Service to Suncook
B&M Passenger Service
Passenger service is generally
well covered in B&M Employee and Public Time Tables. A more comprehensive study of passenger
service, including via interurban and bus, will be included here at a later
date. Of important note is that
the B&M curtailed service over the Hooksett bridges on January 11,
1935. Some preliminary paragraphs
follow:
The B&M experimented with a
variety of passenger scheduling schemes to provide service to Suncook for the
first 3 ½ years after the Suncook Valley Railroad began independent
operation. Finally, in April of
1928, a scheme was settled upon that was to be used rather consistently until
B&M passenger service on the Suncook Loop was curtailed in 1935. From 4 to 6 daily trains were used over
the years, most of which were Boston-Concord (primarily 300 series) or
Concord-Portsmouth runs (3600 series trains,) although a Concord to Worcester
train, Train 812, was a regular in later years.
The general scheme was as follows: an early train (812 after 4/28)
would arrive and depart prior to SV Train 2, although this was occasionally not
the case early on. One or two mid
morning trains (303 and 3601 after 4/28)
would meet the shortline train, exchanging passengers, mail, express, and milk,
after which SV Train 1 would leave for valley points. Until the spring of 1928, a noon train would stop in
Suncook, although no connection was made with the shortline. In the afternoon, SV Train 4 would
arrive. A connection was made with
southbound B&M Train 3604 during the entire period, with but one exception
that will be shortly mentioned. SV
Train 3 then left for Center Barnstead.
During the early years, an evening train would sometimes be scheduled to
stop at Suncook.
Beginning in the winter or spring of 1927, and continuing until August 8 of that year, a very different scheme was put into effect. Rather than using regular NH Division trains that came off or on the main at Hooksett, two round trips from Concord, numbered in the 3700 series, were used to serve Suncook alone. The trains that would have otherwise been used for the service were rerouted up the main on the Bow side of the Merrimack River. The reason for dramatic change was that the B&M had temporarily closed the Hooksett bridges, presumably due to damage from the spring thaw. The condition of the Hooksett covered bridges was never very good during the 20’s, as special notes in the B&M Employee Timetables attest to speed and braking restrictions. Such concerns would again effect the railroad, as the bridges were closed permanently on January 11, 1935, while complete destruction came a little more than a year later.
B&M Freight Service
Freight service to Suncook is more difficult to pin down. Photographic evidence is
non-existent. Currently, five
B&M Freight Train Symbol Books from the period of interest are “known” to
much of the B&M community: FTSB #14, dated 12/20/26; FTSB #16, dated 10/31/27; a FTSB #17 supplement, dated 9/25/32;
FTSB #24, dated 9/24/33; and a 4/26/36 FTSB. Each book explicitly calls out how Suncook was served at
that point in time. B&M
Merchandise Car pamphlets also shed some light on Suncook freight service. Two from the 1924-36 period are known
to exist: 4/1/29 and 5/1/30. . (If
you have knowledge of any additional FTSB or Merchandise Car pamphlets from
this era, I would greatly appreciate you sharing them with me!)
B&M Suncook
Locals, 12/20/26
The 1926 FTSB shows that a pair of local trains was assigned from
Concord to Suncook and from Suncook to Concord on a daily except Sunday basis,
correlating exactly with the frequency of SV mixed trains. Running south after Train 812, the turn
arrived in Suncook to leave cars for Suncook Valley Train 1. Facilities served at Suncook included
the Suncook freight house, the three large Suncook Mills complexes-the China, Pembroke,
and Webster cotton mills, Fowler Brothers’ grain mill, Fred Saltmarsh’s coal
and wood yard, and E. Baker & Co.’s coal pocket. The Pawtuckaway Box Company, located just north of the
Suncook freight house, appears to have closed its doors prior to 1924.
Three times weekly, freight service was supplied to Hooksett, and
we know the train at least occasionally crossed the Hooksett covered bridges
from the note in the Symbol Book regarding running back to Concord via the
main. The Suncook local would have
served the Dundee Mill, where crash, a coarse cloth used for toweling and
coats, was woven until about 1928.
Furthermore, it appears that this was the sole freight service to the
Hooksett depot and freight house, as no other locals ran Concord to Manchester.
After arriving in Concord at around 9:45 AM, the Suncook local
then made a trip part way up the Claremont Branch to serve the quarries on
Rattlesnake Hill near West Concord, also known as Garrison on the B&M. No provision for evening service to Suncook
can be found, which would have delayed outbound merchandise service until the
next morning.
