Mal,
In my college days at MIT I witnessed the midnight madness on the Grand Junction every night as long strings of cars were moved from the NYC yards in Brighton to the B&M in Charlestown and vice-versa just before midnight. After midnight the line went quit for a long time.
Andy Miller
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Sorry Andy, but what you say here doesn't correspond with the facts. It was not "midnight madness", and there was nothing frantic about it. It was most likely the third trick switcher out of Beacon Park which among its duties would have been the B&M interchange delivery at L&F Junction, which BTW is in Cambridge or Somerville, not Boston. The NYC did not reach the Charlestown part of Boston.

I spent some time on the B&A in the summer of 1960 and learned that L&F Jct. was a very minor interchange point. Did you ever follow that train to see how much was set out at L&F Jct ? That it was quiet behing the MIT dorms doesn't tell us that they weren't switching the many industries between Main Street and East Boston.

As for the B&M interchange, there was no need for any special effort to make per diem there. The interchange track was part of their yard and they could spot cars there at any time it was convenient for the yardmaster.


Malcolm Laughlin, Editor 617-489-4383
New England Rail Shipper Directories
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