Maine Central Railroad
Boston & Maine Railroad
1927-8 Setout Repairs

When a train crew spots a hot box, an air hose fails, or a coupler is yanked out, they have to get the car into the nearest siding in order to keep the line open.  I obtained a partially used notebook used by an unidentified railroad employee to record the repairs conducted on these freight cars.  Journal repairs, coupler and coupler yoke replacements, and even temporary center sill repairs were among the work recorded by the employee.  Work conducted during the ten months from September 1927 through June 1928 is shown in the book, although a few repairs from January 1933 and July 1933 were also jotted in.  The locations at which the repairs were made included communities along the MEC and B&M in the Portland, ME, area, including: Gray, Kennebunk, Rumford Junction, Sebago Lake, Springvale, and many others.

In my effort to better understand how freight car usage may have differed during the decade before Depression in comparison to post-war freight car utilization (Gilbert-Nelson theory,) this book gives a random sample of cars that passed though this part of the country over nearly the course of a year.   As many entries include contents, origination, and destination, the book also sheds limited light on those aspects of trade as well.

Please help preserve and share the history of New England railroads.

1927-8 MEC & B&M Setout Repairs - data entered into an Excel spreadsheet.  Limited analysis and the 1933 entries are also included on separate tabs of the file.

Posted 12/27/13.  Maintained by Earl Tuson.

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