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Left to right, Paul Harling, D. Robert McCarthy, Marshall Simmons and Bernard B. Gould, Jr. pose next to 5706 at Everett Shops on July 15, 1959.
Boston Herald Photo, BSRA Collection

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Founders Pose with 5706
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HOME   /   WHO WE ARE   /   OUR FIRST 50 YEARS

The Founding of the BSRA

Edited by David F. Harling
(Originally published in Rollsign, March/April 2009 Issue)
 

Wheels in Motion

The BSRA's foundations can be traced back to the Massachusetts Model Railroad Society (the "Mass Model"), originally located near Boston's South Station. In the 1950's, soon after Charlie Reynolds joined the club, Mass Model was forced to move, ending up on the second floor of 27 Prospect Street, near Central Square in Cambridge. It was there that construction began on an HO-scale layout, followed by an O-scale layout, and the addition of a lounge and meeting room, complete with a TV set—a luxury at the time!

Charlie soon introduced Bob McCarthy, his paper boy, to the Mass Model and he, too, became a member. Danny Dineen was also a member of the Mass Model, as was Marshall Simmons. Marshall, who was manager of Hobbytown, introduced Paul Miglierina, a frequent customer, to the Mass Model.

David Harling was invited to Mass Model by George Marshall, a model railroader who also happened to be an MTA motorman, working out of Bennett Street.

Roger Jenkins, who was already a member of the Mass Model, met Dave and his brother, Paul Harling (a UMass Amherst student), after "discovering" Paul's model railroad layout at the Harlings' home in Gloucester. Roger, residing on Hyde Park Avenue in Roslindale, was well-acquainted with the MTA and its streetcars, which ran past is home on one of the "Country" lines out of the Arborway.

Bernard Gould learned of the Mass Model Railroad Society from an employee of the Boston Model Railroad hobby shop near South Station and wished to join. His father subsequently brought him to a meeting in Cambridge, where he, because he was 13, was told to return when he turned 14 (the minimum age for a Junior Member), which he did.

Several members of the group occasionally visited the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine, and on one occasion decided to clean out a car as a volunteer project. During that visit the group saw people working on one of the Type Two cars, cleaning it in preparation for returning it to passenger car condition. One person identified himself as Paul Frazier, from Gloucester, which immediately brought a response from Paul Harling, also from Gloucester. Paul joined the nine as the tenth and final member of the group which was to become the BSRA. There were others from the Mass Model who mized with this little group, but never became part of the BSRA. They either drifted away or were not interested in buying a street car. (To be fair, many were railroad modelers or fans and not traction fans.)

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