JeffPo's Boston & Maine tall lantern Page

Last update:  10/29/09

 


 

This is an Adlake Reliable lantern for the Boston & Maine Railroad.  The lid is embossed with B&M RR.

It has a red globe. That means this lantern used for a stop signal.  The globe was cast with B&M RR.

 


Boston & Maine Railroad

Engine #3639, East Lexington, MA, April 1953. Photo by George M. Dimond.

The Boston & Maine Railroad (B & M) was chartered in New Hampshire in 1835.  In 1842 it merged with the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad (chartered 1839) to form a new Boston & Maine Railroad.  Cities of operation included Portland, Havervill, Andover, and Wilmington (MA). The B&M operated over a large section of the north east.  At one point it owned a majority of stock in the Maine Central Railroad.  It came under control of JP Morgan and the New Haven railroad around 1910, but anti-trust policies forced a reorganization in 1919.  In the 1930s the freight business was in decline because of less New England manufacturing growth.  With automobiles becoming popular, the B&M cut its passenger services in the late 1950s and mid 1960s.  It only continued as a Boston commuter service by aid of subsidies from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (which bought the rolling stock and tracks in 1973).  The B&M filed for bankruptcy in 1970.  It opted out of merging with ConrailGuilford Transportation Industries bought the B&M in 1983.  While technically the Boston & Maine Corporation still exists today it's only as a non-operating ward of Pan Am Railways.

 


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