Boston & Maine Train 303

Or

How I Became Interested in Passenger Trains

Train 303. What significance does that number have? Obviously the train could not have been that important, or it would have had a name. I first took note of its existence, there on a B&M PTT, amidst so many other seemingly equally important, or unimportant, other train numbers and schedule times.

ETT #9 has the following schedule for Train 303:

Daily except Sunday, stopping at:

Boston L 6:00 AM

Winter Hill M-F 6:06

Tufts College 6:08

West Medford 6:14

Winchester 6:22 meets Train 3301 to Woburn

Walnut Hill 6:27

S. Wilmington f 6:31

Wilmington 6:36

E. Billerica f 6:45

Billerica Shops 6:46 to leave cars with Shopmen

N. Billerica 6:50

Lowell 7:07 picks up Pullman from State of Maine

Tyngsboro 7:18

Nashua 7:33

Thornton’s Ferry f 7:43

Merrimack 7:46

Reed’s Ferry 7:49

Manchester 8:05

Hooksett 8:20

Suncook 8:25-8:30 meets Suncook Valley Train 2/1

Concord A 8:42

The notion of a Pullman car in a local at Suncook struck me as something worth modeling, in fact, requiring modeling, as I model the Suncook Valley Railroad in the fall of 1931 and 1952. After B&M passenger service over the Suncook Loop was curtailed in 1935, due in part to the poor condition of the Hooksett covered bridges, the schedule was changed so that the train stayed on the west side of the river between Hooksett and Bow Jct.

According to Jacob Klerman’s notes, the New York to Concord sleeping car was a 12-1 in 6/20, 4/40, and 9/40, an 8-5 in 4/51, 9/51, and 9/52, and lastly a 6-4-6 in 4/55, 1/56, 9/56, and 4/57. The East Dover (12-1) was being used to Concord in 8/39, while the McHenry (12-1) was sent as far as Plymouth the same month. These are both Plan 3410 cars, built 1924-25. The 8sec-5sb cars used in the early fifties were Orchard Dale and Orchard Gardens, lettered for the NYNH&H, and the 6-4-6 used towards the end of the service were Beach series lightweight cars, new in 1954. The Volume 20 Number 2 B&MRRHS Bulletin states that Old Orchard Beach replaced Orchard Dale as of 7/18/55.

According to the 4/86 Bulletin, on 12/29/1934, B-15c #1475 was used to pull #303 from Boston. Al Hale photographed the train pulled by P-4 3710 (or 3719?) on 3/16/40 at Tyngsboro, MA. The consist was: 8+8 wood baggage car, 4+4 combine, Osgood Bradley high window coach, with two Pullmans on the end. Both appear to be 12-1’s. The Volume 20 Number 3 Bulletin showed another P-4 pulling the train at Boston sometime in the 1940’s. The B&M’s 9/26/48 Run Book called for a P-4 to be assigned to this train 6 days per week, with the crew returning to Boston on Train 316 (with the same locomotive.) B&M passenger train consist lists indicate that, from 4/27/41 to 4/26/42, the train required at a minimum: express car, combine and air conditioned coach (returned to Boston in Train 320,) two coaches dropped at Billerica Shops, and the aforementioned sleeping car. The same consist was specifed by the 6/20/47 consist list. Furthermore, the 9/24/50-51 consist book show the following requirements: express car, 2 door combine (returned in Train 316,) a former C&O coach, the two Billerica coaches, and an extra coach Wednesday and Saturday. An Al Hale photo of P-4 3712 taken 5/12/50 at Concord shows an Osgood Bradley light weight coach, a 4 door baggage car, a 4 door Osgood Bradley high window combine, a former C&O coach and Pullman Orchard Gardens making up Train 303. Another Al Hale photo of Train 303, dated 4/17/51, showed 3712 at Wedgemere pulling…, and a third dated 4/27/1951 at Winchester with 3717 at the front had a two door ex-troop sleeper baggage car, a 4 door steel baggage car, a 4 door steel combine, an ex-C&O coach, and two Pullmans. From 9/25/1927, when 303 was first inaugurated, until November 14, 1930, this train also picked up a milk car (typically B&M 1635) from the Suncook Valley, bringing it the rest of its way to Concord, before the car itself would head to the Manchester Dairy System. Power could not be any heavier than a J-1 4-4-2 due to weight restrictions on the Loop, and the train also required mail capability in order to accept mail from the SV train until 1935, when service via the Suncook Loop was discontinued. A Railway Mail Service publication from 9/28/30 specified the following space requirements for a closed pouch service: 30’-Boston to Winchester, 18’-Winchester to North Billerica, 15’-North Billerica to Lowell, 12’- Lowell to Nashua, 9’-Nashua to Manchester, and 6’ Manchester to Concord. Half of a baggage car would be sufficient for this requirement. By 5/15/52, this requirement had changed somewhat: 15’- daily except Saturday and Sunday Boston to Lowell, 15’- daily except Sunday Lowell to Nashua. Train 303 was discontinued (according to a photo of GP-7 1563 located at the BHS,) on 7/18/55.

