Service to Suncook

Sept 28, 1924 - June 6, 1936

Contents on this page: Introduction B&M Passenger Service B&M Interurban & Bus Service - to be added B&M Freight Service Termination of Service Equipment Yard Operations and Signaling Sources

This map depicts the B&M's Suncook Loop and environs from Hooksett at the south, to Bailey's Quarry in the east, and to the Concord depot in the northwest.  It is a composite map created from the 1921 USGS 15' Suncook Quad and the 1927 15' USGS Concord Quad, and is cropped (approximately,) from W 71°25' to W 71°32'30" and from N 43°5' to N 43°12'30".  Click for Full size.

Introduction

Map depicting much of the trackage at Suncook, I.C.C Valuation Survey, B&M Val Section 23.1
(Click for full-size .tiff file.)

After decades of leasehold by the Concord Railroad, the Concord & Montreal, and finally the Boston & Maine Railroad, the Suncook Valley Railroad initiated independent operation of its owned line on September 28, 1924.  The road began operation over the leased B&M's Suncook Loop trackage (from the east side of the Merrimack River at Hooksett north to Bow Junction) on June 8, 1936.  This article is intended to discuss B&M rail service to the village of Suncook in between those dates.

B&M 4-4-0 1007 on Train 3604, bound for Manchester and Portsmouth, May 1934. N.M.Martin photo.

B&M Passenger Service

Some explanation may be instructive so that the chart can be fully understood.  The horizontal axis shows individual train schedules through time from initial SV operation until lease of the Loop by the SV.  Color continuity may reflect a constant train service or may represent a change in B&M train number without a significant accompanying service change.  Two closures of the Hooksett bridges can be noted (light purple highlighting,) first in the winter or spring of 1927, and lasting until Aug 8 of that year, and the final curtailment of service over the Hooksett bridges on January 11, 1935.  The vertical axis is time of day during the period.  Gray areas between the black highlighted SV train times represent the short line's layover at the Suncook Yard, and thus indicate where connections were made between the two railroads.

This section is actively being rewritten. 12/26/22

B&M Interurban & Bus Service

B&M Freight Service

Photographic evidence of freight service on the Suncook Loop, however, remains non-existent to date.  Therefor, this study is critically dependent on the information contained within B&M Freight Train Symbol Books and other corporate documents.  Currently, nine such books from the period of interest are known and available to much of the B&M community: FTSB #11, dated 6/23/24; FTSB #13, dated 6/30/26; FTSB #14, dated 12/20/26; FTSB #16, dated 10/31/27; FTSB #22, dated 9/25/32; FTSB #24, dated 9/24/33; FTSB #27, dated 4/28/35; FTSB #28, dated 9/29/35; and FTSB #29, dated 4/26/36.  (A group of four additional books from this period, #20, #23, #25, and #26, as well as additional editions before and after the dates indicated above, were located in the fall of 2016, but the collector who possesses them, DBV, has denied access to the information contained within them.)  Each book explicitly calls out how the B&M planned to serve Suncook at that point in time, but the day to day operations could, and did, vary as business, equipment, and weather demanded.

Furthermore, the railroad opted to publish portions of the scheduling included in FTSB's via Bulletin Orders, Notices, and Circulars; limited numbers of those remain, offering yet another source of such data.  A number of B&M memoranda exist that also give limited additional information about freight service on the Loop.  B&M Merchandise Car pamphlets shed limited light on Suncook freight service.  Three from the 1924-36 period are known to exist: 4/1/29, 5/1/30, and 5/1/35.  (If you have knowledge of any additional FTSB or Merchandise Car pamphlets from this era, I would greatly appreciate you sharing them with me!)

Upon the Suncook Valley Railroad commencing independent operation on Sept 28, 1924, the B&M's existing daily ex Sunday, Concord to Centre Barnstead local freight, as called out in FTSB #11, was curtailed.  That freight schedule would undoubtedly been modified via Bulletin Notices and/or Orders, but such documents are not known to exist.  Quite possibly, the manner in which the Loop freight service was conducted may have evolved further throughout the shortline's first two years of operation, but the gap in the historical record prevents any further understanding at this time.  FTSB #12, effective 11/5/1925, the first such widely published document that would be expected to shed light on the matter is not known to exist.

