Where did that pile of sand come from? A mile up the line is his
sand-pit. A power shovel loads it onto flatcars and the train hauls it
to these different sand piles; there’s seven or eight thousand yards in
that pile there. When sanding time comes--but you aren’t interested in
all this; you want to see this pocket-edition railroad.
[Illustration:
(_Atwood Photo_)
Berry-pickers swarm over 14-Acre Bog, scooping its 80 barrels per
acre.
]
Look ’way across the big reservoir there: that’s the railroad coming
down the east side. Remember I showed you where it entered the yards
just below the station? The smudge of smoke is a work train. We’ll meet
’em either at the Ball Park or the sand pit.
[Illustration:
(_Atwood Photo_)
Loading a train at 14-Acre Bog. Here’s a season when freight trains
come before the passenger specials.
]
Ball Park? Yes; or more correctly, the _Atwood Athletic Field_. He built
a baseball ground, picnic spot, and a few buildings there. Plenty active
all summer, too. We’ll be up there shortly now.
Incidentally, it’s when we leave the Ball Park that the track swings
east and south again to go down the opposite side of this reservoir,
where the work train is now. It passes Sunset Vista, winds along the
lower end of the reservoir, and finally enters Edaville yard where I
pointed it out to you.
I guess we’re off again. Can you make it?
Isn’t Fourteen Acre a neat looking bog? Not all growers keep their bogs
as neat and trim as Mr. Atwood does. Sure, it costs. There’s something
satisfying in owning the finest cranberry plantation in the world. When
the railroad’s completed and there’s some time to spare he intends to
erect signs around the bogs and at different points of interest,
explaining about cranberry culture, history, production, and how bogs
are built and cared for. Like a self-conducted tour your ride’ll be
then.
[Illustration:
(_Moody Photo_)
A passenger train smokes across the dike and along the shores of the
big 300-acre reservoir. 60-pound rail from a White Mountain logging
road, supported by ex-New Haven ties, makes a wonderful track.
]
We’re crossing a corner of undeveloped swamp now: just plain mud and
bushes. Potential bog land, though. Clear that jungle off, dig out some
of the mud and dump in clean sand, set out the cranberry vines--as you’d
plant strawberries or rosebushes--and presto! A new bog.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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