The Beginning

When I was a little boy growing up on Marshall Court in Rockport, my grandparents lived on Warren Court, off Parker St., only 1/4 mile away. My great-grandfather was William, being recorded as an assistant lighthouse keeper on Thachers Island from 1918 to 1926. As a 14 year old, William served as a cook on the granite sloop America and worked on Deer island for 2 years after Thachers. While on Thacher’s, he swam cows and goats over from Loblolly Cove for the Summer and back in the Fall. He had 5 sons and a daughter. One son was my grandfather, Arthur Edward Daggett. He was born in 1899 although some records say 1895.

At the time of my 5th birthday, my grandfather was 61 and was a custodian for the Rockport schools as well as the Community House on Broadway across from Ernie’s Market. He had previously worked as a granite tug/barge operator, as documents list, for Cape Ann Granite Co. However, in the 1944 Rockport census, Arthur Daggett’s occupation was listed as “Locomotive, Steam Railroad” which I am led to believe meant as a yard mechanic, not an actual distance ‘driver’.

Rockport became serviced by the Eastern Railroad in the 1860’s when the final leg from Gloucester was completed due to the rising popularity of Rockport as a Summer destination. (There actually was a short-lived “Bass Rocks” station on Nugent’s Stretch.) In 1890, the Boston and Maine Railroad merged into Eastern as a regular commuter line to Boston. Steam train consists were required to reverse direction at this, the end of the line, especially with the popularity of private parlor cars which would often remain in the yard for weeks. A loop was built 400 yards down the line around the Loop Pond to perform said reversing necessity. It remained functional until 1962 even though some double-ended Budd cars had begun use in 1955. The Loop tracks were finally removed in 1965 and the railbed is now a nice nature trail.

Rockport has maintained rail access to Boston for 150 years with 2 short exceptions; one in 1965 in an MBTA dispute. The MBTA had began funding the commuter operations and Cape Ann, outside the funding district, refused. A lawsuit by the Eastern Street Railway settled that issue. The MBTA finally bought the B&M line assets out-right in 1976. Another disruption of 13 months occurred in 1984 when the Beverly/Salem bridge burned.

This photograph is estimated to be around 1960 and shows 3 steam-driven consists pointing towards Boston, having already succumbed to the Loop. Note the one new diesel locomotive backed into the station. The freight house is still (barely) standing as is the freight crane seen just to the left of it over the coach cars.

When I was about 5 years old, my grandfather was no longer an employee of the railroad but was an occasional operator of that aforementioned freight crane in the layover yard next to Evans Field. He would be summoned when a boxcar or flatcar would arrive with raw steel stock for the Cape Ann Tool Company and it needed to be loaded onto horse-drawn wagons to be delivered to Pigeon Cove for fabrication. Subsequently, he would also load finished product from CATCo to be shipped out. This process was especially frequent during WWII before he operated it.

My very vague memory is supported by a story my grandmother Fannie told me after Grampa died in 1975. She would walk me down to Ernie’s and get some candy. Then we’d walk the 150 yards to the B&M rail-yard and see Grampa. If there was a train that was about to go out to turn around on the loop, he’d take me or arrange for my grandmother to go for the 10 minute exercise. For a while I was supposedly not allowed to do this because my shirt once got holes from coal embers. But anyway, then, and there, I was indoctrinated into rail love.

SOUTH STATION – LAKE SHORE LIMITED
We boarded at 12:35pm for our 12:50 departure. Half full by guess. One down-side to the Lake Shore Limited is the discontinuance of the dining car dinner service after Albany. The section from BOS to Springfield has sporadic shots of scenery, urban sprawl and railyards with assorted spicings for the rail fan. The speed per our Patages GPS is about 60 average.

We arrive at Amtraks Albany-Rensselaer station basically on-time. We are allowed on the platform or into the station where there are plenty of amenities… one can also go in and out of the train until switching begins. The #48 train was on-time up from NYP station and the switching occurred to add those cars to our consist.

So tonight (May 6), as I edit this first issue of movement, I am going 78 mph on the Lake Shore Limited just outside Schenectady, NY after a 1- hour layover in Albany to couple my #448 Boston train to the NY #48 train for the complete consist now rocking towards Chicago overnight. There is a baby crescent moon over a tangerine horizon and George Benson plying ‘This Masquerade’ and the only obstacle is rearranging items for timely access and the reality that I have everything. All is good on Day 1 (then an army of Amish came aboard)!

(Text References: Wikipedia; Family Search; ‘Twin Lights of Thacher Island’ by Paul Germain)