Was this a Wild Goose Chase?

The locomotive on the front of this post card has the lettering that says it belongs to the Lamoille Valley Railroad (LVR). It is an Alco RS11, Number

3612. The back of the post card says that it is crossing the Ammonoosic River in Bath, New Hampshire. Here comes the Wild Goose Chase: The Lamoille Valley Railroad operates LVR as an affiliate of the New Hampshire & Vermont Rrailroad. It is running on former Boston & Maine trackage. The locomotive was previously owned by the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railroad before it was sold to the Vermont Shortline Railroad. I tried to find a descrption of the LVR on line. Here is all that I could find that might fit the bill: It is from our friends at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Johnsbury_and_Lamoille_County_Railroad HOWEVER.... I am not sure they this article talks about this railroad??? Here it is:The St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad (StJ&LC) was a railroad located in northern Vermont. It provided service to rural parts of the state for over a century, until track deterioration and flood damage made the line unusable and uneconomical to repair, which forced the line to close in 1995. The railroad began construction in December 1869 as part of the Vermont Division of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway to connect the Great Lakes with Portland, Maine. It was completed on July 17, 1877, with Governor Horace Fairbanks driving in the silver spike in Fletcher. The Vermont Division was extended to Rouses Point in 1883, allowing it to connect to the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad and provide a direct connection to the Great Lakes.[1] The eastern end of the Vermont Division was leased to the Maine Central Railroad in 1912, and the remainder of the line became a subsidiary of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The Boston & Maine operated their segment as the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad after 1925. This segment was reorganized as the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad in 1948.[2] Passenger service ended in 1956. Trucks had taken all of the milk traffic by 1961, but bridge line traffic had increased six-fold following the 1953 dissolution of Maine Central's joint operating agreement with Boston and Maine Railroad. However, light-duty rail and covered bridges prevented the line from accepting new heavier "incentive" freight car loadings. The covered bridges were replaced or reinforced so worn out light diesel locomotives could be replaced by larger locomotives; but track conditions deteriorated under the heavier loads.[3] The State of Vermont purchased the line in 1973. The line was then operated by Morrison-Knudsen as the Vermont Northern Railroad for a time. In 1978, local shippers took over the operation and it became the Lamoille Valley Railroad. In 1989, the line was leased to a Florida company and was operated by them until major flooding in 1995 and 1997 damaged the line so much that it was not profitable to repair the track. In 2002, the state of Vermont started converting the 96-mile route into a recreational trail and created the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.

Here is the back of the post card. It tells us that the photo was taken by Brian Fay. It is also part of the confusion.

No Longer in Service

The train on the front of this post card is Boston & Maine Railroad’s locomotive Number 1402. It was a class B-1 5b Mogul Type of locomotive

(2-6-0) dashing south on the Morning of January 8, 1956 out of Peterborough, New Hampshire with a local freight. I wrote about the Boston & Main Railroad, in general, a few months ago. I have cut and pasted that information here: The Boston & Maine (B&MRR) came into existence on March 15, 1833 when the Andover and Wilmington Railroad received a charter to build a railroad joining the two cities to each other. On June 27, 1835, the Boston and Maine Railroad of New Hampshire was chartered. The B&MRR no longer operates as the namesake railroad. At the time, it was the largest of New England's railroads and for over 180 years has served the territory well. During the company's height it maintained more than 2,000 miles with 25,000 employees. Its by-line was “Route of the Minute Man”. This was a reflection of the civilians who were at the ready to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War. It covered the state of Massachusetts north and west from its home base of Boston. Today's B&MRR is much different than the one of last century. What is left of its historic network is operated by Pan Am Railways, previously known as Guilford Rail System. That would make the railroad over 188 years old. I was able to get more specific information about the Boston & Maine in Peterborough, New Hampshire from this part of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monadnock_Railroad The Monadnock Railroad was one of many extension line railroads built to help expand the Fitchburg Railroad/Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad into New Hampshire. This line was to serve the New Hampshire towns on the eastern side of Mount Monadnock, mainly Jaffrey and Peterborough. The Monadnock opened from Winchendon to Jaffrey, New Hampshire in December 1870 and then to Peterborough by late spring 1871, from which the Peterborough and Hillsborough Railroad could take traffic further north to Concord. The Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad, running south from Winchendon, leased the Monadnock in 1874 in order to have a line to Concord. In 1880, the BB&GRR fell on hard times and transferred the lease to the Cheshire. The Monadnock became part of the Fitchburg, along with the entire Cheshire, in 1890 and then to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. As a line of the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M), the Monadnock served as part of a long through route between Worcester, Massachusetts and Concord under the name of the Worcester and Hillsboro (sometimes Worcester and Contoocook) branch. In the 1940s, the line was one of the most scenic, rural Yankee branch lines. Through service ended on the line after the floods caused by the 1938 Hurricane, but local passenger trains continued to run until 1953. The line survived intact until 1972 when the B&M abandoned the line between Jaffrey and Peterborough. The remainder of the line continued until 1984 when Guilford abandoned it. This website has a timeline related to the history of the Boston & Maine Railroad. I provide the first four entries below. There is a total of 159 dates and events listed at this website: http://www.nashuacitystation.org/history/boston-and-maine-corporation/ Here are the first 4 entries in the Corporate Timeline: June 5, 1830 Boston and Lowell Rail Road Corporation incorporates by special act of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. March 15, 1833 Andover and Wilmington Rail Road Corporation incorporates in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. June 23, 1835 Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation [New Hampshire] incorporates by special act of the State of New Hampshire. June 27, 1835 Boston and Maine Railroad [1835] incorporates by special act in the State of New Hampshire.