Facilities that would continue to be served at Suncook by the B&M included the Suncook freight house, the three large Suncook Mills complexes-the China, Pembroke, and Webster cotton mills, Fowler Brothers’ grain mill, Fred Saltmarsh’s coal and wood yard, Suncook Mills’ coal pocket (since about June 1924, formerly E. Baker & Co.,) and a wood flour manufacturer (operated under a succession of names,) located just north of the Suncook freight house.  The B&M's Suncook agent was also responsible for two additional, important customers: Bailey's Lumber Co. and the C. A. Bailey granite quarry, despite the fact that the Suncook Valley RR was responsible for the actual switching duties.

B&M-SV Interchange, June 1925

Some minor operational details are available in correspondence among B&M management, where they discussed LCL freight claims made on items delivered to Valley customers.  Specifically, the memos illustrate just how LCL was being handled as of June, 1925.

A B&M investigation gave the following facts:  The approximate daily volume handed off to the shortline was 15 tons of LCL, while about 10 tons were received from the SV.  Way cars (loaded from Nashua and Boston,) were set at the Suncook freight house track.  Those which contained freight for Valley destinations had the Suncook "Town" freight removed to the freight house, and the cars were resealed.  Furthermore, the report states that if the SV train was ready to accept the cars, the SV crew would take them from the freight house; if the SV was not ready for them, the B&M crew would set the cars onto the interchange track.  Merchandise cars received were sent to Concord, but the location of transfer was unknown- either Concord or Nashua.

B&M Suncook Locals, 6/30/26

B&M Suncook Locals, 12/20/26

The Summer 1926 and Winter 1926-27 FTSB's both show that a pair of local trains was assigned from Concord to Suncook and from Suncook to Concord on a daily except Sunday basis, a continuation of the frequency and manner of service that existed prior to independent operations for some years.  This minimal service also correlated with the frequency of SV mixed trains.  Running south after Train 812 departed Concord, the turn arrived in Suncook to switch customers in the village and to leave cars for Suncook Valley Train 1.

Three times weekly, freight service was supplied to Hooksett, and we know the train at least occasionally crossed the Hooksett covered bridges from the note in the Symbol Book regarding running back to Concord via the main.  At Hooksett, the Suncook local would have served the Dundee Mill, where crash, a coarse cloth used for toweling and coats, was woven until about 1928, as well as Head's brickyard and the PSNH hydro facility (formerly Manchester Traction, Light, and Power Co.,) the latter leasing a portion of the shared Cotton Track along with Dundee.  The Mount Saint Mary's convent also received carloads of coal, but it is not known if these were delivered to the old house track or the siding near the depot initially.  While two additional (symbol) freight round trips were scheduled between Concord and Boston, it is unlikely that these offered freight service at the Hooksett depot and freight house.  The local freight that was assigned to work the mainline was only scheduled as far north as Manchester during 1926.

After returning to Concord at around 9:45 AM, the Suncook local then made a trip part way up the Claremont Branch to serve the quarries on Rattlesnake Hill near West Concord, also known as Garrison on the B&M.

It is not known at this time if or how the Hooksett bridge closure in early 1927 changed the frequency or nature of freight service on the Loop.  However, the local would have been unable to work the west side of the river at Hooksett, so this service disruption (until Aug 8, 1927,) would presumably have necessitated one of the Bos-Con freights picking up the duty.

No provision for evening service to Suncook can be found at this time, which would have delayed outbound merchandise service until the next morning, keeping in the character with the B&M's drag freight operating scheme still entrenched in the mid 1920's.  The nature of traffic originating from some of the customers served by the B&M's Loop, however, demanded more timely outbound shipments of L.C.L., and the railroad responded to its customers needs.  An August 22, 1927, memo from S. E. Miller, General Superintendent, B&M, states that the local, "runs from Concord to Suncook and return twice and does the so-called Stone Hill work."  This added trip provided much improved service for Suncook and Valley shippers and would be included in the next FTSB operating plan.

B&M Suncook Local, 10/31/27

The Fall 1927 FTSB showed a very similar operating scheme to that of 1926.  The round trip was now officially one local, rather than the previous two, and it was run on the same frequency as the previous year.  It arrived well after Suncook Valley Train 2, which had also met Train 812 earlier. After its switching duties were completed, the local awaited the 8:30 departure of B&M Train 303 before itself heading north back to Concord.

Again, freight service was supplied to Hooksett three times weekly, and it is believed that this train still ventured across the Hooksett bridges in order switch the freight house on the west side of the river.  While the former Bos-Con symbols were no longer scheduled, the remaining mainline local had been extended to run Boston-Concord, and thus may also have been available.  The northbound service was explicitly assigned to do "all work on main line except switching at Winchester and No. Chelmsford, although the southbound trip was only assigned "all loading, unloading, and station switching, Nashua to Winchester except No. Chelmsford ad No. Billerica."

