Revere, MA: Tool Rental/B&M Roundhouse

(Satellite)

Larry Smith posted, cropped
roundhouse is in revere MA and now a tool rental.

The topo maps show a gas-o-meter instead of a roundhouse. I think that is a rare mistake in a topo map.

1956/58 Boston North Quad @ 24,000

Adams, MA: Restaurant/Boston & Albany Depot

(Satellite, the B&A is now the Ashuwillticok Rail Trail.)

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted

Station Saturday

For Station Saturday here's a look at the brick former Boston and Albany Railroad Adams Station and adjacent express office which both date from 1884, the station having replaced an earlier wooden structure dating from the line's construction.  Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 the well kept station is now a popular restaurant AJ's Trailside Pub.  

The tracks once ran on this side, dating from 1846 when opened as the aptly named Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad (a wholly owned Western Railroad subsidiary). As late as 1951 the New York Central served this station with two round trips on this Boston and Albany (the Western's 1870 successor) branch line that reached 18 1/2 miles north from a connection with the mainline in Pittsfield. The little NYC 'Beeliners' (as Budd RDCs were referred to on that road) made their last revenue runs in March 1953 though occasional excursions rode these rails in later years. The branch passed from NYC to PC and then CR until the later sold it to the Boaton and Maine in 1981. It held on another 11 years until all but the northern five miles down to Adams were ripped up by Guilford in 1994, with another mile cropped back a year or so later. Guilford and Pan Am continued to provide freight service to two moderate sized customers near Zylonite station, about 4 miles south of North Adams. 

MassDOT purchased the line in 2015 with Pan Am retaining the freight rights and BSRM running passenger excursions on weekends when freight trains (now operated by Genesee and Wyoming's Berkshire and Eastern Railroad) are not running. MassDOT even reconstructed one mile of previously removed track into downtown Adams ending about 3/10ths of a mile ahead to the north. The tracks share the corridor for that last mile with the north end of the popular Ashuwillticook Rail Trail which now occupies the abandoned right of way down towards Pittsfield through Lanesboro and Cheshire in a nice example of 'trails with rails.' 

To learn more about the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum and and their wonderful little excursion on the surving stub of the line check out their page.

Adams, Massachusetts

Saturday September 20, 2025

Street View, Sep 2025

Photo, Dec 2016

Palmer, MA: Union Station: CSX/NYC/Boston & Albany and NECR/Central Vermont

(Satellite)

NECR = New England Central Railroad

Jim MacKey posted six photos with the comment:

Union Station is a historic former railroad station located in downtown Palmer, Massachusetts. The building, which was designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, opened in June 1884 to consolidate two separate stations nearby.[1] The grounds of the station were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.[3]

It is located at the junction of the Boston and Albany Railroad (later part of the New York Central Railroad, and now the CSX Boston Subdivision)

General information

Location 28 Depot Street,

Palmer, Massachusetts

Coordinates 42°9′20″N 72°19′47″W

Construction

Architect Henry Hobson Richardson; W.N. Flynt & Company

Architectural style Romanesque

History

Opened June 1884

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When I saw locomotives and freight cars parked on the former Central Vermont Tracks, I knew I should look for the shortline that now operates the CV route. It is New England Central Railroad (NECR).

gwrr

Ashland, MA: Offices/B&A Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Sep 2023

Street View, Sep 2023

This used to be a working train station in Ashland.  Do you know who designed or its history?

Thomas Dorman: Boston & Albany depot, built 1887, designed for the B&A by Shepley Rutan & Coolidge architects, successor firm after the death of Henry Hobson Richardson, in Richardsonian Romanesque style.

Lost/Boston & Maine Roundhouse

(Satellite, Amesbury Riverwalk to the south was the B&M right-of-way.)

