A day's railfanning, Rockingham Junction, Spring 1954
By Dave Lamson
The time was 1954 and it was a Saturday morning in the late spring. The weather was ideal, sunny and warm. My notes are incomplete and hard to read, I didn't have a camera with me. (Hey, what can you say, I was 14 years old!) I had ridden the "doodle-bug" from the depot at Greenland, NH to Rockingham Junction to watch trains. I said hello to the agent/operater and made myself at home on one of the baggage wagons on the passenger platform. I didn't record anything about train numbers and consists but managed to get engine numbers and the directions and times. My watch was a cheap wrist watch which might have been a bit off so keep that in mind if you are checking your timetable.
The first train I saw as soon as I got off the Concord-bound gas-buggy was an Eastbound passenger train which pulled into the wye track to the Portsmouth Branch behind the freight house at 9:00 AM, engine 3814(an E-7). The next train seen was a train of Budd cars Eastbound at 9:10, no stop. The first passenger train then backed out onto the mainline, pulled forward and made it's station stop. It departed at 9:17. The next train was a Westbound passenger train at 9:30 with E-7 3810. At 9:40 there was another Westbound Passenger train with Budd cars. Next was an Eastbound passenger train at 9:46 with the 3805. At about 10:00 the Portsmouth-bound Manchester freight arrived (engine 1564, a GP-7) and started swapping cars on the interchange tracks, ducking around the main-line trains. At 10:15 an Eastbound freight crashed across the diamond with the 4210a-b,4223b-a (two FTa-b's back to back)with 93 cars. 10:45 I saw a Westbound passenger train with the E-7 3800. At 11:00 I hitched a ride on the buggy of the Manchester-Portsmouth freight back to Greenland Station and rode my bike home for lunch.
Back to the Greenland depot after lunch and hitched a ride on the engine of the returning Manchester-bound freight. Arrival at 2:00 PM. The first train I saw that warm late spring afternoon was at 2:10 with an Eastbound passenger train headed by the 1569. The Manchester freight pulled across the diamond and left at about 2:15 At 2:30 another Eastbound passenger train went through with engine 3810. An Eastbound Freight train stopped at the Portsmouth interchange tracks west of the Portsmouth wye track and dropped some cars. It came across the diamond at 3:15 with 4262,4205b-a and 61 cars. Then was a time of waiting for the next train, something I have done countless times since......talking to the agent, wandering along the branch, out beside the cut of cars left by the Portsmouth freight, especially noting a box car mid-way of the string. It was a DL&W car, wood-sheathed, and its' number-series was the same as an identical HO model put out by Model DieCast model company that I had received on my birthday that winter. I climbed all over it, taking note that the roof was different from the model.
I then looked at the remains of the old, long abandoned turntable pit out in the woods west of the main line. I observed a hill of very hostile red ants for a time, and then wandered back up along the main toward the depot.
Finally I heard a horn at Exeter Road, Newmarket and at 4:40 PM a string of Budd cars clattered by. At 5:05 a Westbound passenger came in powered by the 3814. The Gas-buggy from Manchester had pulled in by then, so I said goodbye to the night operator, climbed on and as soon as The Westbound passenger train cleared we clumped off across the diamond to the Greenland depot, another bike ride to home, supper with the family, and an evening of Sid Caesar and Jackie Gleason.
Dave Lamson, Ex-B&M
