Does anybody know anything about the Turners Falls Branch? Was this a Caboose shove move. Who did the branch serve?
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Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
I would recommend contacting the Boston and Maine RR Historical Society, other than that, I will take a look through my books for in a moment.
I depending on era, paper mills. See below.
http://www.montague.net/pages/MontagueMA_WebDocs/Turners
I followed the right of way on google earth. Goes right up to the hydro electric plant.
*Edit: This appears to be New York, New Haven and Hartford (New Haven) trackage. The B&M does not appear to have tracks entering Turner's Falls as of the 1918 valuation maps. Here is a copy of the New Havens Valutation map: http://images.lib.uconn.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/maps/id/1861 It shows the interchange with B&M at the North (RR West) end of Deerfield yard. A google image search yielded 2 photos of the "Turners Falls Job" by SW-1 #1117. It apears to be either a interchange switch or possible run with trackage rights over the New Haven. Cannot tell from the photos. Wikipedia mentions a Turners Falls Branch of the Fitchburg RR, but I can find no mention of the abandonment timeframe. B&MRRHS might be your best bet. Also if you contact UCONN Storrs:
http://railroads.uconn.edu/digital.htm L Smith is very helpful and knowledgable about the collection. Some Boston and Maine photos and data are available.
More Editing: further searching lead to this map: http://images.lib.uconn.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/maps/id/1864
It shows the B&M flyover of the NH just northwest of 10th street and Avenue A in Turners Falls. it also shows that at that time the B&M serviced the mill track on the far side of the canal.
You might also joine this yahoo group and ask:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BM_RR/conversations/messages