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Record Group Number 26
Cheshire Railroad Company, 1845-1890
Fitchburg Railroad, Cheshire Branch, 1890-1900
Boston & Maine Railroad, Cheshire Branch, 1900-1982
Compiled by Alan F. Rumrill
April 1983
This group contains five series: CHESHIRE RAILROAD COMPANY; FITCHBURG RAILROAD, CHESHIRE BRANCH; BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD, CHESHIRE BRANCH;, UNOFFICIAL PAPERS, and MARIUM E. FOSTER. The group occupies five archive boxes and encompasses the years (1845-1963)-1983. The items are filed chronologically within each folder unless otherwise stated.
The charter for the Cheshire Railroad Company was granted on December 17, 1844. The first meeting of the company was held in Keene on January 10 of the next year. Thomas Edwards was active on promoting the railroad and it was mainly through his efforts that it was completed to Keene.
The railroad was extended from Winchendon to Troy in 1847 and to Keene early the next year. Railroad service was inaugurated to Keene on May 16, 1848. Two trains a day were running between Keene and Boston by July of 1848. Service was extended to Bellows Falls on the first day of 1849. The road continued to grow and was the largest local employer by 1890. However, competition from larger lines was considerable and the Cheshire Railroad was consolidated with the Fitchburg Railroad Company in October of 1890. The Boston and Maine Railroad took over the Fitchburg in 1900. Passenger service was curtailed on May 31, 1958, with freight service continuing until 1982.
The first three series in this group correspond with the management changes in the Railroad. The first series deals with the Cheshire while it was the Cheshire Railroad, 1845-1890. The second series deals with the Cheshire Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad. The third series deals with the road during the years 1900-1982 when it was under the management of the Boston and Maine.
This is a rich collection. The types and diversity of materials, including annual reports, rules and regulations, payrolls, ticket sales records, corres pondence, and various other official records, give an excellent insight into the company, railroads in general, and the economy of the latter half of the nineteenth century. The fourth series, UNOFFICIAL PAPERS, gives an accurate history of the railroad.
Series V deals with Marium E. Foster. Miss Foster worked for the railroad from 1917 until 1958. She worked in Keene for many of those years and for the Boston and Maine for all of that time. Miss Foster was a railroad enthusiast who did considerable collecting, researching, and writing on the railroad, particularly in the Cheshire County area. Much of this record group came from her collections. The bulk of series V consists of correspondence and pay records of Miss Foster, all relating directly to her work with the railroad.
Series I, CHESHIRE RAILROAD COMPANY
Box No. 1, Folders 1-7
Payrolls and reports of labor, 1850-1872
Payrolls and reports of labor, 1876-1887
Annual Reports & Rules and Regulations
Annual Reports - 1852, 1854, 1860, 1868
Rules and Regulations - 1871, 1884
Excursion Ticket Sales, 1868-1875
Miscellaneous Official Business, 1845-1859
Receipts, waybills, correspondence, etc.
Miscellaneous Official Business, 1860-1879
Miscellaneous Official Business, 1880-1900
Series II, FITCHBURG RAILROAD, CHESHIRE BRANCH
Box No. 1, Folders 1-4
Rules & Regulations, 1888-1890
Timetables, 1891-1900
Official Business, 1890-1900
Publications and printed matter, 1888-1892
Series III, BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD, CHESHIRE BRANCH
Box No. 2, Folders 1-11
Official Business, 1904-1950
Official Business, 1951
Official Business, 1952-1962
Official Business, undated
Rosters, 1927-1941
Rosters, 1942-1946
Rosters, 1953-1958
Timetables, 1900-1927
Timetables, 1934-1941
Timetables, 1943-1949
Timetables, 1951-1858
Box No. 3, Folders 11a-20
Timetables, 1980
Instructional Booklets, 1932-1940
Instructional Booklets, 1949-1950
Tickets, 1904-1958
Printed Matter, Official, 1900-1950
Miscellaneous Printed Matter, 1948-1976
Newsletter - "Minuteman", 1974-1980
"Old Railroad Wheels", 1974-1980
Brotherhood of Railway Brakemen & Brotherhood of Railway Conductors,
1880s-1911
Locomotive Numbering System, 1911
Series IV, UNOFFICIAL PAPERS
Box No. 3, Folders 1-4
Histories, 1848-1988
Clippings, 1892-l989
Illustrations, 1870, n.d.
Correspondence, 1956-1957
Series V, MARIUM E. FOSTER
Box No. 4, Folders 1-18
Correspondence, 1930-1939
Correspondence, 1940
Correspondence, 1941
Correspondence, 1942, January-July
Correspondence, 1942, September-December
Correspondence, 1943
Correspondence, 1944, January-June
Correspondence, 1944, July-December
Correspondence, 1945
Correspondence, 1946
Correspondence, 1947-1949
Correspondence, 1950
Correspondence, 1951-1955
Correspondence, 1957
Correspondence, 1958
Box No. 5, Folders 19-32
Correspondence, 1959
Correspondence, 1960s
Correspondence, 1970s, n.d.
Pay Statements, 1947-1948
Pay Statements, 1949
Pay Statements, 1950
Pay Statements, 1951
Pay Statements, 1952
Pay Statements, 1953
Pay Statements, 1954
Pay Statements, 1955
Pay Statements, 1956-1957
Income Records, 1917-1939
Income Records, 1940-1958
Railroad History
Addresses of B & M boys in the service, 1944
Miscellaneous papers, 1925-1963
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