Ken, Hamilton and Wenham are typical of many 300+ year old New England towns. Many towns were founded during the 1600's by opposing religious groups, often only a mile or two apart, as in this case. When the Eastern RR was built in the 1840's, they probably chose to construct one depot between the two towns to save money. The towns grew because of the railroad and their proximity to Boston, and now the only way to tell the difference is by the Town Limit signs on Rte 1A, and by listening to back-room discussions at the annual Town Meetings. To look at this area, I recommend Google Earth, a free download with excellent satellite imagery, or you could use one of many mapping programs such as Microsoft Streets & Trips which show railroads in addition to roads. Regards the North Adams order, it's interesting that North Adams would issue an order for the Mechanicville area, when Mechanicville issued their own orders....? Regards the North Bennington order, this is for the same track as the earlier Johnsonville and Mechanicville local freight orders. North Bennington was on Rutland RR trackage, but the Rut and B&M had power swapping agreements for many years, both in this area and on B&M's Conn River line. Also, I believe the B&M had controlling interest in the Rutland, or perhaps owned it outright.
Ken, I have found an easy way to view the Hamilton-Wenham station and surrounding area using Google Earth. Enter "Beverly, MA" and Google Earth will place the view in the middle of downtown Beverly. Move very slightly to the south and west and you will see where the MBTA Newburyport branch to the north diverges from the Gloucester branch to the east. Follow the Newburyport branch north and the next station will be Hamilton-Wenham. You can continue further north to the next station, Ipswich where my brother met me. One note, you will see what appears to be a lot of empty space between the towns rather than wall to wall people-boxes of other major metro areas. The land in this area is quite hilly, also they have excellent zoning control, so there has been far less uncontrolled and random development, leaving large amounts of green space.
pdlethbridge- Welcome To TrainBoard! Please let us know where we can view your steam photo? Boxcab E50
Randolph, New Hampshire. This is on a USRA form. But it's simply old stock being used up. The USRA was gone in 1920: Boxcab E50
Pdlethbridge, Welcome to the Train Board, we're glad to have you aboard...especially in the B&M Forum. I would love to see your photo. Do you need help posting it?
Ken, the Randolph order raises an interesting question...I didn't realize the USRA was still managing (regulating?) the railroads as late as 1925....? The Portsmouth order shows that the ex-Eastern line was still in existance and useable in 1979. Guilford ripped it up between Portsmouth, NH and Ipswich, MA shortly after they absorbed the B&M, so they could salvage the steel. As I mentioned earlier, the MBTA goes north from Ipswich to Newburyport, but that's only because the "T" had to rebuild that 12 mile portion from the ground up at taxpayer's expense. Thanks for NOTHING, Guilford!
Hank- I have examples such as Randolph from other railroads. USRA was indeed (1920) long gone. The RR company, being frugal, was simply using up old paperwork stocks. You also see this after mergers. Using up old pads of blank orders. Even shuffling inventory around, so oddities occur. I have seen orders copied after the Burlington Northern merger. Such as on CB&Q forms, in western Washington state. Nearly a thousand miles from the nearest CB&Q location. Boxcab E50
Rockingham, New Hampshire. Bummer. It's only an annullment. But I guess that's better than having nothing: Boxcab E50
