Nostalgia & History > Boston & Maine at Ayer, Massachusetts in 1971, Movie Footage

When my uncle John in Indiana sent me a Super 8 movie camera in the fall of 1971, I decided to venture out and get a closer look at the B&M. I found a big hole in the fence at Fort Devens (near the freight yard on the branch that headed south) to get this Army Brat and his bananna-seated bicycle through. That gave me a shortcut (that no doubt was used by GI's) wiithout going out the back gate. Up until then, I could only intently view the B&M from the school bus or from the window of our family station wagon.The passenger station that sat near the tower had been razed and had a USO on the same property. I ventured in the tower once only to be told I could not be there. It wasn't like back in Indiana.

Most of the activity was on the east-west mainline.  And though the B&M was bankrupt, it was still quite a show with three or four "Blue Bird" GP9s that powered through freights and plenty of maroon "Minute Man" GP7s and RS3s. (Note that one is so faded, it is yellow. Some of the RS3s were painted blue, but I don't recall any of the GP7s painted blue at this time.) The RDCs from Boston only ran as far west as Ayer and were parked on the other end of town near the packing plant on the weekends. The newest locos the B&M had in 1971 were GP18s, which I rarely saw. ( I suppose there just weren't very many, and I didn't get a chance to railfan much.)  I remember once seeing a coal train with Penn Central GP38s that was headed to a power plant in New Hampshire, I'm told.  I only saw B&M F units on two occasions,  one A and one B.

The wreck train pictured had stopped at Ayer, Holloween Day 1971, to position the wrecker on the front of the train so it could tend to a derailment at Leominster up the line. Even as a 13-year-old, I  really could appreciate those ancient wooden passenger cars in the consist, especially the open platfrom car with truss rods!

Some of the footage is of my cab ride on GP7 1576. To this day I am not sure what I did with my bike as I remember being worried about leaving it behind. I actually think the brakeman may have put it on the running board of the locomotive! I recall when we ran out to the other end of town where the RDCs were parked, the engineer had made a comment about not wanting to  leave the "buggy" (B&M caboose)  out there. We also switched the yard in Devens.

If anyone recognizes any of the railroaders pictured, please let us know. It's been 44 years now, so I suppose most of those guys are gone now. I regret the quality of the footage, but it had been copied to a VCR tape and then copied in digital form. The camera had a manual liight setting and no focus.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com




 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/15 08:33 by wabash2800.

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FANTASTIC!  Really enjoyed your post.  People speak of the good old days, but today's action at Ayer (MBTA & PAS) seems to be a close equal  in terms of volume - just newer equipment.

Really great!  Do not see much B&M static photography from this era on TO.  You provided video.
Many thanks.
ALLEN 

WOW!  Thanks for posting this.  The McGinness paint for both the New Haven and the B&M are among my all time favorites, with the Blue Bird GP7's, 9's, and 18's at the very top of the list. There is so very little video footage out there of those units (commercially or otherwise) that your video is an absolute jaw dropping treat to this fan. I spent the very late 1970's and almost all of the 1980's living in New England and while I got to see the geeps in the Minutman type of scheme along with the later model geeps, I was too late for the Bluebirds. Again, my sincerest gratitude to you Victor for posting this splendid video!

Greg

How well I remember the hole in the fence!  It was in the warehouse area alongside the yard and tracks that went to Worcester MA.  Cutting through the fence was a much shorter hike to town (and the station area) than the route along the road via the main gate.  I was stationed there in late '59 until June '60.  Apparently, the post commander and MP's didn't take any steps to secure the fence opening.
The McGinnis blue birds were relatively new and I would see mostly westbound freights with four units as in your film.  I wrote to the B&M general offices and got a letter of introduction to the tower operator.  Consequently, I made quite a few visits there when I wasn't riding RDC's to/from Boston and other destinations: White River Jct VT, Gloucester MA, Greenfield MA, etc.  At that point in time there was an overnight train that originated in Portland Maine and connected with the New Haven in Worcester (via Ayer) that continued to New York City.  I once considered using it to New York but the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. discouraged me.
One of my interesting tower memories was watching train orders being hooped to the front end of a milk train extra pulled by an E-7 (faded maroon and yellow) with a caboose at the end - where orders were also hooped. 
I visited Ayer within the past year and the tower still stands but no longer functioning as such.  The visit brought back many memories.

So the hole in the fence had been there for some time. <G> The post probably figured that if they fixed it, it would be cut again. I suppose this was a short cut for the GIs to head in town for some R&R.  One thing that I did notice in Ayer that was a bit over the top for this 13-year-old then was an old hotel downtown that apparently was a host for the oldest profession. I recall women hanging their heads out the windows and greeting me as I went by. I suppose they couldn't tell how young I was. I stayed away from there. Ayer was a heavy-duty, blue-collar, railroad town with a nearby military post, so that just went with the territory I guess.

I suppose at one time there were five B&M lines radiating out of Ayer with mostly branchlines?

