The actual items have been slightly reformatted to fit into a "table" arrangement.
The original errata and addenda was published in the December 1985 B&M BULLETIN, pp 23-24.
| Page | Location | Description
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| 2 | | In the list of the Board of Directors, Henry F. Hills should read Henry P. Hills.
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| 2 | | The life dates for George Sewall Boutwell were inadvertently listed under
the photograph of James Sumner Draper. The correct dates for Mr. Draper are 1811-1896.
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| 6 | | Norman C. Munson, the original contractor for, and the first General Manager
of, the Massachusetts Central Railroad was known to have had a very active and
interesting life. Yet diligent research prior to publication failed to uncover much of
his career except during those years he was involved with the Mass. Central.
Fortunately we have uncovered his obituary which tells, in considerable detail, of his
life's work. It is reproduced here directly as it appeared in the Boston Evening
Transcript of Monday, May 18, 1885.
"Mr. Norman C. Munson died suddenly [May 16, 1885] at his office,
corner of State and Devonshire Streets, Saturday of angina pectoris.
Mr. Munson was widely known in connection with railroad enterprises.
He was born in Poultney, Vermont about sixty five years ago, and
spent his early days on a farm. He came to Boston when quite a young
man, and went to work upon the Boston & Worcester Railroad as
superintendent of track-laying. When the Fitchburg Railroad was
building he took a contract to do the work, and took up residence at
Shirley, where he has since resided. He did a great deal for the town.
He built the town hall, an elegant gateway for the cemetery, and laid
out a park. His next large operation was the building of the second
track of the Hudson River Railroad. Upon its completion he went to
Baltimore and engaged in some large work for the city, in company
with a man named Goss, the firm name being Munson & Goss. After
a year both came to Boston and took a large contract for filling in
the Back Bay, for the State, City and Boston Water Power Company.
Mr. Goss was interested in this contract, but after a short time his
courage failed him and he sold out to Mr. Munson, who put all his
means into it. He prosecuted the work with vigor from 1859 to 1873.
At one time it was estimated that he was worth $3,000,000, but
unfortunate land speculation and the misfortunes of the Massachusetts
Central Railroad it was greatly lessened. Mr. Munson was president
of the Norfolk County Railroad, which was merged into the old
Hartford & Erie. He put money into it, and when Governor Claflin vetoed
the bill giving the road State aid the road was owing him a $1,040,000,
vouchers for which are now in the State House. It was a very severe
blow to Mr. Munson, but did not discourage him. In 1873 he had a
large amount of money in the Massachusetts Central Railroad. When
the panic occurred, Jay Cooke, who was the banker who was to
dispose of the bonds, was unable to do so, and Mr. Munson's operations
on the railroad and the Back Bay came to a sudden close. He
struggled until 1876, when he found it was impossible for him to continue,
and he went into bankruptcy. In 1879 he reorganized the Massachusetts Central Railroad and began
the work of construction in 1880, and continued until the failure of
Charles A. Sweet & Co., bankers. The deceased was one of the most
active business men in Boston, and at the time of his death was engaged
in building the Florida Southern Railroad.
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| 18 | column 1 | The Ware River Railroad was leased to, not purchased by the
Boston & Albany Railroad. The effective date of the lease was January 1874.
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| 39 | column 1 | The sentence which commences "Except for the Boston & Albany..."
should be expanded to include "...and the Central Vermont...".
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42
98 | | Major upgrading on the Central Mass. in anticipation of the added
traffic occasioned by the opening of the Hampden Railroad is referenced on page
42. A grade crossing elimination project at Weston in 1912 is referenced on page
98. This grade crossing elimination, as well as the one at Cherry Brook station
which took place in the same year, were part-and-parcel of the major upgrading.
Double tracking of the Central Mass. through east from Hudson was seriously
considered and the bridges at Weston and at Cherry Brook were constructed with
arches wide enough to accommodate two tracks. At Weston the passing siding
(which, of course, would have become the second track) occupied the space
but at Cherry Brook only one set of rails ever passed through the concrete arch of the bridge.