Arriving back in Concord around 9:00 AM, the Suncook local continued to run to Garrison to work the quarries.  After that work was complete, the local continued to make a second trip to Suncook to pick up any LCL cars at the freight house or dropped by SV Train 4 at 3:20 PM.  Presumably this train had to make it back to connect with the southbound merchandise train, O-B 2, in order to best serve Suncook and Valley shippers.  O-B 2 arrived at Concord at 7:00 PM and left at 7:50.  Complicating this however is the fact that B&M Train 3604 was due to leave Concord at 3:40 PM and was scheduled to arrive in Suncook at 3:56.  The local surely could not be counted on to pick up merchandise cars and run the distance back to Concord in less than 20 minutes.  We can therefore conclude that the local waited until after the passenger train had left, which would still give it more than enough time to complete the round trip and get the car spotted in Concord to be sent south in O-B 2.

By 1928, some evidence suggests that the Suncook Local no longer passed over the Hooksett Bridges to either serve the Hooksett Freight House nor to return via the mainline. The B&M would testify in 1935, as they sought permission from the I.C.C to abandon the bridges that "No freight service has been operated over this section for more than seven years." (However, there is a rather contradictory inference in a memo, offered below, that such service may have continued until at least 1931!)

Beginning with FTSB #17, in effect on January 1, 1929, the B&M changed the format of the publication.  This change appears to have been made near the conclusion of many of the changes instituted under management of the railroad by President George Hannauer, such as the opening of the new Mechanicville hump yard on January 14, 1928.  The freight services also were reconfigured in order to achieve operating efficiencies previously unheard of on the B&M.  While that FTSB has not yet come to light, a few other documents do shed some light on the manner in which the branch was worked.

B&M Suncook Local, 4/28/29

B&M Southern Division Notice #37, issued April 23, shows that the local train schedule and frequency did in fact remain the same at that date as it was a year and a half prior, maintaining the 7:50 AM departure from Concord for Suncook, Hooksett, Stonehill and "var.pts.", daily except Sunday.  This abbreviated listing offers no specific mention of an afternoon return to Suncook, but there is no obvious reason why that would have changed from 1927 (indeed, further evidence offered below suggests it continued uninterupted.)

The April 1929 Minute Man Freight Service Merchandise Car pamphlet shows that a daily Less-Carload-Lot (LCL) car was sent from Nashua to the Suncook Valley RR scheduled to permit next morning delivery.  In addition, a car left Boston’s “A” House (located in East Cambridge,) destined for Suncook as well.  However, this latter service was only guaranteed to deliver merchandise the second morning.  It was not a direct car, so presumably, goods were sent to Concord where they were then transferred to another car at the Concord freight house.  Southern Divison Notice #36, also issued April 23, shows that Train O-B 2's schedule was unchanged and B-O 1's shifted back by one hour, making relevant much of the previous discussion regarding these two trains.  This also suggests that both of these cars could have come into Concord in Train B-O 1.  This train left Boston with merchandise cars at 8:15 PM, and picked up and dropped similar cars at the major cities enroute.  Nashua was scheduled for 10:45 PM, arrival in Concord was 2:15 AM.

Early in 1930, the former Dundee Mill property in Hooksett was leased by Emerson & Stillman, later Emerson Manufacturing Company, who manufactured furniture and wooden novelties.  A siding located on the east bank of the Merrimack, known as the Cotton track, was used by this and other off line customers.  (See the Hooksett Sidetrack Chronology for more information.)  By May of that year, the B&M understood that Emerson's growing business was already beginning to be lost to trucks, due largely to the limitations of the tri-weekly morning service they offered to Hooksett.  Moving quickly to stem the tide, the B&M instituted changes to improve the service offered: some minor staffing changes at the Hooksett depot enabled the agent there to better meet Emerson needs, and, effective May 19, 1930, the Suncook local provided daily except Sunday afternoon freight service to Hooksett, allowing the B&M to better expedite all shipments offered by Emerson (provided their L.C.L car was ready not later than 3:00 PM.)

Two daily merchandise cars were also scheduled for Suncook in May 1930.  The first left Boston “A” House in East Cambridge providing somewhat faster, next morning LCL service.  The other left Nashua, NH, providing the same delivery interval as had been provided in 1929.  Unfortunately, a complete 1930 FTSB is not known to exist at this time, but the originating and terminating times shown in the Merchandise Car pamphlet and a loose FTSB page for O-B 2 dated 11/6/1930 suggest that the same Plymouth-Bos service continued to handle the cars.