The post card was published by Mary Jaynes’ Railroad Specialties, Inc. I have 243 of her post cards in my collection. This post card was published after 1979, which was the 25th anniversary of something. Here is a close up of the logo at the bottom of the post card. Maybe you can figure it out!!

Another Alco at Work

In 1975, the Boston & Maine Railroad Corporation filed to abandon the operation of the Concord to Lincoln 117 kilometer (73 miles) rail line, known as the “White Mountain Branch”. Recognizing the need of the on-line customers and the potential of the line for a sewer right-of-way, the State of New Hampshire purchased the branch and sought a shortline railroad to carry out operations. The first to assume this responsibility was the Wolfeboro Railroad, which operated the line as their "Central Division" in 1976, but soon thereafter ended operations. In early 1977, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) entered into an agreement with the Goodwin Railroad to take over the operation. Under the terms of the operating agreement, Goodwin Railroad agreed to provide rail freight services, and the PUC agreed to subsidize the operation. Goodwin Railroad was to be subsidized based on the "differences between revenue earnings of the line . . . and the necessary costs of providing services," plus an annual management fee.

The engine shown on the front of this post card was owned by the Goodwin Railroad. It is the railroad's Number 1 engine, an ex-MEC (number 557) and ex-Wolfeboro (number 101). This picture was taken on February 10, 1978. The photo is courtesy of Ronald N. Johnson. The Goodwin Railroad, an extension of Weaver Bros. Construction, was created in 1977 to operate the trackage, and did so until it too ended operations in 1980. Following the demise of the Goodwin, the North Stratford Railroad stepped in as an interim operator until the state could find a dependable and permanent operator. Peter Dearness approached the State of New Hampshire with a bid to operate the trackage with his newly formed New England Southern Railroad. Dearness' railroad won the bid, and in 1982 the operating contract was awarded to the New England Southern, which began freight operations on September 3, 1982, using State of New Hampshire-owned ALCO S1 1008. The railroad also leased a GE 44-ton switcher, #2, also state-owned. The first freight run consisted of a tanker for Home Gas in Northfield, a boxcar for Blue Seal Feeds (H.K. Webster) in Lakeport, and another boxcar of casting sand for Arwood Manufacturing in Tilton. On May 10, 2020, it was reported that the Vermont Rail System was to acquire New England Southern Railroad. In June of 2020, the sale was finalized and VRS became the immediate owner of NEGS. Its sole engine (2555) was patched with GMTX logos and renumbered to 1505. Currently, the New England Southern operates under Vermont Rail Systems and regularly only on the state-owned White Mountain Branch in central New Hampshire. The railroad's sole interchange point is with Pan Am Railways at Concord, from which loaded cars come inbound and empties depart.

The post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties (I have 243 post cards in my collection from her) with a little help from Alleghany Publishers. What is of note is that the post card was sent to the receiver by a person named Ron. I am wondering if the same Ron was the person who took the picture. The post card was sent without a stamp, as if it was part of a larger communication package. It would be very convenient to have a handful of these post cards on hand to use as personal notes!

Crawford Notch, New Hamshire

This is a post card that posted to the mail on October 16, 1907. It is a picture of the Willey Brook Bridge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The bridge and the brook are named after the Willey family who perished in a landslide in August of 1826.

On the bridge is a Mountain Division of the Maine Central Railroad train approaching the Crawford Notch span of 400 feet long and 94 feet high, between Mount Willey and Mount Willard. Through the gorge below flows a considerable stream, with all the wildness that characterizes mountain waters. At the farther end of the bridge the huge bulwark of Mt. Willard seems an impassable barrier, yet the shelf cut for the passage of trains appears diverging to the right. This shelf is not at the bottom of the valley by any means, but well up its granite side. Just across is the picturesque home of the railroad men who patrol these mountain paths constantly, to prevent disaster. The house has received the title "John O'Groats." I have no idea who the woman on this side of the bridge is; but, I am sure it is not the person who wrote the message on the post card.

Built as the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad before acquisition by the Maine Central Railroad the line initially provided transportation for summer visitors to grand Victorian hotels, including the Bay of Naples Inn in Naples (reached by connection with Sebago Lake steamboats), the Crawford House in Crawford Notch, and the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods. Cool, clean air at Sebago Lake and the White Mountains provided a refreshing escape from the heat, humidity and smoke of 19th-century cities. Autumn foliage and winter skiing helped to extend the tourist season. The Flying Yankee train-set operated as the Mountaineer from Boston to Crawford Notch via Intervale Junction during World War II, but passenger service had been reduced to a single daily round-trip between Portland and St. Johnsbury by the 1930s. The train between Portland and St. Johnsbury usually consisted of a RPO-express car, a baggage car and a single coach after the 1920s; and substitution of a stainless steel combination for the coach and baggage car reduced the train to two cars for the last several years before the end of passenger service in 1958.