B&M Suncook
Local, 10/31/27
The 1927 FTSB showed a very similar operating scheme to that of
1926. The round trip was now officially
one local, rather than the previous two, and it was run on the same frequency
as the previous year. It
arrived shortly after Suncook Valley Train 2, and only moments before B&M
Train 303 was to arrive from Boston for the scheduled meet. <Reinterpret
time!>
Again, freight service was supplied to Hooksett three times
weekly, but it is not known if this train stayed on the east side of the river
or if it dared venture over the Hooksett bridges to the depot and freight
house. There were two Boston-Concord
locals, one each direction daily, that could have provided service along the NH
Division main line through Hooksett.
During the early 1930’s, the Dundee Mill was leased by Emerson
& Stillman, who manufactured furniture. A siding located on the east bank of the Merrimack was used
by this and other off line customers, but after the Concord and Manchester
Electric Railway was abandoned in 1933, the steam road’s track was connected to
a remaining segment of the interurban’s track that passed by the mill. Unable to handle a steam locomotive,
this spur was worked using the mill’s truck as motive power.
Arriving back in Concord around 9:00 AM, the Suncook local also
ran to Garrison to work the quarries.
However, after that work was complete, the local would make a second
trip to Suncook to pick up any LCL cars at the freight house or dropped by SV
Train 4 at 3:20 PM. This trip
provided much improved service for Suncook and Valley shippers. Presumably this train had to make it
back to connect with the southbound merchandise train, O-B 2, in order to best
serve Suncook and Valley shippers.
O-B 2 arrived at Concord at 7:00 PM and left at 7:50. Complicating this however is the fact
that B&M Train 3604 was due to leave Concord at 3:40 PM. It was scheduled to arrive in Suncook
at 3:56. The local surely could
not be counted on to pick up merchandise cars and run the distance back to
Concord in less than 20 minutes. We
can therefore conclude that the local waited until after the passenger train
had left, which would give it three hours and 20 minutes to make the round trip
and get the car spotted in Concord to be sent south in O-B 2.
The April 1929 Minute Man Freight Service Merchandise Car pamphlet
shows that a daily Less-Carload-Lot (LCL) car was sent from Nashua to the
Suncook Valley RR scheduled to permit next morning delivery. In addition, a car left Boston’s “A”
House (located in East Cambridge,) destined for Suncook as well. However, this latter service was only
guaranteed to deliver merchandise the second morning. It was not a direct car, so presumably, goods were sent to
Concord where they were then transferred to another car at the Concord freight
house.
Two daily merchandise cars were scheduled for Suncook in May
1930. The first left Boston “A”
House in East Cambridge providing next morning LCL service. The other left Nashua, NH, providing
the same frequency. The 1927 FTSB
leads one to believe that both of these cars would have come into Concord in
Train B-O 1. This train left
Boston with merchandise cars at 9:15 PM, and picked up and dropped similar cars
at the major cities enroute.
Nashua was scheduled for 11:45 PM Arrival in Concord was 3:15 AM, and
departure time was 3:45. By the
1932, the FTSB indicates that any Nashua car would have been picked up by 49’s
Extra and dropped in Concord, while B-U 1 would have hauled Boston LCL direct
to Concord. Due to the freight
scheduling efficiencies introduced ca. 1930, B-U 1 made it into Concord at 10:10. The schedule for 49’s Extra is not known,
but it did arrive before B-U 1.
B&M Suncook
Locals, 9/25/32
By the fall of 1932, the B&M had changed the format of their
FTSB. The scheme reported had also
substantially changed from 1927.
The effects of the Depression were taking their toll on most scheduled
services, but Suncook still required its minimum 2 trips daily in order to
handle regular and LCL traffic.
Reflecting the changes required, the B&M had combined the Bristol
& Franklin local that existed in 1927 with the Suncook local. It now left Concord for Suncook at 7:05
AM. The earlier departure,
however, means that the local met the northbound Worcester-Concord passenger
train, #812, rather than #303. The
Suncook Valley schedule was also changed, and it arrived in time to connect to
this earlier passenger train as well.
(No further arrival or departure times are given for the service.) Additional schedule times are available
for this service, as the Bristol trains, 3901 and 3902, appear in Employee
timetables due to their being mixed trains.