Beginning in 1931, the B&M freight scheduling in central NH entered into a period of near constant flux, as services to and from the north country and to and from western interchange points were shifted repeatedly in an effort to work out a scheme that suited the worsening Depression traffic level.  (See the NH Div Symbol Freights for more information.)  Such service changes had trickle-down impacts on the how the locals operating out of Concord would accomplish the work required in surrounding NH communities.  The shifting B&M services also impacted LCL car movements as freight service was broadly cut back systemwide.

The first large change impacting operations in the Concord area would occur in winter 1931: trains B-O 1 and O-B 2 were consolidated with the Concord-Mechanicville service (C-M 1, M-C 2,) to become O-M 1 and M-O 2 prior to Feb 28.  From the limited information available on this reduction in service, it would seem that O-M 1's schedule remained very comparable to what O-B 2 had been north of Nashua, and was likely to continue to move the Suncook-Nashua merchandise car.  Symbol freight J-B 490, formerly passing through the capitol area in the early evening, began to run a later schedule beginning when O-M 1 was instituted, arriving in Boston about the time the former O-B 2 had done at the end of 1930.  Consequently, it becomes reasonable to assume that the Boston-bound, Suncook merchandise car may have been forwarded on in J-B 490.  Northbound cars:

Some details shared in B&M memos investigating costs shed further light on the existing operating scheme.  In Feb 1931, coal was being received both at the Cotton Track (belived to be for Emerson,) and at the House track (for the convent and/or others,) while the Old House Track (located south of the bridges,) appears to have then been only used for company business.  In the Apr 1931, the new District Superintendent A.W. Perkins received statements from his subordinates that confirm that the Concord-Suncook-Stonehill local continued to operate.  Mr. Perkins went on to suggest that if the Stonehill switcher were to be discontinued on account of leasing the Loop to the SV, perhaps symbol freights W-C 1 or M-O 2 may be available to switch the Hooksett House track if the SV began tending to the Cotton track on the east side of the Merrimack, and that O-M 1 would be able to take over switching responsibilities between Eastside (Concord) and Northfield.

B&M Suncook Locals, 4/29/32

The next available freight scheduling data available to this author is from the spring of 1932, and the scheme reported had been substantially changed from 1929.  By this time, the B&M had combined the Bristol & Franklin local that existed at least as late as 1929 (and probably into 1931,) with the Suncook local.

Up until this time frame, as shown in prior FTSB and in the aforementioned Notice #37 of April 1929, the B&M had provided Bristol and Franklin freight service by running another local freight out of Concord that served the Franklin & Tilton Branch, the Belmont Branch, and the Bristol Branch, operating strictly as a freight train south of Franklin and Tilton (Eastside to Northfield,) but as a mixed train on the latter two branches.  However, Belmont Branch freight service was terminated in August 1930 (passenger service had ended earlier, on 4/27/29,) which had created an opportunity to change the operating scheme to further save expense to the railroad.  Without further documentation, it cannot be shown conclusively how these operations were handled from the closure of the Belmont Branch until the spring of 1932, and while careful study shows that schedules would have allowed the combination of these two services as early as 1930, the Stonehill switcher is known to have continued running to Suncook as late as April 1931.  Hopefully, further documentation will come to light to indicate specifically when this may have been combined with Suncook freight service.

In the spring of 1932, however, the combined local service now left Concord for Suncook at 6:05 AM.  The earlier departure, however, meant that the local followed the southbound Concord-Portsmouth passenger train, #3600, from Concord, rather than #303.  Additional schedule times are available for this service, as the Bristol trains, 3901 and 3902, appear in Employee timetables due to their being mixed trains.  More needed here...  An afternoon trip to Suncook or Hooksett, however, was now made by the Claremont to Concord local at the end of its run, but only on Mon, Wed, and Fri, and only on an as needed basis.

RE-EVALUATE: However, by 1932, the FTSB indicates that any Nashua car would have been picked up by 49’s Extra and dropped in Concord, while B-U 1 would have hauled Boston LCL direct to Concord.  Due to the freight scheduling efficiencies introduced ca. 1930, B-U 1 made it into Concord at 10:10.  The schedule for 49’s Extra is not known, but it did arrive before B-U 1.

