and he replies -
The War generated a huge amount of traffic for New England railroads,
much more than any one line could handle. Trains of military
equipment shipped via the B&M were split over the three mains to
Canada - the Portland Division (handed off to the Maine Central for
the CN at St. John, NB), the Connecticut River Division (for the CP &
CV) and the New Hampshire Division for connections with the CN & CP.
Ships were loaded at Montreal and Quebec City as well as Halifax.
Most materiel shipped via the B&A and New Haven was loaded on ships
at Boston (but not always - depending on available ships and traffic
flow, some of it found its way onto the B&M).
At the height of the War, material was shipped as fast and on as many
lines as possible and stockpiled at Halifax (as well as other
points). Bear in mind that for every train going north, the same
number had to come south (or what went east also went west). Trains
were moving from the midwest to the north and east as well as to
southern ports, so for every loaded troop or equipment/materiel train
going to a port, the empties had to return as fast as possible to
load up again. It was not uncommon for heavy fines to be levied
against shippers (and railroads) who held empties past the limit.
Most troop ships headed for England were loaded at New York and
Boston as well as Canadian ports and all of them gathered off
Newfoundland for convoys to England and Mermansk (Russia). One of my
brothers was on a destroyer beginning in 1940 accompanying those
convoys. One thing I remember him saying is that any ship torpedoed
was out of luck as they could not stop to pick up survivors.
The B&M was deemed strategic to the War effort and was allowed to
purchase EMD FTs (as well as the last version of R1d Mountains along
with a few 2-8-2s and Pacifics from the Lehigh Valley). With lower
grades and access to Canadian ports, the road received more traffic
than the B&A and the Connecticut River line handled most of that
road's interchange. That left the other two mainlines to handle the
bulk of northbound traffic. Couple that with the online traffic and
there was a h_ _l of a lot of trains - much more than the Portland
Division could handle. Couple that with as many as a dozen passenger
trains in each direction (plus troop trains and locals) and it was a
dispatcher's nightmare!
One interesting point - ammunition trains (at least at the War's
beginning) did not take the coast route. A German sub did actually
shell a couple of towns in Maine and the War Department was afraid of
sabotage or enemy action so the trains were routed over the NH
Division. They did the same with solid tank car trains hauling gasoline.
Availability was the key. Motive power was in short supply and crews
were working at the limit. While some consists were what would be
called "unit trains" most required re-blocking and yard space was at
a premium. Trains could be made up but often waited for road power so
any yard with capacity along the route was used and trains would be
sent there for yarding and available power. It didn't end with the
War in Europe as the stockpiled equipment now came back for shipment
to the west coast and the impending invasion of Japan (albeit not as
high a volume).
Incidentally - solid tank car trains always had at least one boxcar
at the head end in the consist due to their tracking difficulties
when coupled directly to a tender - a practice undoubtedly learned
from experience!...
You ain't ignorant Ed - you is just too young to remember - Nyuk, Nyuk...
Raleigh in battle-scarred Maine
www.emporiumpictures.com
P. S. - Nashua was also on the fly-way for military aircraft headed
for Europe and quite often the sky would be black with bombers - they
could be heard coming for miles and we'd get a recess from class -
the noise was deafening!... R.
At 02:44 AM 10/22/2007, Edward Loizeaux wrote:
>I remember seeing long trains of tarp covered equipment moving north though
>my home town of Nashua, New Hampshire during the War <snip>
>Raleigh in balmy Maine
>----------------------------------------------------------
>OK Rollie, I will bite. Why would a military train go north through New
>Hampshire? Heading toward Halifax, Nova Scotia? Yep, I am ignorant. Can
>you clue me in? Thanks...Ed L.
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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