Another Mystery Depot From Musehobo
Dick Muse has sent me another photo to identify. This time there is at least a clue, in that it's painted with the familiar B&M color scheme.
He writes...
"Steve, here is another mystery depot. Notice the colors B&M cream and maroon. There was no info on the back."
Anyone recognize this depot? (Do keep in mind this one is not necessarily in either Mass or NH.)
Please e-mail me here if you know!--> mail@stevefisk.net-nospam (You have to take of the " -nospam" . I put that there to thwart spam bots.)
Update, 2007:
Well, once again this one would seem to have been solved by Richard Conard. He writes....
"Hi Steve, It's been a while since we E-mailed each other. I just stumbled on your Mystery Depots website again. The Dick Muse photo of the station in cream and maroon colors is Lancaster, Mass . on the former B&M WN&P line. Your photo is looking northwest, with the former WN&P line to the right of the station going north. I have several photos of it in the 1970s. Your photo appears to have been taken sometime around 1977, judging by the left corner of the roof that got damaged somehow (perhaps whacked by a truck?). The passenger station was on the west side of the tracks. It was there in 1979 but gone by 1982, and I don't know what happened to it. Across the tracks on the east side is the former freight house that at some point in the late 1970s or early 1980s was damaged by fire but I believe (not confirmed by me) that it is still standing."
OK. That makes sense. So you are saying if the camera swang to the right, across the tracks you would see the extant, damaged freight house?
"Yes, if the camera was swung from about 11 o'clock (looking from the south towards the Lancaster psgr. station) to about 2 or 3 o'clock it would be aiming at the former freight house, now sadly damaged by a fire quite a while ago. I have some slides I took of that freight house in the early 1970s when it had been freshly painted in cream and maroon and it looked really beautiful. I don't know what the former freight house is being used for now, but I'd be interested in knowing (perhaps storage). The Thayer (South Lancaster) former passenger station has a funny look to it, no? I had always wondered why all of the trim and woodwork had been stripped from it and why it looked so gray and drab. That was until about 6 months or so ago when I read an item in the newsletter of the WW&F Ry. Museum in Alna, Me. with recollections by my friend Ellis Walker who said that the now defunct Steam Village tourist train operation in Gilford, N.H. had a passenger station with woodwork (exterior trim, etc.) that had been salvaged from the Lancaster (sic), Mass. passenger station. I showed Ellis a copy of a Thayer station photo and he agreed that the woodwork had to have come from that station, not Lancaster station. The Steam Village station and tourist train operation are now long gone -- it lasted ownly a few years until maybe the late 1960s. "
Works for me. I'd say this is a photo of the vanished Lancaster, Mass. W.N.&P. depot, across the tracks from the extant Lancaster Freighthouse. Which is just north of the magnificent Thayer, Mass. Depot.