New England

Beginning in 1932, Linwood W. Moody (1905–1983) documented in photographs and collected artifacts of Maine’s two-footer railroads. A pioneer of railroad photography, his work led to articles in numerous publications such as Railroad Magazine and later culminated in Linwood’s 1959 publication The Maine Two-Footers. Among his personal effects at the time of his death in 1983 were hundreds of photographs of three of the Maine two-footers—the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway; the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad; and the Monson Railroad. The state of Maine was unique in regards to its narrow-gauge railroads. Most railroads in the United States have a width of four feet, eight and one half inches between the rails, known as standard gauge. Due to the efforts of George Mansfield, a railroad promoter of the late 1800s, a very narrow gauge of two feet between the rails was successfully developed in the state of Maine. 

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads is a comprehensive pictorial record of the history of the narrow gauge railroad in Maine. From the one-hundred-twelve-mile Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad to the five-mile Kennebec Central, Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads features the toylike miniature trains of Maine as they appeared at different stages in their history. The Bridgton and Harrison Railroad, the Monson Railroad, and the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway lines are documented within, as well as the current restoration projects that are under way.

Imagine what it must have been like to take the train to Cape Cod? And to connect with a ferry to Nantucket... here are old photos of just that!

In 1848, the railroad extended to Cape Cod to serve the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company. By 1887, fourteen of the fifteen towns on Cape Cod were connected by the railroad. For a short time, even the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard had railroad lines. As the highways expanded in the years following World War II, the automobile became the primary mode of transportation. By 1959, year-round Cape Cod passenger service had been discontinued. Today, many miles of track have been removed to accommodate recreational bike paths.

Using hundreds of historic images, Railroads of Cape Cod and the Islands illustrates the rich heritage of passenger and freight rail transportation on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. Mainland connections once involved transfer between ship and rail at wharves in Provincetown, Hyannis, and Woods Hole. Since 1935, trains have crossed the Cape Cod Canal on the world's second longest vertical-lift bridge.

The Boston & Maine Railroad serviced most of New England as a primary mode of transportation during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The birth of this railroad spurred the growth and development of industry in New England. This heritage is captured in Boston & Maine Trains and Services, the fourth volume in Arcadia's Images of Rail series to focus on the history of this railroad. The trains and services included in this book are the Pullman passenger cars, work trains with flatcars, boxcars, circus trains, plows, stock, cabooses, as well as the Boston & Maine bus service, trucks, and air service.

The history of railroads in America is not complete without a pictorial history of the Boston & Maine.

As the twentieth century dawned, the Boston & Maine Railroad Company controlled virtually all of the rail lines in New Hampshire, as well as much of the service in Maine and Massachusetts. Ultimately, the company operated more than 2,000 stations in northern New England. The train was the most important mode of travel, and the stations were the center of the community. Boston & Maine in the 20th Century continues the first pictorial history of the railroad company, entitled Boston & Maine in the 19th Century. With more than 200 rare images and historical narrative, the book details the trains and their destinations: the terminals, stations, depots, and whistle stops to which they sped. Times changed, and the railroad was passed by; however, its legacy lives on.

Boston & Maine Locomotives is a fascinating history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant railway line.

The Boston & Maine Railroad has long captured the hearts of rail enthusiasts, and its locomotives are models of the majesty, power, and romance of American rail. The Boston & Maine was a railroad dynasty running through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and many still remember hearing the whistle blow as a Boston & Maine locomotive spewing smoke and steam pulled into the station. Boston & Maine Locomotives, the third volume in Arcadia's trio documenting the Boston & Maine Railroad, is a history of the locomotives that powered New England's most dominant line. The Ten Wheelers, the Mastodons, the Pacifics, and the other classes of locomotive are seen here as they pull passengers and freight throughout the Northeast. The Boston & Maine was one of the last railroads in the area to continue naming its locomotives, and those engines, from nineteenth-century steam to twentieth-century diesel, are recorded here. The Portland, the Newburyport, the General Sherman, and more ride New England's rails once again in Boston & Maine Locomotives.

New Haven's population more than quadrupled between 1861 and 1948, and the city became Connecticut's largest manufacturing center. Street railways made it possible to reach both residential and manufacturing areas. New Haven Streetcars illustrates the essential role played by streetcars in the transformation of the city, with images from each of the six groups of lines that served the New Haven area, including the Yale Bowl open cars, the universal dump cars, the safety cars, and the horse-drawn cars.