabyans and Boston, and was 
 conductor of the White Mountain ex¬ 
 press on the Wing Road Branch. 
 
 Mr. Woodman, familiarly known as 
 ‘Grey Eagle,” ran opposite him with 
 L. K. Ford, and G. E. Cummings, 
 brakemen (by hand) from Fabyans to 
 Boston, air brakes not being in use at 
 that time So^e job for brake man-— 
 as compared with today! 
 
 The engine that took the express up 
 and down the branch was the “Lady,” 
 with Frank Burleigh, engineer, and 
 
146 
 
 who is still running an engine between 
 Concord and Woodsville. George N. 
 Piper was fireman. 
 
 An old man by the name of Wescott 
 used to saw wood by hand for the use 
 of these two engines, MeDuffy and 
 Lady, at Wing Road. David Furgesou 
 was conductor on the mail train be¬ 
 tween Lancaster and PI mouth, every 
 day. J. C. Badger was baggage master 
 on the mail train with him. I re¬ 
 member at that time the White Moun¬ 
 tain express and the Mont, xl express 
 were run a one train to Ihe White 
 Mountains. The late E. F. Mann 
 was conductor of the Montreal express 
 which consisted of a combination car 
 and coach -which went to Woodsville, 
 and the White Mountain express ran 
 through the Y. 
 
 In those days, Mr. Dodge and Mr. 
 Lyon were often seen at the Fabyans, 
 as the road was new and many things 
 necessary to he done for the improve¬ 
 ment of the service. 
 
 The “Grand Old Man” John Varnev 
 of Tilton, use to collect toll at the toll 
 gate on the turnpike from Fabyans to 
 the base of Mt. Washington. 
 
 Some of the hoys have liad much to 
 say about the engine Marshfield being 
 renamed “Granite State.” I remember 
 when the White Mt. Express was put 
 on, the Mars field came up with it to 
 Twin Mt. Str./on, that being as far as 
 they could go at that time, Bobby 
 Randall, engineer, and Jed Bean, fire¬ 
 man. Bean was sick, and I made one 
 trip to Wing Road and return for him. 
 Bobby told me the Marshfield was 
 too large for the branch, that it would 
 surely be off the track around some of 
 f he curves: He said he should tell 
 Ralph Adams the Lady ought to run 
 up the Branch. In a day or two The 
 Lady appeared on the Branch. 
 
 Perhaps I said too much about the 
 Branch, but as that wms my first ex¬ 
 perience in the railroad game, thought 
 a little history about one of the con¬ 
 necting links to Mt. Washington, 
 might be of interest to the readers. 
 
 Later years found me a freight con¬ 
 ductor on the old B. C. & M., and af¬ 
 terwards a passenger conductor. 
 
 When the lease of the C. & M. to 
 the B. & M., on June 29, 1895, my 
 crew, which consisted of Bobby Ran¬ 
 dall and fireman, Irvin Way, baggage 
 master, and myself, conductor, were 
 transferred to the Northern Division, 
 then to the Western, and at the pres¬ 
 ent time I am with the Portland Di¬ 
 vision. 
 
 Have been running from Laconia 
 to Dover for 23 years. 
 
 When I first went to the Northern 
 Division, I felt like a S( hool boy 
 driven from home. I went among 
 railroad men I had never known, hut 
 found them to be of the same good 
 quality as those I had left behind on 
 the old B. C. & M. 
 
 Mr. Randall and I ran together be¬ 
 tween Laconia, Alton Bay and Dover 
 19 years (a long time for an engineer 
 and conductor to run together.) Mr. 
 Randall was the first engineer with 
 whom I made a trip as freight con¬ 
 ductor. His last trip before he re¬ 
 tired on a pension was made with me. 
 rl range coincidence. The poor fel'ow 
 lived only a short time to enjoy his 
 pension. 
 
 Upon his retirement, the crew that 
 lie had run with presented him a fine 
 goldheaded cane. The olfl man was 
 greatly affected upon receiving it. 
 
 Time has brought about many 
 changes on the old B. C. & M. Many 
 of my dear friends, as Stonewall Jack- 
 son said “have passed over the River 
 and are resting under the shade of the 
 trees, waiting for the rest of us to 
 come over.” It will not be long, for 
 those that were the young men 35 or 
 40 years ago are getting to be the 
 old men of today. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 F. C. Sanborn. 
 Conductor Portland Division. 
 
147 
 
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Finale. 
 
 148 
 
 Probably blit few who have read 
 these pages realized if it had not been 
 for a certain woman they never 
 would have been writen. That wo¬ 
 man was my mother. Her sainted 
 picture has been on my desk for years, 
 
 CHARLES ED. CASWELL 
 
 and I often call her back to earth in 
 gratitude for training a young life 
 when my steps were short. 
 
 In closing this little history which 
 others and myself have so much en¬ 
 joyed preparing that coming genera¬ 
 tions may in a degree realize what 
 railroading was like when railroading 
 was new, it is hoped those who read 
 
 *7 
 
 these pages will square their lives, as 
 did the many faithful workers of the 
 old road of which you have been read¬ 
 ing, who “builded better than they 
 knew.” 
 
 I looked out of my office window a 
 few nights ago as the midnight ex¬ 
 press was going up the hill on its way 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
 at that midnight hour came to my 
 mind thoughts of days and years long 
 past when the old B. C. & M. trains so 
 laboriously climbed over the hills and 
 through these valleys, on the same 
 right of way, and the faithful hands 
 which pulled the throttles of the old 
 wood burners when railroading was 
 new in this country. 
 
 Those men did their work well and 
 one by one as the years came and 
 went, their mortal bodies were con¬ 
 signed to earth to rest from their la¬ 
 bors, having “builded better than they 
 knewand though their ashes rest 
 beneath the sod in various towns and 
 hamlets along the road which they 
 helped to lurid, I could not help but 
 thinking they are not dead but living 
 on in a mighty theater of action trans¬ 
 mitted down to the present day and 
 their influence will go on and on to 
 benefit the'world and coming genera¬ 
 tions, growing in magnitude as the 
 years shall come and go; and may we 
 each and all improve upon the knowl¬ 
 edge handed down from those railroad 
 men who “builded better than they 
 knew,” in the days of the old B. C. & 
 M. 
 
 C. E. Caswell. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 APR 1 9 I 
 
 c o 
 
 zr> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRODUCTS, INC. #859-5503 
 

 
 BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 
 
 
 3 903 
 
 020 84541 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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