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Connecticut River Railroads and Connections Volume 3 III Claremont Jct – M.P. 4
Connecticut River Railroads and Connections Volume 3 III Claremont Jct - M.P. 4 BY RW Nimke
Hard Cover with dust jacket Has been taped along lower binding edge and bottom edge - SEE PHOTOS
202 pages Reflection for the lights on some photos.
Copyright 1992
CONTENTS
CLAREMONT BRANCH HISTORY Pages 1-11
CLAREMONT JUNCTION Engine & Yards Pages 12-19
Station & Interchange Pages 20-26
CLAREMONT JUNCTION-CLAREMONT YARD
Industries Pages 27-59
CLAREMONT ELECTRIC RAILWAY History Pages 60-66
MULBERRY STREET NORTH-CPM
Industries - Operations Pages 67-86
UNION & MAIN STREETS Industries - Operations Pages 87-91
WATER STREET Industries - Operations Pages 92-98
RIVER STREET Industries - Operations Pages 99-103
LOWER MAIN TO SPRING STREETS
Industries - Operations Pages 104-108
NORTH STREET Joy Mfg Page 109
MULBERRY STREET YARD TO NORTH STREET
& RETURN Pages 110-113
LOWER MAIN TO WEST CLAREMONT
Industries - Operations Pages 114-127
MULBERRY STREET YARD TO COY PAPER & RETURN Pages 128-138
PLEASANT STREET EAST Industries - Operations Pages 139-151
CAR RECORDS & TARIFFS Pages 152-155
TRANSITIONS-CLAREMONT YARD Pages 156-163
SWITCHING AT CLAREMONT YARD Pages 164-169
FIRE - JANUARY 25, 1987 Page 170
MOTIVE POWER, CARS & EQUIPMENT Pages 171-186
VOLUME II REVISITED Hillsboro to Winchendon Pages 187-202
INTRODUCTION
This one of a two volume series on the Claremont Branch, will cover between Claremont Junction and M.P. 4 (Washington St.) and includes the Claremont Electric Railway. A brief history of both the Branch as well as the Electric are found in this volume along with most of the industries served by both. No attempt has been made to do any history on the industries but rather to show to what degree they participated in rail transportation, or the lack of it. We do get into the type of products they made and/or materials they consumed within their operations. In some cases specific car numbers are brought out along with the origin and contents of the car, for those of you that might be interested, but the main purpose of this volume is to bring out the purpose for which the railroad and electric line were built and the necessity to pull back when it was no longer supported.
This volume was a bit difficult to do as it was apparent almost from the beginning that it was going to be about impossible to use all of the photos and material in one volume due to quality and quantity unearthed. I strongly debated about using the sequence of photos to the Coy Paper and return to the Yard but finally won out by using them. That experience could never happen again and now it is a part of this pictorial history of the Branch and the Electric.
There were several sad parts to this and the next volume, as I was doing research and the like on both at the same time. Having access to many of the car records that had not been destroyed, proved to be very invaluable in reconstructing its traffic to and from its industries. But it wasn't long and a pattern developed. This actually started in the B&M era and just escalated around the late 1950s during the Pinsley era. Times changed and methods of distribution along with them. The days of large inventories were over, so consequently carload freight suffered. Customers wanted their goods overnight, which the railroads could not provide. Your branch lines were the first to feel this, such as the Claremont Branch. Miles of non-productive railroad, and then only serving small towns with no large user of rail present, was its downfall.
To see this happen, as the research brought this out, made one do a lot of thinking on what had been, especially being a former railroad man. It was very easy to visualize actual Local freight trains going about their business of dropping and picking up cars. Also the problems they no doubt had in the winter with snow and ice, particularly on the Electric with all that street operations. To continually lose traffic and then have that disastrous fire of the enginehouse in 1987, must have been real disheartening. Also having your only connection at Claremont Jct. in a turmoil most of the time, did not help matters either. Without a doubt in my mind, the Claremont & Concord Railway did all they could to retain traffic by rail, discounting piggyback trailers as this is not a moneymaker for a small carrier and is hardly a break even proposition. To have the latest owner of the line, the Claremont & Concord Railroad, make a go of what little trackage there is left, will have to mean some change in their thinking plus the return of CPM to rail transportation. Some additional traffic from others that could use rail would also make the cash register jingle. Some new operations that the railroad could service directly, requiring rail to a large degree, would also make the trip to the bank worthwhile.
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