Remembering Boston & Maine Railroad locomotives

By Steve Sweeney | October 14, 2019

| Last updated on January 5, 2021

A large 2-10-2 steam locomotive hauling tank cars.

Rare eastern Santa Fe-type

H.F. Harvey took this picture of Boston & Maine Railroad 2-10-2 Santa Fe-type locomotive No. 3021 (Schenectady, 1923) at Worcester, Mass., in the 1940s.

H.F. Harvey

An oblique rear view of a 2-6-0 steam locomotive and most of its tender.

Mogul type

Boston & Maine Railroad 2-6-0 Mogul-type locomotive No. 1432 (Manchester, 1906) at Claremont Jct., N.H., Sept. 1951.

A. C. Kalmbach

A side view of a 4-6-2 steam locomotive.

Lima-built Pacific-type

A company photographer likely took this picture of Boston & Maine Railroad 4-6-2 Pacific-type locomotive No. 3715 (Lima, 1937) for a Lima Locomotive Works builder’s photo.

Lima Locomotive Works

An oblique front view of a 2-8-4 steam locomotive.

Lima-built Berkshire-type

Perhaps the same company photographer took this picture of Boston & Maine Railroad 2-8-4 Berkshire-type locomotive No. 4000 (Lima, 1928) for a Lima Locomotive Works builder’s photo.

Lima Locomotive Works

An oblique front view of a 4-8-2 steam locomotive in a rail yard.

Baldwin-made Mountain-type

Much further east than Lima, Ohio, a photographer captured this Boston & Maine Railroad 4-8-2 Mountain-type locomotive No. 4117 (Baldwin, 1941) on display at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pa.

Baldwin Locomotive Works

EMD GP38-2

Moving a few decades forward in time, a photographer took a picture of Boston & Maine Railroad GP38-2 general purpose-type EMD locomotive No. 202 (EMD, 1973).

Classic Trains collection

An early diesel locomotive pauses in a freight yard near a water standpipe.

Alco RS2

Diesel locomotives of days gone by still run, so it's easy to imagine Boston & Maine Railroad RS2 road-switcher-type American Locomotive Co. Locomotive No. 1503 (Alco, 1948) still in service on a short line or tourist railroad somewhere. But in this photo, Bruce Owen Nett captured it at Newport, Vt., in 1951.

Bruce Owen Nett

An oblique front view of a mid-century diesel locomotive.

GP18

Perhaps not a steamy builder's photo, but Boston & Maine Railroad GP18 general purpose-type EMD locomotive No. 1770 (EMD, 1961) seen at the EMD plant, in La Grange, Ill., still looks clean and ready for hard work.

EMD

Three cab unit style diesel locomotives pause in a freight yard.

FTA-B and F2A

Boston & Maine Railroad FTA-B No. 4204 (EMD, 1943) and F2A No. 4263 (EMD, 1946) seen in Boston, in the late 1940s.

Kent W. Cochrane

Black painted early diesel locomotive pausing in a rail yard.

Clean-looking SW1

This Boston & Maine Railroad SW1 switching-type EMD locomotive No. 1118 (EMD, 1949) pauses for the camera at the Electro-Motive plant, in La Grange, Ill.

EMD

Starting in October 2019, Classic Trains editors will celebrate the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. We start this series with the beloved Boston & Maine.

Please enjoy a collection of images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M’s iconic locomotives and scarce builder’s photos.