There was a time when railroad tracks reached far and wide, connecting remote communities about New Hampshire as well as across the country. As a child I walked the tracks around the Concord area, wondering about the 40 years my grandfather worked for the Boston & Maine Railroad based out of Concord. Walking the tracks on a warm summer day I often thought about the many times my grandfather crossed the very same rails many decades before me.
As the 19th century was concluding Concord was very well known as a place to find employment. As farmers walked away from their fields and soldiers returned from war, there were jobs available in Concord. Two of the largest employers in the state of New Hampshire were situated in Concord; the railroad and the granite industries created opportunities for work and people set Concord as a destination for their careers. During a time when a career was a life long adventure you were hired by the railroad or one of the many granite companies where you would spend the next forty years.
I recently walked the rails in Penacook, gazing upon the empty land that was once occupied by the small Penacook Train Depot. The rails are still glistening under the noon time sun, as they have been for over a century and sometimes more. The trains that traveled these long silent rails nearby hosted some of the finest locomotives known, some of them built locally in the south end of Concord at the Concord Railroad Yard. The early locomotives were powered by wood, followed by coal. The engines were steam and the wood and coal heated the water creating steam and power to ride the rails. As the years passed the locomotives hauling freight and passengers were powered by diesel engines, eliminating the need for the fireman to stoke short lengths of wood or shovelfuls of coal to keep the steam up.
My grandfather, Martin Spain, spent his youth growing up in Concord as his father before. His first venture into the world of employment followed his father and grandfather up Rattlesnake Hill to the granite quarries early each morning. His father owned a small quarry aptly named Spain Quarry, located west of the popular Perry Quarry where we spent our summer days swimming. After Martin spent a year or two working on the hill, he ventured down to railroad square and applied for a job as a carpenter with Boston & Main Railroad, with time progressing in his career to the railroad jobs that followed. He often spoke to my father, with the stories funneling to me many years ago, about the old locomotives that traveled the tracks. Though he spent his decades as a railroad man there was always a twinkle in his eye as he spoke about the very early locomotives in the Concord area, the original wood burners were still coveted by all for many years to follow.
I recall his stories handed down to me from my father relating to his days with the railroad. There were many humorous tales, legends made, stories to be retold and then some stories never to be repeated. The old Boston & Maine Locomotive known as the Warrior was a wood burning steam locomotive. She was the last of the trains to be given a name, after 1894 most of the locomotives were simply designated by numbers. The Warrior, also known by her number 440, made countless runs with passengers between Claremont Junction and Concord. This wood burner hosted the old-fashioned smoke stack and large square headlights that have not been seen around here since 1900. In the winter of 1884, the Warrior was hauling passengers as part of the Concord & Claremont Branch back and forth each day.
The old wood fired locomotives were many in these parts during the latter part of the 1800’s. The Warrior was joined by other wood burners such as engines named General Pierce, Carroll, C.W. Clark, Grafton, Crombie, G.W. Nesmith, James Ketell, Contoocook and the King Lear.
The old trains travelled the tracks facing hazards each day, the men enjoyed camaraderie that was unmatched in other careers. It was common to help one another and utilize the hours productively. One custom of the 1890’s was for trainmen to transport produce or other items for their own convenience. It was not uncommon to see the General Pierce or the C.W. Clark roll down the tracks into Concord with large boxes and canvas bags and crates situated on the front footplate containing anything from produce to live pork.
As my grandfather aged and his forty years as a railroad man with Boston & Main Railroad were concluding there was much kindness shown to him by his younger coworkers. My grandparents owned a home on the east side of North State Street, elevated above the railroad tracks that lay below. Prior to my grandfather’s retirement he would walk from his house, down through a wooded area on a worn path to the railroad tracks. The young engineer that departed the railroad yard to the south would watch for Marty Spain, standing near the tracks. He would stop to pick up my grandfather and proceed to work to accomplish the days assigned objectives. Yes, the men working for the railroad watched over each other as well as their families.
As a young child I often spent time with my grandmother on North State Street, rolling down the hills and gazing toward the same railroad tracks below. My grandfather had passed away many years before I was born, but I always felt a deep connection to him. One summer as I visited with my grandmother and played in the same yard my father before me called home, I saw an opening in the woods behind her home. I ventured over and saw the worn trail leading into the forest, down the hill to the distant railroad tracks. I asked my grandmother about the path into the woods expecting a simple reply. Her eyes glistened and she smiled down at me, that was the day I was introduced to Marty’s Trail. A trail I often walked as a very young child, into the woods no further than the railroad tracks. I walked in the same steps my grandfather once walked many years before.