Today this rail and bridge are part of the Conway Scenic Railway. This is an excerpt from their website: ON THE NOTCH TRAIN, you’ll travel on what was once the Maine Central Railroad’s famed Mountain Division line, on tracks that were laid in the 1870s. Enjoy some of the most dramatic natural scenery in the East as you travel through spectacular Crawford Notch – past sheer bluffs, steep ravines, cascading brooks and streams, panoramic mountain vistas, across Frankenstein Trestle and Willey Brook Bridge – enroute to Crawford and Fabyan stations.

As you travel through this rugged terrain, you can begin to appreciate what a remarkable engineering achievement constructing this railroad was almost 140 years ago. Live commentary onboard includes history and folklore of the railroad and area, as well as points of interest.
Included in the excursion is a layover at Crawford Station, across from Saco Lake (a small pond from which the mighty Saco River originates), and adjacent to the AMC’s Highland Center. Passengers are encouraged to get off the train, stretch their legs, and explore their beautiful surroundings.

Coach seating and climate controlled First Class seating are available aboard the Notch Train. First Class options are the CP Reed or the Dome Car, Dorthea Mae, both originally built in the mid-fifties for transcontinental service in Canada and the United States, respectively. There are a total of 48 seats in the Dome Car: 24 in the Lower Dome, which is First Class seating, and 24 in the Dome itself, which is Premium seating.

I think we will have to add this to our bucket list!!

The post card is from a high school student to her grandmother. The message on the front side (above) is: “I have got a new fall hat it is real pretty. I don’t have much time to write am pretty busy most of the time but will write as often as I can. With love to all M. M.”

Remember that this post card was mailed about 6 months after they rescinded the rule that you could not write anything on the back of the post cards except the address. This young lady must have remembered her training well… Except, she also wrote on the back of the card! She tells her grandmother that she dropped Algebra and took up English History instead. She knows all the girls in the school now and they are awfully nice. She also went to a corn roast and had an awfully nice time.

The post card was printed in Germany for The Hugh C. Leighton Company out of Portland, Maine. This company only existed from 1906 to 1909; so we would have a good idea of the age of the post card without the postmark. They were a printer and major publisher of national view-cards, especially scenes of New England.

They printed most of their post cards in four distinct styles employing halftone lithography. Most used a simple soft yet highly recognizable RGB pallet. While some post cards were printed at their plant in the U.S. most were manufactured in Frankfort, Germany. Almost all their post cards were numbered. This post card is number 4 and it was printed in Frankfort, Germany. They merged with Valentine & Sons in 1909.

A Trip to New Hamshire

This post card shows a steam engine coming around the corner in the Crawford Notch. Crawford Notch is the steep and narrow gorge of the Saco River in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was discovered in 1771 by Timothy Nash.

Although it was originally called the White Mountain Notch, it is called CRAWFORD notch today because it drains toward the Crawford Brook watershed. The brook was named after Abel Crawford, an early explorer and settler from the late 1700s and early 1800s.

This hand drawn map gives you a general idea of where Crawford Notch is in New Hampshire.

The White Mountains were heavily logged from about 1875 to 1925 or so. Logging activity was always an invitation to build railroads. And, sure enough, four railroads provided the logging services in this area of New Hampshire: the Little River Railroad, the Saco Valley Railroad (1875 – 1898), the Sawyer River Railroad (1867 to 1927), and the Zealand Valley Railroad (1885 – 1897). I am not sure which one is represented in the picture on the front of this post card. It might even be from the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad.

You can see a sign in the bottom right hand corner of the picture that says, “THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT”.

The following is taken from the website: http://whitemountainhistory.org/English_Jack.html

The "Hermit of Crawford Notch" was 85 years old when he died on April 24, 1912 and his obituary appeared in the New York Times. He was known at all as English Jack; his real name was Jack Vials. Not a whole lot is known about Jack. He lived in a ramshackle home that he built himself and called his "ship". It was close to the Crawford House and apparently there was a path to his house from the railroad tracks at the Gate of the Notch. Postcards show the track and a sign indicating that Jack lived there. He was well known to tourists who frequently visited. He entertained his visitors with stories of his seafaring days and he sold them some of his homemade beer.

It makes me think of the Children’s Tale “The House that Jack Built”. He served beer, which takes malt to make, probably attracted rats, he might have kept a cat to control the rats, etc. Alas, it is not based on this Jack. It was first published in 1755, so the story wasn’t based on his home. The title to his home was based on the Tale.

The number 1613 is written in the bottom right hand corner below the sign.

I presume that this means that this was the 1,613th post card published by J. V. Hartman and Company. Hartman was a photographer that published his images of New England views as monochrome and color postcards. His company existed from about 1910 to 1920. That is why this post card is from the Divided Back Era (1907 – 1915). Judging by the post card number on front and the given years, we can date this post card to between 1910 and 1915.