Lost Glory
New England is laced with thousands of miles of abandoned railroads. Some were never of much consequence and should never have been built while others were once heavy duty signaled mainlines.
This is one of the latter types and arguably this structure was the most famous on the line. This is Joslin Arch on the former Boston and Maine Cheshire Branch that provided the Fitchburg Railroad and later the B&M a connection from the east west mainline at South Ashburn, MA northwest 54 miles to Bellows Falls, VT. Organized by businessmen in the important town of Keene, NH the Cheshire Railroat opened its thru route in 1849 and was independent for its first 40 years until being absorbed by the FRR.
Engineered and built to a gold standard it featured some 20 stone arch bridges but none more impressive than this one at MP 89.4 (measured from Boston) crossing the East Branch of the Ashuelot River in South Keene. The largest on the line it is 45 ft above the river and has an inside diameter of 60 ft with a total length including the wing walls of 186 ft. Built in 1847 of locally cut granite it served for over 120 years until the last train ran in late 1971 or early 1972, I don't know exactly. In its glory days however countless milk trains fro. the Rutland connection passed on their way to Boston as well as glamorous passenger trains such as the Green Mountain Flyer and the Mount Royal. But none were more famous than The Cheshire that from 1944 to 1952 used the famous number 6000, the pioneering 1935 Budd Built 'Flying Yankee' articulated streamlimer modeled after the Burlington's famed Pioneer Zephyr. To see a picture of the fluted stainless steel speedster on this very structure check out this link: blog.nhstateparks.org/from-railroad-to-rail-trail-a-histo...
If you care to learn more about the Cheshire I HIGHLY recommend the book Iron Roads of the Monadnock Region by Blodget and Richard's.
Keene, New Hampshire
Friday August 19, 2022
Lost Glory
New England is laced with thousands of miles of abandoned railroads. Some were never of much consequence and should never have been built while others were once heavy duty signaled mainlines.
This is one of the latter types and arguably this structure was the most famous on the line. This is Joslin Arch on the former Boston and Maine Cheshire Branch that provided the Fitchburg Railroad and later the B&M a connection from the east west mainline at South Ashburn, MA northwest 54 miles to Bellows Falls, VT. Organized by businessmen in the important town of Keene, NH the Cheshire Railroat opened its thru route in 1849 and was independent for its first 40 years until being absorbed by the FRR.
Engineered and built to a gold standard it featured some 20 stone arch bridges but none more impressive than this one at MP 89.4 (measured from Boston) crossing the East Branch of the Ashuelot River in South Keene. The largest on the line it is 45 ft above the river and has an inside diameter of 60 ft with a total length including the wing walls of 186 ft. Built in 1847 of locally cut granite it served for over 120 years until the last train ran in late 1971 or early 1972, I don't know exactly. In its glory days however countless milk trains fro. the Rutland connection passed on their way to Boston as well as glamorous passenger trains such as the Green Mountain Flyer and the Mount Royal. But none were more famous than The Cheshire that from 1944 to 1952 used the famous number 6000, the pioneering 1935 Budd Built 'Flying Yankee' articulated streamlimer modeled after the Burlington's famed Pioneer Zephyr. To see a picture of the fluted stainless steel speedster on this very structure check out this link: blog.nhstateparks.org/from-railroad-to-rail-trail-a-histo...
If you care to learn more about the Cheshire I HIGHLY recommend the book Iron Roads of the Monadnock Region by Blodget and Richard's.
Keene, New Hampshire
Friday August 19, 2022