Larry Smith posted four images with the comment: "Amesbury, MA. had a turntable and roundhouse i believe in the fiftys both were demolished. but the tt pit is bared by the rail trail. amesbury was a termanis. almost 4 miles long, it split at the Salisbury station"

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1944/44 Newburyport West Quad @ 31,680

Watervliet, NY: Ludlum Steel, 1813 US Arsenal, D&H Railyard and Erie Canal

Ludlum Steel: (Satellite)

Railyard: (Satellite)

Arsenal: (Satellite)

Erie Canal

D&H = Delaware & Hudson Railroad

George Frigm posted
First pilot plant oscillating mold caster in the USA at Allegheny Ludlum Watervliet NY circa 1949, fed by an induction furnace. Only 3 other pilot plant casters were in operation at the time (all fixed mold) Bethlehem Steel Lebanon PA, Republic Cleveland OH and B&W Beaver Falls PA. A German design installed by Irving Rossi.

1953 Troy South Quad @ 24,000

Anton Beletskill, Apr 2019

"Around 1909ish Ludlum Steel would make one of the first batches of stainless steel in America. In 1939 Ludlum Steel would merge with Allegheny Steel and form Allegheny Ludlum Incorporated. From 1950 to 1952 they would role depleted uranium billets for the United States Government. During WW2 they have accredited the "E Award" from the US War Department. This Award was given to them for making steel for planes that fought in the war. Also around the '50s, they would make one of the first batches of titanium. In the '70s Allegheny Ludlum was bought out by the workers and changed to Al Tech Specialty Steel. They would go on to make steel for the Space Program, Airplanes, Needles, Cars and other things....Most of the plant is still standing with exception of the Melt Shop and Caster building." [uer]

Unlike other steel companies in New York that rolled uranium billets in the 1950s, this company was careful and avoided radiation contamination of the site. [wsj, this source confirmed the location]

But they did have problems with asbestos contamination. [lipsitzponterio, belluckfox]

A detailed history of Allegheny Ludlum

The buildings on the west side were gone in the next Google Earth image, Jun 2003, so they would be the "melt shop and caster buildings."

Google Earth, Apr 2001

The remaining buildings stood until after Jul 2021.

Google Earth, Jul 2021

But many of the buildings have been removed.

Street View, May 2022

Kevin S Ford posted
An Alco RS36 in the Delaware & Hudson's Colonie Engine Shop, Watervliet, 1974. Photo by Richard Horstmann.

Ryan Lennox: Is this the D&H that’s on the Delaware & Ulster Rail Ride in Arkville NY?

CN Southwell: Ryan Lennox yes

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Erie Canal

Erie Canal Overview

See also the weight-lock in Watervliet.

I think today's NY-32 was built on the canal's right-of-way. West Troy became Watervliet. And the railroad was the D&H.

1893/93 Troy Quad @ 62,500

Hudson River Lightkeeper posted six photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

Watervliet

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

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Hudson River Lightkeeper posted eight photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

A few more images of Watervliet

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

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Hudson River Lightkeeper posted two photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

West Troy

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

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Hudson River Lightkeeper posted two photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

Watervliet (Port Schuyler Area) Looking south at the Fifth Street Bridge and the Lower Side-cut just before the Watervliet Arsenal.

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

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Iron Industry History

Hudson River Lightkeeper posted two photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

West Side Foundry on the canal in Watervliet across from the weigh -lock.

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

Jim Schneider: Is this the Meneely Foundry?

Nadine Stah White: Jim Schneider, no it's not Meneely. This one was further north in Watervliet - almost to Maplewood.

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Hudson River Lightkeeper commented on Jim's comment

Jim Schneider: Hudson River Lightkeeper thanks so much for the pic. The bell in our church, St Mary’s in Oswego, NY, is a Meneely Bell.

[What metal was used to make bells?]

Hudson River Lightkeeper posted two photos with the comment:

Celebrating 200 Years of the Erie Canal 1825-2025

Erie Canal going through the Watervliet Arsenal

Hudson River Lightkeeper shared

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