With 316 being 303’s counterpart, and by looking to that train, we can further validate some of the info above. 316, also called the uncanoonuc, served Rumford Press, a large publishing company in Concord who printed many magazines for national distribution. The consist list dated 4/27/41 indicates that the train required an RPO/baggage/express car, a combine, 2 AC coaches, and an extra coach on Saturday, while the 9/28/41 consist list added a mail storage car, presumably to handle Rumford’s business. Carlton Parker photographed the train on 4/12/47, with 3701 on the point, with 4 baggage cars among its 14 car consist. The 6/20/47 B&M consist list shows that was expanded in the post war-period to include: storage mail car(s) for Rumford, an RPO-express-baggage car, a smoker, and three coaches. Two additional steel coaches were to be added to the train at Manchester on Wednesday and Saturday. Al Hale caught the train on film on 1/20/48 at Nashua, as P-4 3715 hauled a B&M 4 door baggage car and other cars south. It comes as no surprise that the 9/26/48 Run Book shows a P-4 assigned to the run. Al Hale shot 3714 on 303 two more times at Nashua in 1950. On Jan 7, the consist included a 4 door ex troop sleeper baggage car, while later in June, the train included both an ARA steel express boxcar (probably a PRR X29,) and another 4 door ex troop sleeper baggage car. Dwight Smith photographed the train at Concord on 1/13/51: 3714 pulled a steel 4 door baggage car, an ex troop sleeper baggage car, both a steel 2 door combine and a steel 4 door combine, and 4 steel coaches. In Nashua again in April 1951, Al Hale found 3714 once again pulling Train 316, this time with a 2 door ex troop sleeper baggage car. B&M: Forest River & Mountain shows what I believe to be Train 316 in Concord on 4/27/52 pulled by GP-7 156. In the train one can see a baggage car, RPO, smoker combine, and at least 2 coaches. My speculation is based on the angle of the sun in the photo, plus the 9/24/50-51 consist list: baggage car, RPO/express car, smoker, two coaches, an AC coach, and an extra coach on Wednesday and Saturday. A Railway Mail Service publication dated 5/15/52 recorded that a 60’ car for closed pouch mail service was required. Trackside-East of the Hudson and Trackside- around Boston both have photos of GP-7 1563 pulling 316 in August of 1952. The consist from the locomotive back was as follows: a 2 door B&M ex-troop sleeper baggage car, an ACL rebuilt USRA express box car, two more 2 door B&M ex-troop sleepers, two unidentified ex-troop sleepers, yet another 2 door B&M ex-troop sleeper, a 4 door baggage-smoker and a heavyweight coach. The last steam train to run out of Concord was Train 316 on 11/13/53. Dwight Smith’s photographs of the train, one of which was published in FR&M, show P-2 3643 taking on the task, with an ex-troop sleeper baggage car, a wooden 6 door baggage car, an ex-RDG combine, and at least three steel coaches. I would also speculate that up until this time, this pair of trains was pulled by a steam locomotive, as it operated from Boston, where the required facilities were still maintained, although sometime between 1951 and 1953, a transition occurred to the use of a GP-7 diesel. In contrast, the other New Hampshire Division trains that through to northern points had been dieselized somewhat earlier.

I would appreciate anyone sharing with me additional information, citations, and images they may have regarding either of these trains.

Last updated 8/12/04. Valuable assistance provided by the Beverly Historical Society (Walker Transportation Collection,) John Horvath, Jacob Klerman, Roger Robar, and Dwight Smith. Copyright retained by Earl Tuson.