B&M Suncook Locals, 9/25/32

The next full FTSB available to this author is from the fall of 1932, and the scheme reported for the morning local is essentially the same, with the departure time seasonally adjusted.  With the general reduction in service that occurred in response to the ever worsening Depression, O-M 1, the symbol freight from Plymouth, would finally be curtailed.  A new train (at times refered to as Symbol Freight O-C 2,) would do work from Lincoln, combining that with the previous symbol freight's northern responsibilities to Concord.  This downgraded service was required to make the afernoon run to Suncook and Hooksett to provide LCL service, but on an as needed basis only.

B&M Bristol and Concord locals serving Suncook, 1/27/33

As the Depression wore on, the B&M continued to modify its freight services to accommodate the lower traffic levels.  In Jan, the Bristol local's morning run to Suncook was made only on an as needed basis, and expressly eliminated on Mondays.  Meanwhile, a Claremont & Concord local freight was trialed to provide afternoon service, but again, only on an as needed basis.  The variable service nature implied by the B&M’s schedule is a foreboding sign of things to come.

Increasingly desparate to reduce unprofitable train services, the B&M even turned to the unconventional approach of adding freight cars to its passenger trains, as it did to Train 3604 on May 1 that year.  Rather than sending the Bristol train south, a carload of feed for Epsom was coupled to the rear of the Concord-Portsmouth train and dropped at Suncook for the short line.  Unfortunately, the crew objected to receiving lower passenger train service wages for this mixed train operation, which was only resolved after a hearing at the National Railroad Adjustment Board.  It is unkown whether or how often this would be repeated.

B&M Symbol Freight F-C 1 and Suncook Local, 9/24/33

Changes continued as the year went on.  The Bristol and Franklin local was restored to its previous status without a morning Suncook trip.  Instead, the B&M began running new Symbol Freight F-C 1 to Suncook on an as needed basis after it otherwise completed its run to Concord.  It was scheduled to arrive in the capital at 8:30 AM, after which it would drop its train and pick up any cars destined for Suncook.  This work is very likely to have it busy until after 303 arrived from Suncook at 8:42, leaving the freight an open track and adequate time to get to Suncook for the Valley connection- SV Train 1 was not scheduled to leave Suncook until 10:00 AM.

The C&C local's involvement in Loop service apparently did not work out, as the Lincoln to Concord local was restored to run to Suncook or Hooksett as required in order to make the evening connection for outbound merchandise.  While the "as needed" note was included in the FTSB, Notice 94, Oct 10, dropped such a limitation, only to have Notice 98 relieve the train from the duty entirely seventeen days later.  In its place, the Bristol local was once again reassigned the afternoon trip to Suncook.  Furthermore, a time study undertaken by the B&M in the spring of 1934 details these changes and the Bristol local's resumption of a role in Suncook service.  During the third week of May and the first week of June of that year, the time study recorded 2 and 3 trips, respectively, by the Bristol train to either or both Suncook and Hooksett in the early afternoon.  These trips followed symbol freight F-C 1's late morning runs to Suncook and Hooksett, these runs occurring on all but one of the weekdays recorded.

A few months after the C&ME had shut down, the management at Emerson had an unconventional idea.  Before the interurban's rails could be removed, they moved to acquire a stretch of the track from adjacent to their siding, the Cotton track, around the bend and down to their mill.  The interburban track was then tied in to the Cotton track itself and was ready for service in Aug.  (More on this HERE.)  A hope expressed by the B&M was that Emerson would give up the lease on the portion of the siding that they had previously used.  Precisely when or how that occurred is yet unknown, but a later report that St. Mary's began receiving their coal on the Cotton track instead of the house track "about 1934," affirms that some portion of the siding became available for public delivery as the railroad had hoped.

B&M Symbol Freight W-C 1 and Suncook Local, 4/28/35

(Discussion on FTSB 27 to be inserted here.)

B&M Symbol Freight W-C 1 and Suncook Local, 9/29/35

(Discussion on FTSB 28 to be inserted here.)

B&M Symbol Freight W-C 1, 4/26/36

The April 26, 1936 B&M FTSB gives a look at freight service to Suncook after the Hooksett bridges were closed.  The Worcester to Concord symbol freight, W-C 1, has now assumed the duties.  After arriving in Concord around 8:15, that crew was assigned the job of running to Suncook or Hooksett as required.  The continuing suggestion that the service frequency is variable helps one to understand the situation leading up to the SV leasing the Loop trackage.  No mention is made anywhere ofafternoon runs to Suncook, so a distinct possibility exists that afternoon merchandise service from Valley points had been curtailed entirely.