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| 45 | column 1 | According to Railway Age, the Hampden Railroad was sold at
auction June 1926 for only $30,800 to Marks Angel of Boston, for scrap.
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| 49 | column 2 | According to the B&M's 1933 annual report, the trackage rights over the B&A
were obtained in January 1933, not in the summer of 1932 as the book indicates.
Connecting tracks were built shortly after the January 1933 date.
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| 50 | column 1
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| 52 | column 2 | Mr. John J. Tobin of South Euclid, Ohio, has uncovered an
interesting bit of information concerning the 1936 flood and its effect on the
Central Mass. in the vicinity of Wheelwright. His letter is quoted in part:
... on page 52 it states, 'Even the devastating
floods of March, 1936, which ultimately brought abandonment to several B&M
branches spared the Central Mass.' Not so. The floods washed out a bridge at
New Braintree on the track from Creamery to Wheelwright.
As a result of this bridge having been washed out, a B&M crew was sent to
Barre Junction to install a switch connecting the abandoned piece of track
between Barre Junction and Wheelwright to the [existing track] extending on to
Rutland, and for the first time in 3 or 4 years trains resumed running over this
track. The first train to cross the Ware River Bridge at Wheelwright [running
west from Barre Junction] ran across it crewless for safety's sake. One engineman
started it on the east side of the river and jumped off, and another engineman
boarded it on the west side and brought it to a stop. Several new ties
were installed and Wheelwright was served from Barre Junction for over a year...
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56
58 | | The account on these pages states that the steam era on the
B&M came to an end on May 5, 1956. This was thought to have been the case
for many years by many knowledgeable B&M employees and historians. Not so,
according to Russ Munroe, Ralph Phillips, and George Dimond. These alert
observers state that Pacifics 3662 and 3654 made the last steam runs on the Marblehead
Branch on Monday morning, July 23, 1956. This is now believed to have
been the last revenue use of steam power on the Boston & Maine.
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| 63 | Photo | The train is heading west, not east as the caption reads. The train, then,
is Extra 1404 West (Symbol H-1).
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64;
rear pocket insert map of 1975
| | The maps indicate that the Central Vermont Railway track (ex-New York
Central Athol Branch) from Barretts (not labeled) to Bondsville was still in existence
as of that date. This is not so, the rails having been torn up some time prior.
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| 79 | top photo | The photo probably dates from about 1920 because train
3107 had been discontinued on the west end prior to 1922.
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| 79 | middle photo | The train is eastbound.
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| 86 | bottom photo | The track in the immediate foreground of the bottom photo is that
of the B&M, not of the New Haven as the caption indicates. This track was used by
arriving and departing Central Mass. trains.
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| 95 | | In the all-time Central Mass. station list, Gleasondale was renamed
from Rockbottom on April 2, 1900.
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| 98 | | See note for p 42, above.
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| 130 | | The caption accompanying the two photographs should state that
the bridge was 72 years old, not 62.
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| 131 | | The Lancaster Railroad briefly reappeared in the news in late 1895
when it was announced that the Central Mass. trackage would be relocated because
of the proposed construction of the Wachusett Reservoir. The citizens of
Bolton advocated that the Central Mass. relocation should occupy the roadbed
of the abandoned Lancaster Railroad, thereby affording the community rail
service which had earlier been denied them. Of course this would have placed
Berlin at the end of a four mile branch west from Hudson. Had the wishes of
Bolton prevailed we would have been deprived of the scenic highlights of Clinton
tunnel and the viaduct. Fortunately their political influence came to naught, the
relocation proceeded according to plan, and the Lancaster Railroad remained defunct.
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| 136 | | Add the following source to the Bibliography:
Carpenter, E. W. and Morehouse, C. F. The History of the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, 1896.
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