I don't care how many commuter trains Ayer hosts now; it can't hold a candle to how awesome the rail operations were back them. As far as I'm concerned, Guilford-PAM raped the B&M. Though the B&M had filed bankruptcy, it had liquid assets and perhaps could have found a better suitor.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/15 09:19 by wabash2800.

Very good Victor. Thanks for posting this.

Victor et al;

  I have a 1969 Official Guide with a B&M map (not the best) showing the "main line" to the west via Hoosac Tunnel to Mechanicville, NY.  Of course, the eastern leg went to Portland, Maine diverging from the passenger line to Boston just east of Ayer at Willows.  The line south to Worcester was the other leg of the wye in Ayer and immediately to the west of the tower was a branch to Greenville NH.  Today, I believe, a short segment of that branch services some industrial customers to the northwest of Ayer but I'm not sure how far it goes or how active it is.  The map also shows another branch to the northeast from Ayer going to Hollis NH passing through Groton and Pepperell MA.  I cannot remember that line in my short time there. 
  Were the RDC's weekend parked on the east or west end of town?  I also remember a news article (perhaps 1961) when a major part of the 'downtown' section of Ayer burned in a massive fire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/15 11:43 by boejoe.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Victor! I lived near Derby curve In Leominster and started visiting Ayer in 1971. It was an intresting time for a railfan. I was taking photos one cold winter day from on top of a snow bank when my scanner stopped on the tower frequency and the op called my name and invited me up to the tower. I never did figure out how the op knew my name having never met but Ayer and BX tower soon became my regular hangouts. And on that first day I left my girlfriend in the car while I got to see the tower inside. She was not impressed.
The track with the Budd cars on it I believe was called Flanigan's. That was always my first stop in town as not only did the Budds lay over there but also mow machines and locos were stored there also. The last of the B&M Alco switchers were stored there for a while.
One evening while I was listening to the tower channel, the op Allen Autino anounced that it was ok for the" Delaware and Hudson  Alco PA number 16 to return to your train at Moore's crossing". Allen was a big railfan! My girl and I made it in record time from Leominster to Ayer with camera in hand. I was suprised that the cops didnt nail me going through Shirley at warp speed.

I remember the storage tracks were east of town, near what I think what was an apple packing house. A once a month deal when dad got paid was a speical trip to Leominster to the shopping mall and then to McDonalds, where we all sat in the Chevy II Station wagon for our meal.  While we were shopping, I would go over to Woolworths and drool over the model trains in the glass case (AHM stuff IIRC). Of course, I always was very intently watching the B&M from the station wagon on trips like that. I was the only train nut in the family, but one time dad took me to the Bolton, Massachusetts Model Railroad Club.

If we ever had the opportunity to drive through Fitchburg, I always took a good look out the window at the B&M Yard. I seem to recall there was a drive-in theater nearby that we visited one time.

I took very few pictures with the family instamatic, but here is a photo I took from the bridge at Ayer, looking west toward the tower. As I recall this may have been the year we had two "Northeaster" snow storms in the same week: 24" and 18" of snow and no school for a week.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/15 12:44 by wabash2800.

---

That would be the Tri-Town Drive- In across from the yard. It was named for being at the junction of Fitchburg, Leominster and Lunenburg.  It lasted until 2009 when it was finally sold off for redevelopment. There was a contractors yard right next to the drive- in that always held old trucks and equipment that I always wanted to scope out after the Fitchburg yard. BX tower was west of the yard and just east of the Fitchburg station. I still kick myself for the " I will photograph it tomorrow" attitude I had passing the yard and it's switcher, B&M RS-2 1500 still in black and red. The one day I finally had the camera with me and went looking for it, it was gone. I believe it did eventually return but in blue.

Victor, you've brought back wonderful memories of my youth, growing up along the B&M's "Woburn Loop", in Woburn, MA, in the 50's.

At one time or another, I got cab rides regularly in almost every model EMD and ALCO switcher and road switcher, that the B&M rostered (and it was a varied roster).  The "Bluebird"  GP-9's and 18's were stunning, when new and clean. (There were fifty (50) GP-9's and six (6) GP-18's).  To see and hear a quartet of them coming west, out of the B&M's big hump yard in Boston, or out of the joint B&M/MEC South Portland, ME freight yard, heading toward Mechanicsville, NY, dragging tonnage up Ashburnham Hill, west of Fitchburg, MA, was an unforgettable experience and made quite an impression on this young railfan.

I've always thought, that the B&M's RS3's, painted in their maroon and black paint, with four (4) gold stripes running along the engine sides, was the best looking RS3 paint job ever,  Coupled with silver painted trucks, they were a sight to behold.  I guess the same could be said of their GP-7's..

Victor, the B&M of my youth was a wonderful railroad, staffed with wonderful, professional railroaders, with big hearts full of kindness, towards a young boy, enthralled by what he was witnessing and hearing.  It was a great time to be growing up in America.  I sincerely wish that the youth of today could go back and experience it.  I count my blessings that I did.

Thank you, Victor.