The last B&M freight train to operate over the Suncook Loop prior to its lease to the SVRR was X246, which had run down to the Emerson mill at Hooksett on 6/6/36.

Termination of Service

A Spring/Summer Run Book from 1929 states that Engine 1151 shall be assigned to Trains 3601 and 3604 (Run 114,) however, that locomotive was scrapped in 1927.  Perhaps this was a typographic error; 1161 may very well be correct, given its appearance described above.  Regardless of the engine number, however, the Run Book lays down that the same power was used on both sides of the Portsmouth-Concord-Portsmouth 3601/3604 run.  Trains 3600 and 3605 did not run via the Loop after the winter of 1926, or north of Manchester at all for most of the period, for that matter, although 3600 returned to serve the Loop after 812 had been annulled on 1/4/32.  However, it may be of interest to note that the 1929 Run Book showed Motor car 170 as being assigned to those other two Portsmouth trains.

There is even more limited information available regarding Train 303.  A B&M memo in the spring of 1931, on the larger topic of Loop operation, expressed that an advantage to relocating Train 303 to the mainline in the event service were to be discontinued via Suncook would be that a heavier locomotive than the B-15 in use at that time would be possible, which could then in turn reduce the need for extra trains to haul additional sleeping cars from Lowell when patronage warranted.  It is also known that B-15c 1475 hauled Train 303 north from Boston on 12/29/34.  Photos taken after the period of interest discussed here do show that P-4 pacifies were used on this train after WWII, while dieselization introduced GP-7's in 1952.

As Trains 812 and 3600 arrived at Suncook very early in the morning, seasonally even before SV Train 2, pictures of the train have not yet been discovered.

During the mid 1920’s, the B&M invested in a number of gas cars.  Intended to provide cost effective passenger service on low density routes, it is seems reasonable that the Suncook Loop could have been a candidate for the use of this equipment.  An April 7, 1927 gas car assignment list shows that one of the 180 series cars was assigned to a Concord to Worcester run, of 161 miles roundtrip.  This mileage corresponds to a NH Division routing, and not the “back door” via Henniker.  The April 24, 1927 ETT does not corroborate this, as there is no northbound Worcester to Concord train scheduled as a counterpart to southbound Train 812.  However the January 15, 1928 ETT shows that two additional runs have been added between those points, 8113 and 8122, and that these trains traveled via the Suncook Loop.  However, this service did not last long, as the two trains were annulled between Manchester and Concord by Supplement to the ETT, effective April 2, 1928.  The 1929 Run Book shows that Motor car 171 was assigned to Train 812 and 823 between Nashua and Worcester.  The motor car would leave Nashua at 7:31 AM, arriving in Worcester at 9:14.  Crews would switch, but the car would then depart at 10:35, arriving back in Nashua at 12:21.  No other run had car 171 assigned to it, so certainly there was time enough to operate it all the way back to Concord.  However, since the run book covers Portland Division runs only, no mention is made of those trains running over the Southern Division north to Concord.  By April 26, 1931 (ETT #8,) however, Trains 812 and 823 had schedules that overlapped, making it unlikely that the same equipment would have been used by the two trains, which had a scheduled meet at Clinton Jct.  More research can narrow down how those services changed through this time period.  There is no photographic evidence to support this claim that gas cars once traveled though Suncook; one is left only to weigh the merits of the paper trail.

Interestingly, the B&M briefly considered a request in 1933 by Suncook Valley management to obtain a B&M gas car for use by the line.  While it is known that nothing came of the idea, gas cars 1125 and 1126 were suggested as perhaps being the most appropriate, as they could be turned at both Suncook and Center Barnstead and could accommodate the existing milk traffic.  Further it was noted that the first of these cars served on B&M Trains 8122 and 8113, while the latter was operating between Rochester and Portsmouth.

Suncook Valley RR accounting ledgers from Sep 1924-Jan 1929 and May 1933-Jul 1937 record instances when the shortline leased a B&M locomotive when theirs was unavailable due to maintenance.  These give another glimpse as to the power that was available at Concord; some of these engines are documented as also having hauled Loop trains, and the thers could reasonably have seen in that service as well.  Not all recorded dates indicate locomotive number, but many do:

While the location of this picture is unknown, Engine 246 is running as a local freight with its white flags. By 1936, other images of the engine show that it had lost the angled flange at the top of its tender sides.

Suncook Yard, looking south, ca. 1930.

Sources:

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