I am very grateful to have these fine classic pictures of the M&L to use on my website.
The M&L went out of service before I started taking pictures so I don't have any of my own that I could post.
Many thanks to John Clemons for allowing me the use of his pictures.
Nice picture of two Maine Central flanger cars when they were located in Derry. Judge George Grinnell purchased the cars in the late 60's or early 70's with the intention of using them to house his law library. At the time the Judge's office was in the former Derry Depot. Bertha recollects that the cars sat unused for about a decade. The judge was friends with Bertha Deveau's husband Edward, Bertha and her husband were involved with preserving the depot in Sandown. Bertha says that her husband asked the judge if Sandown could have the cars, he said he'd think about it, and within a few days the judge called back saying that Sandown could indeed have the cars. Mr. Deveau then contacted the Army Corp of Engineers and asked them if they would help move the cars. They agreed to do the job for training purposes and moved the cars in 1982.
At first there was little money for restoration of the cars once they
arrived in Sandown. Enough work was done to keep them from deteriorating
any further. Recently much more work has been done on the cars thanks to
some very kind and thoughtful people who donated their time, money, and
labor to the project.
Photo Courtesy of John Clemons.
There was a company that used to get or ship scrap metal by rail. The crane had a big magnet on the end of it which was used to transload the metal. The gondola was left on this siding at the site of the former Canobie Lake crossing where route 111 crosses 28 in Salem NH. Photo Courtesy of John Clemons.
Another view of siding, gondola, and route 111. Photo Courtesy of John Clemons.
Looking south, the switch is lined for the M&L mainline, the
siding goes off to the right.
Photo Courtesy of John Clemons.
Many thanks to Buddy Winiarz, President of the Boston and Maine RR Historical Society, for allowing me to use this picture that he took back in 1993 showing the Lawrence Switcher heading south on the Manchester and Lawrence in Salem with a load of boxcars, most likely for or from the food warehouse that was located about where BestBuy is today. The switcher would push the whole train into the building. There was a runaround nearby to allow for them to pull cars back to Lawrence after removing them from the warehouse. At one time Salem had quite a bit of industry that was served by rail.