and he notes - Nelson Blount lived in Dublin, NH, not far from Keene, a college town on the Cheshire Branch which ran from the Fitchburg Division main line at South Ashburnham, Ma. to Bellows Falls, Vt. Blount's original Steamtown was to be located there in the B&M repair shops and roundhouse. His first locomotive was No. 15, a Rahway Valley 2-8-0 and he began acquiring Canadian locos a couple of Eastern Gas & Fuel 0-8-0s to name a few. There was some passenger and freight equipment too, all of which he stored in the B&M yard at Walpole, NH across the river from Bellows Falls.
The tourist train ran from Walpole to Keene where it was turned and headed back to Walpole. He had big plans for the Keene facility but got nowhere with the stupid NH government on acquiring the property. It had shops for repair and refurbishing as well as an enginehouse, turntable and a good sized yard for storage. It would have been a boon to the community but it never happened, so he moved everything to Riverside, just north of Bellows Falls and started Steamtown there using a short section of the Vermont Railroad (nee Rutland) for tourist trains. Blount was a millionaire, having made his and his partner Richardson' a fortune in seafood (the company still operates today as Blount Seafood). He also got religion and turned his farm into a Christian boarding school. He also traveled around New England preaching and flew back and forth to Steamtown where he could be found at the throttle of one of the various operating locos. That was his downfall as fate dealt him and the Steamtown Foundation a heavy blow when he was killed when his plane struck a tree in Marlborough, NH in 1967 on a flight back from Steamtown. Luckily, his partner Richardson took over the operation and kept it going until it moved to Scranton. Blount never intended to open Steamtown at Edaville, though there was some standard gauge equipment there (notably a B&M Mogul and a few steel sided open end cars among other items). I met him through a mutual friend while the operation was still in Keene and he offered me a cab ride in No., 15 but I had the wife and kids with me so I had to pass. A year or so later I met him again at Walpole and did ride in the cab (I was alone) and it was great, except that the track was so bad I had to hang on for dear life! Luckily I did get him to sign he book, "Along The Iron Trail" that he and Richardson wrote back in the 30s. (Later I had Richardson sign it too). He had, at that time, given up on the Keene idea and started construction at Riverside. (A fact he pointed out rather vociferously). A couple of years later he was killed in the plane crash. It's too bad the Keene deal fell through as Steamtown would probably still be there. Today the shops and enginehouse are businesses, the branch and all trackage are gone. And of course, so is Steamtown. I have some photos of the "Flying Yankee" in service as "The Businessman" and later as a planter at Edaville. I never thought it would be in condition to run again but hopefully we'll see it this summer. It's funny when you think of it. Had Blount lived and the Keene deal went through, it might have been moved there. He did mention that possibility as well as refurbishing the B&M Mogul for excursion runs. But fate has a way of taking a hand in destiny. Without Blount, Edaville failed, the 6000 was sold, resold and is now near completion and will become the only operating articulated streamliner in the world owned and operated by the State Of New Hampshire. It took 40 years for them to wake up to the fact that trains are an attraction. Adversity does make for some strange bedfellows... Raleigh At 11:00 AM 3/25/2005, C&P Porter wrote: >Thanks to Jim & Rollie for their input. I actually shot a slide of "The New >England Zepher" (my name for it) at Edaville in June, 1966. A side note, >true or not, the story I got was the difficulty of moving standard gauge >equipment led Nelson Blount to find a different place for such and thus, >Steamtown. Rollie probably can straighten out that story and fill in the >details. > >Have a Happy Easter, everyone. >Chuck Porter >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Rollain Mercier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "raisinone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> >Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:51 PM >Subject: Re: [S-Scale Modeling] Re: Zephyrs, Flying Yankee, etc.... > > > > > > and he notes - > > > > There is an excellent website on the "Pioneer Zephyr" with history, > > drawings, cars that were added, etc. here: > > > > http://www.prototrains.com/pioneer/pioneer.html > > > > At the same time Burlington ordered it's train, the Boston & Maine/Maine > > Central ordered a copy for service between Boston and Bangor Maine. It was > > dubbed "The Flying Yankee" in 1935 although that name train operated for > > many years previous with steam power and again after the train was moved >to > > the Boston-Littleton, NH run and renamed "The Mountaineer". It ran on that > > route for a few years and then was switched to the Boston to White River > > Jct. (via Keene, NH) route and renamed "The Cheshire". > > > > After the War, it moved again to the Boston - Troy, NY run and again > > renamed "The Minute Man", which was formerly a Boston to Chicago train > > connecting with the New York Central at Albany. The name changed again in > > the 50s as it returned to the Boston - Portland run as "The Businessman". > > It spent its final months in commuter service between Boston & Lawrence, > > Ma.was retired in 1957, a victim of another Budd product, the RDC. > > > > I rode in the train back in the 50s as far as Lawrence on a photo jaunt. >It > > was threadbare and showing its age, (albeit helped by McGinniss's policy >on > > skipping maintenance and the arrival of strings of Budd RDCs). It > > languished at Edaville for 40 years and when they folded in the 90s it was > > sold to a resort in Glen, NH, near North Conway. When they found out how > > much it would cost to restore it, they donated it to the State of New > > Hampshire who is having it rebuilt at a shop in Claremont, NH with private > > subscriptions. (I understand it's already topped the 2.5 Million Dollar > > mark with another 1.5 Megabucks needed to finish the job. Who says brass > > prices are high!) > > > > So with five different names to choose from, the "Flying Yankee" was > > actually one of the shortest lived, yet it persists. Interesting that > > railroaders used to call it the 6000, its road number. Interesting also is > > the fact that, like it's Burlington counterpart, it was also involved in a > > collision, though not as extensive as the Zephyr's. Interesting again is > > the name "Flying Yankee' was also used by the B&M/MeC's airline back in >the > > early 30's, (before the streamliner arrived), and anyone interested in > > ships will find it as a medium Clipper built in 1852 at Franklin, Maine. >It > > was wrecked a couple of times and renamed twice. Guess misfortune goes >with > > the name > > > > If the State ever gets off it duff and finishes the 6000's restoration by > > the planned festival this summer in Lincoln, NH I may get to ride in it > > again, (not holding my breath though...) > > > > Raleigh > > > > > > > > At 10:57 PM 3/24/2005, raisinone wrote: > > > > > > >--- In [email protected], "Edward Loizeaux" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >wrote: > > > > > Hi Wally (and others)... > > > > > > > > It appears that there are several different "Zephyrs" or "Zephyrlike > > > > trains" and it is unclear, at the present, as to who is referring to > > > > what. Here is my interpretation: > > > > > > >Ed, et al: > > > > > >The Pioneer Zephyr made a wide circuit in its 1934 promotional tour. > > >Actually more of a 'zig-zag' which included a good bit of NYC and PRR > > >trackage. One of the Morningsun books (I believe) has a photo of the > > >3 unit set under Pennsy wires near Trenton and Heimburger's book on > > >pre-War streamliners has an extensive list of station's visited. > > > > > >"Zephyr" was simply a name the CB&Q applied to their fleet of trains, > > >similar to CRI&P's "Rockets", UP's "Cities" and the Milwaukee > > >Road's "Hiawatha's". The Twin City and Mark Twain Zephyr's were also > > >shovel nose articulared Budd train sets. Most of the other named > > >Zephyrs were non-articulared, although the original Denver Zephyr had > > >a shovel nosed locomotive, all the cars were independently coupled. > > > > > >The three advertised shovel nose S scale models should be in our > > >hands by the end of April. The sample has been cruising our local > > >club layout several times. The painted, LED lit car interiors are > > >really pretty nifty, but then again I'm hardly a neutral observer... > > > > > >Jim > > >River Raisin > > >http://www.riverraisinmodels.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to > > >reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all >e-mail > > >software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you > > >on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. > > > > > >Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, > > >view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO > > >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ > > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to >reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail >software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you on >DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. > > > > Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, >view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _____________________________________________________ > > This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm > > The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail software, but it works on some of the most common ones. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list. Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! 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