[Locomotive photo archive.] Photographs; Porte Feuille [cover-titles]

Rhode Island and Massachusetts: Boston & Providence Railroad, 1880s. 2 oblong 8vo photograph albums (7.5" x 10.5"), brown cloth over boards, gilt titles at front-cover; 1 8vo disbound album. 62 bromide print photos (4.5" x 8") with printed and manuscript labels mounted on paperboard leaves; all photos numbered and arranged in sequence: 1-23 in Album 1, 19 total (lacking 12, 13, 15, and 20); 26-49 on loose leaves from disbound album 2, 23 total (lacking #24, #25, and #40); 50-64, plus 5 unnumbered and unlabeled images in album 3, 20 total.

An impressive photo archive documenting a range of locomotives built for the Boston & Providence Railroad by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works; the Taunton Locomotive Mfg. Co.; Mason Machine Works; the Hinkley & Williams Works, and the Boston & Providence itself.

Forty-two of the various engines pictured were produced between 1867 and 1887 by the R. I. Lo. Works; five by the Bos. & Prov. from 1854-1873; six by Taunton L. M. C. from 1868-1886; two by Hinkley & Williams from 1868-1887; and one by Mason Machine Works in 1884. Also included here are images of the Highland and Mount Hope train stations, as well as an unidentified railroad bridge. A typical label reads: "26. Squantum. Taunton L. Mfg. Co. 1886. 37.5 / 16 / 20 / 4.5 / 59,564 Outside." The engineers and others who operated the trains appear in many photos, enlivening the scenes.

Incorporated 1831, the Boston and Providence Railroad was built in two sections in 1834 and 1835, and was acquired in 1888 with a ninety-nine year lease by Old Colony Railroad. Of particular note was Master Mechanic George S. Griggs (1905-1970), who was hired in 1834 at age twenty-nine to organize the department and improve the early engines built in the Roxbury shops. As Charles E. Fisher details, "Perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid him was that his work on the locomotive was closely followed by the Taunton Locomotive Works and Hinkley & Drury. Mr. Griggs continued to build inside connected locomotives long after the other roads had discarded them and they were a common sight on this road as late as the seventies."

Given the date of the Old Colony's acquisition of the Boston & Providence, these photos may relate to the takeover.

A valuable record of the Boston & Providence fleet of locomotives.

REFERENCES: Fisher, Chas. E. "Locomotives of the New Haven R.R." The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin No. 47 (September, 1938), pp. 79-89.

CONDITION: Spine perished on one album, some images and mounts toned or foxed, damp stains to edges of some leaves, bindings worn at extremities, photos with generally good tonality.