With the general reduction in service that occurred in response to
the ever worsening Depression, the southbound train from Lincoln lost its
symbol freight status, was cut back to Concord, and was required to make the
evening run to Suncook to provide LCL service on an as needed basis.
B&M Symbol
Freight F-C 1 and Suncook Local, 9/24/33
As the Depression wore on, the B&M continued to modify its
freight services to accommodate the lower traffic levels. In Suncook, this meant that there would
no longer be a dedicated morning local service. Instead, the B&M began running Symbol Freight F-C 1 to
Suncook on an as needed basis after it otherwise completed its run to Concord. It was scheduled to arrive in the
capital at 8:30 AM, which allowed it to get to Suncook in time for the Valley
connection- SV Train 1 was not scheduled to leave Suncook until 10:00 AM. The variable service nature implied by
the B&M’s schedule is a foreboding sign of things to come. Meanwhile, the Bristol and Franklin
local was restored to its previous status without a morning Suncook trip.
In order to make the evening connection for outbound merchandise,
the Lincoln to Concord local continued to run to Suncook or Hooksett as
required.
B&M Symbol
Freight W-C 1, 4/26/36
The April 26, 1936 B&M ETT gives a look at freight service to
Suncook after the Hooksett bridges were closed. The Worcester to Concord symbol freight, W-C 1, has now
assumed the duties. After arriving
in Concord around 8:15, that crew was assigned the job of running to Suncook or
Hooksett as required. The
continuing suggestion that the service frequency is variable helps one to
understand the situation leading up to the SV leasing the Loop trackage. No mention is made anywhere of
afternoon runs to Suncook, so a distinct possibility exists that afternoon
merchandise service from Valley points had been curtailed entirely.
Equipment
Little is known about the equipment used for these various
services. Two Al Hale photos of
Concord to Portsmouth Train 3604 at Suncook show A-44a 1161 on 5/10/30 and
A-41f 1011 on 9/23/33. Another
photo (presumed to be 3604 due to direction and the sun’s position) has 1007
doing duty. It is also known that
B-15c 1475 hauled Train 303 north from Boston on 12/29/34, while Engine 1482
(another B-15c) hauled extra coaches to Suncook for the 1935 NARE Bike &
Hike excursion after scheduled passenger service had been terminated. Some inferences may also be drawn from
other resources. B&M ETT’s do
show weight restrictions on the Suncook Loop, probably due to the wooden
bridges over the Suncook River and Merrimack River at Hooksett (the Soucook
River and Merrimack River at Bow Jct. crossings were on steel bridges.) Interestingly, if it were not for the
China Mill located in Allenstown, only the Suncook Valley train and B&M
trains continuing on to the west side of the river at Hooksett would have had
to cross either of these wood bridges.
The heaviest locomotives permitted on the Suncook Loop were the
K-4e 2-8-0 in freight service and the J-1 4-4-2 in passenger service. The B&M had 8 K-4 locomotives,
including 2 of the ‘e’ subclass.
The other six had been previously rebuilt as compounds, and later
restored back to simple expansion.
All remained on the B&M’s roster in 1924, but were retired by
1928. There were 6 J-1’s on the
roster in 1924; three remained in May 1936. One had been superheated making it a J-1c, while another
received both that treatment and Walschaerts valve gear, creating the only
J-1f. Some comparative figures on
various locomotive classes are shown below to help illustrate what we know from
this:
Class Max Axle Loading Total
Weight
J-1f 46,000# 87
½ tons
J-1c 41,500 83
K-5a 35,750 82
½
J-1 40,600 80
B-15c 43,400 76
C-15h 36,000 73
B-15a, b 41,668 72
½
B-15 40,934 71
G-10* 43,500 64
A-41f 41,500 64
G-10* 41,000 61
½
A-40c 38,000 60
A-41a-e 37,000 57
½
SV #1 32,000 56
* Minuteman Steam and Jeff
Rousseau’s Data list show differing numbers for the G-10.
It would seem that after the last K-4 locomotive was retired, the
largest freight engine permitted on the Loop would have been the B-15c
moguls. Additional loading data
may yet turn up, but these numbers corroborate what we already know. It would appear that all 2-6-0’s and
4-4-0’s on the B&M, as well as G-10 0-6-0’s, were suitable for the Suncook
Loop. The J-1 Trailers and C-15
ten wheelers that were remaining were numerically insignificant, and while they
could theoretically show up in Suncook, the likelihood of seeing them was
probably very small.
