Off the Track

A scene that no doubt caused more pleasure for the children in the picture than the adults was captured by Maynard photographer Robert C. Swaney.  The photograph came from South Acton and was clearly taken on the Boston & Maine Railroad.  The photo is of a “switcher” (also known as a switching engine) that was used to move rail cars around railyards such as South Acton with its busy and complicated tracks.  Whether or not the derailment happened at South Acton, we can only guess. 
 
We tried to find out more about this photograph.  Researching the Boston & Maine railroad’s engine #1327 did not yield any helpful results.  (Someone more knowledgeable might be able to date both the large lights on the front and the back and the painting style of the name and numbers on the engine and tender.)  The next step was to find out more about the train’s mishap.  Though we found many train accidents in the local newspaper as well as various mentions of a switching engine and crew, we did not find an article about a switcher derailment at South Acton.  We did find one reported in Concord Junction news on the first page of the Jan. 4, 1911 Enterprise.

We then researched the life of the photographer embossed on the mat of the photo.  We found two pictures in the Maynard Historical Society’s digital archives that were by Robert Swaney, one of Maynard businessmen around 1910 and the other of the local Smoke Shop in 1911.  Further research  established the time period in which Robert Swaney would have been in Maynard taking pictures.  Robert Clayton Swaney was born in West Lubec, Maine.  His father George brought his family to Stow, MA about 1893.  Apparently, they lived in the section known as Rock Bottom or Gleasondale that straddled the Stow/Hudson line.  Robert’s mother, who lived to be 100, lived in Gleasondale for 60 years.  Robert was a machinist living in Hudson when he married Hepsey Senior of Stow in June, 1899 in Gleasondale.  In the 1900 census, he was living with his wife and his newborn son in Marlboro, MA.  Marlboro’s 1905 directory reported that he moved to Stow, but a 1907 directory placed him in Ayer, MA, working as a motorman.  (Apparently, he worked on a line from Ayer Junction to Lowell at one point.)  In 1910, he was living in Hudson with wife Hepzibeth and two sons.  Robert Swaney was listed as a Maynard voter on March 2, 1912, a “motorman” living and working in Maynard.  A 1913 Maynard directory also placed motorman Robert C. Swaney in the town at 55 Acton St.  We discovered from the Enterprise newspaper that he worked for the Concord, Maynard and Hudson Street Railway in 1915 (March 24, p. 9).  An obituary in the Beacon mentioned that at some time, he worked on the line from Maynard to West Acton that passed through South Acton (Nov. 23, 1972, p. 14).  We also found that a monograph in our collection about the Street Railway features a picture “from the collection of Robert C. Swaney.”  When Robert registered for the draft in Sept. 1918, he was living on Haynes St. in Maynard, working as a machinist at La Point Machine & Tool Company in Hudson.  A note on the 1912 Maynard voter list reported that Robert C. Swaney moved away from town in Jan. 1920. 

Research did not turn up any more connections to Maynard.  In the 1920 census, Robert Swaney was living with his wife at 1 Bennet St., Hudson, working as a foreman at a machine shop.  They were still there in 1930.  In 1940, they had moved to Stow, and Robert was working as a foreman at a brake lining factory.  Wife Hepzibeth died in 1948.  In Oct. 1949, Robert married Mildred A. Gallant who was born in Littleton and had lived in Acton for many years.   The 1950 census seems to have Robert and Mildred Swaney living with Robert’s widowed mother Laura both in Stow (High Street) and Hudson (64 Wilkins Street).  (In both cases, his age was significantly understated.)  A Hudson 1951 directory showed Robert living there with wife Mildred and his widowed mother Laura.  He was superintendent at Standco Brake Lining Company.  Robert Swaney lived for many years in both Hudson and Stow, but he died at a nursing home in Sudbury on Nov. 18, 1972.  His wife Mildred had died that June.

Having learned much more than we had expected about the photographer of our picture, including the fact that he had Acton connections, we found no evidence that he worked regularly as a photographer, or for very long.  Robert C. Swaney would only have had a mat made with a Maynard address from, at the earliest, late 1910 to 1920.  We are not sure where our picture was taken.  It would be logical to think that if the accident happened in South Acton, Swaney might have taken the picture during his time working for the street railway that made its way regularly through South Acton (about the 1910-1918 period).  One of the boys has a “C” on his sweater, which could imply a Concord location.  On the other hand, Acton at the time was sending its high school students to Concord for their education; they, too, could have been sporting a “C.”
 
If anyone has any further information that can help us to identify this picture, please contact us.

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