Bob Callahan
Monticello, IN

boejoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> At that point in time there was an overnight train
> that originated in Portland Maine and connected
> with the New Haven in Worcester (via Ayer) that
> continued to New York City.  I once considered
> using it to New York but the ungodly hour of 3
> a.m. discouraged me.

That would have been the "East Wind".

Bob Callahan
Monticello, IN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/15 17:52 by rcall31060.

i started working on the b and m in Sept 71 as a Carmen in billrica  shops...... the 1500 that was always in Gardner hit a packed snow bank a nd tipped over  went to billirca never to return tha y  started to fix it but some big wig stoped them  and it  never ran again . thanks so much for this great video   bob g in Fla  now retired after 33  half years . thanks b and m

rcall31060 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> boejoe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > At that point in time there was an overnight
> train
> > that originated in Portland Maine and connected
> > with the New Haven in Worcester (via Ayer) that
> > continued to New York City.  I once considered
> > using it to New York but the ungodly hour of 3
> > a.m. discouraged me.
>
> That would have been the "East Wind".

No, the overnight train was the State of Maine.  The East Wind was a seasonal daytime train between New York and Portland.  It ran via Hartford and Willimantic, CT rather than the State of Maine's route through Providence, and was gone by the mid-fifties.  The last New York - Maine through trains came off in September of 1960.

Dave

I'll bet you were glad to get away from Guilford. I think I recall seeing that unit from the school bus at Ayer, as it stood out painted black. It must have been headed for the shop or had bumped another engine. The switch engines I normally saw at Ayer were the maroon EMD GP7s or EMD switchers.  One time I saw an EMD Switcher go by with a "buggy" at what must have been maximum speed. I had never seen a switcher move so fast and have never since.

I still remember the first time I visited Ayer after finding the hole in the fence. An  RS3 was switching a track near the wye that went down grade, like in a pit. Man did it rev up and belch out a lot of smoke when it pulled out. That made quite an impression on me and it's too bad I didn't take any movie footage of that. But to this day I'm not sure what track that was.

Incidentally, I posted this on youtube also and provided a link at the B&M Yahoo group. I didn't get one peep out of them.

bobgfla Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------
> i started working on the b and m in Sept 71 as a
> Carmen in billrica  shops...... the 1500 that was
> always in Gardner hit a packed snow bank a nd
> tipped over  went to billirca never to return tha
> y  started to fix it but some big wig stoped
> them  and it  never ran again . thanks so much
> for this great video   bob g in Fla  now
> retired after 33  half years . thanks b and m



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/15 10:50 by wabash2800.

Victor,

Managed to get out of the office for a couple of hours this afternoon and biked over to Devens to look for your hole in the fence.  Guess what - no more fence!  (No more Fort Devens either.)  The attached picture is of Hill Yard at around its mid-point,  taken from the west side.  Fort Devens closed about twenty years ago, and has been under development by the Commonwealth as mixed-use industrial, residential and recreational area.  There are dozens of businesses ranging from technology to logistics to recycling.  The old elementary school is now a public charter high school (both of my kids graduated from there), the officers golf course was rebuilt as private club, and Mirror Lake is recreation area.  The surrounding towns suffered a significant downturn when the base closed (mid '90's), but Ayer is now on a bit of a rebound with some nice restaurants and a coffee shop having opened on Main Street in the past few years.

As for the railroad activity, Pan Am Railways operates a number of transload facilities both on Devens and in the immediate area for everything from plastic pelets to lumber to automobiles.  The west side of the yard seems to mostly support those uses, while the east side is now Pan Am Southern's intermodal ramp, which apears to do a solid amount of business.  While there's still a local Pan Am switcher in Ayer, road power on freights is more likely to be Norfolk Sourthern or CSX than PAR.  Of the two branches that left town to the north, one (the Hollis branch) is now a rail trail, and the other (the Greenville branch) a rickety industrial spur that serves a couple of low-volume customers near the former Moore Army Airfield entrance.  One big positive change is the relatively frequent MBTA commuter trains calling at Ayer on the Fitchburg-North Station line.  This line is in the finishing stages of a multi-year rebuild program that promises to significantly reduce travel time into Boston.  As for your memory of the RS-3 on the steep grade, I think that was a feed distributor's siding which was in service up until a few years ago....may still be, but I haven't noticed any cars there recently.

Anyhow, thanks so much for posting a slice of local history!

Dave

---

Thanks for the update Dave. What you might not know is the Boston Marathon Bomber is (was?) housed in a high security facility there. Also, the housing we lived in up the hill from Mirror Lake is gone, as apparently there was some kind of soil or structure contamination? My identical twin is a fishing fool and while my interest has been railroading, his has been fishing. In fact, he received a degree in fisheries, raises fish for resale and is a taxidermist. My interest in trains has evolved into building model trains and writing and researching railroad history. (I received my bachelors from Indiana University in business.) So, I suppose though our interests evolved in different areas, there is some commonality there. We both have fond memories of the area in our own way. The Boston & Maine was a special railroad. In some ways it reminds me of the Wabash.
Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublcations.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/15 15:14 by wabash2800.