A review of photographs taken by Al Hale, now residing at the
Beverly Historical Society, most frequently show 0-6-0 switchers being used on
most short haul locals. On the
other hand, some longer trips appear to have used 2-6-0 and even 2-8-0
locomotives. There is a series of
photos taken on the Franklin Branch in the late 30’s that show a G-10 there,
but that line explicitly allowed that class, as well as K-7’s and J-1’s of
various subclasses.
Another factor we can take into account is the turntable at
Suncook. There was a 50’ Sellers
table installed after independent operations began, located just north of Ferry
Street in Suncook, that the Suncook Valley used to turn its locomotive for the
northbound run. Presumably, the
B&M was permitted to use the table as well for the local freight, but we do
not know this for certain. First,
the table was located on the Suncook Valley proper- not the Suncook Loop, so
the Suncook Valley would have to had granted the B&M trackage rights,
albeit only a few hundred feet.
Two, it is possible that the B&M local’s engine made one half of its
trip running in reverse. If the local
did use the turntable, however, it limits what power could have been used due
to wheelbase and weight limitations.
A 50’ turntable was of sufficient length for Class G-10 0-6-0’s, all
4-4-0 type locomotives, and B-15 moguls with the early style tender only.
During the mid 1920’s, the B&M invested in a number of gas
cars. Intended to provide cost
effective passenger service on low density routes, it is seems reasonable that
the Suncook Loop could have been a candidate for the use of this
equipment. An April 7, 1927 gas
car assignment list shows that one of the 180 series cars was assigned to a Concord
to Worcester run, of 161 miles roundtrip.
This mileage corresponds to a NH Division routing, and not the “back
door” via Henniker. The April 24,
1927 ETT does not corroborate this, as there is no northbound Worcester to
Concord train scheduled as a counterpart to southbound Train 812. However the January 15, 1928 ETT shows
that two additional runs have been added between those points, 8113 and 8122,
and that these trains traveled via the Suncook Loop. However, this service did not last long, as the two trains
were annulled between Manchester and Concord by Supplement to the ETT,
effective April 2, 1928. There is
no photographic evidence to support this claim that gas cars once traveled
though Suncook; one is left only to weigh the merits of the paper trail.
Lastly, there are but a few photos of W-C 1 and its southbound
counterpart, C-W 2, and unfortunately they are all from the postwar
period. Despite this, it can be
noted that the power for this train during that later timeframe was either a
K-8 consolidation or a single F-2 diesel, certainly not the sort of locomotives
allowed on the Suncook Loop!
Sources:
Special thanks
to Brent Michiels for his invaluable assistance.
B&M
Employee Time Tables, Southern Division, #55 though 61A, B&MRRHS collection,
B&M
Employee Time Tables, #1 though 21, author’s and B&MRRHS collection,
B&M Freight
Train Symbol Book #14, effective 12/20/26, courtesy Tim Gilbert,
B&M Freight
Train Symbol Book #16, effective 10/31/27, courtesy Scott Whitney,
B&M Freight
Train Symbol Book supplement to #17, effective 9/25/32, author’s collection,
B&M Freight
Train Symbol Book #24, effective 9/24/33, courtesy Jacob Klerman,
B&M Freight
Train Symbol Book #XX, effective 4/26/36, B&MRRHS collection,
B&M Minute Man
Freight Service Pamphlet, Though Merchandise Cars, issued 4/1/29, courtesy Tim
Gilbert,
B&M Minute
Man Freight Service Pamphlet, Though Merchandise Cars, issued 5/1/30, author’s
collection,
B&M Steam
Locomotive Class Data, courtesy Jeff Rousseau,
The Blueberry
Express, edited by John Hutchins,
Bulletin,
B&MRRHS Vol * No *, the 1934 locomotive assignment article,
ICC Finance
Docket No. 10948, B&M Abandonment, submitted 11/14/35, decided 11/21/35,
author’s collection,
ICC Valuation
Survey documents, B&M Valuation sections 23.1, 23.6, & 29, author’s
collection,
Minute Man
Steam, by Harry A. Frye,
Sanborn Fire
Insurance Company maps, Village of Suncook, maps drawn July 1923, October 1929,
& revised December 1939/October 1948, author’s collection,
Posted 8/15/04.
Updated 9/20/05. Copyright
Earl Tuson