transit authority figures -bar harbor/acadia

Take the subway all around Acadia now... or maybe gift this subway map print to your Mainer transplant friends. From our pals over at Transit Authority Figures. $20 well spent.

the nantucket railroad

B&W photos via Nantucket Historical Association flickr.

The defunct Nantucket railroad. That sounds like a band. Someone should open a store located on the site of the Nantucket Railroad repair shop. You know the sort of stuff I like... Hickorees on crack. I'm giving these ideas away here...

Anyway, the long-gone Nantucket Railroad was a narrow gauge rail; went from Nantucket (town) to Surfside and eventually to 'Sconset. Began in the 1880's, the line closed around 1917. Some cars sent to Europe in a war effort, one is buried where it stopped on the tracks and one is still around as the Club Car bar. Further reading.


Apparently the definitive history of the railroad is in the book The Far-Out Island Railroad: Nantucket's Old Summer Narrow-Gauge, 1879-1918 by Clay Lancaster (who was also instrumental in kickstarting the 1960's preservation of buildings in Brooklyn, further reading). The Far Out Island is rare, but available from some New England libraries. There is something intriguing about these small time railways (like the 36 Miles of Trouble) with all the boosters, and investors and failures... Also something odd about seeing a train on a (small, but almost deserted at that time) island when you know they had to import the engines, rails, railbed ballast probably... everything.

From 1907 until 1913 a tiny gasoline-powered car and its companion baggage car (affectionately known as the "Bug" and "Bird Cage," respectively) plied the rails to 'Sconset, including winter service.





Color photo via USGenArchives.

Related: Some friends did a fake Nantucket subway map that might amuse. Link.
Also, the Special Collections Dept. of the Massachusetts State Library is now working to digitize their 19th and 20th century railroad maps... then we will see hand-drawn plans and profiles, works of art really, of this railroad system. #ftw.

that taking the ferry look

Jean jacket for the ferry ride: Necessity. Everyone else will freeze. Lee 101 this time, plenty like it around.
Slicker: Barn score, resurrected from a toychest in Vermont, tough to find. Sperry, a stone cold classic.
Shorts: JCrew. Slimmish.
Almost OCDB material for the boxers by JPress. Cushy waistband. Since you are there grab a gingham bandanapocket square.
Blucher moccasins: handsewn in a little place in Freeport, Maine I believe...
Pocket knife: Hardwood VSA.
Gimme cap: Scored on ebay, Carhartt Centennial.
Belt: Vineyard Vines. Anything that will survive the inevitable dunk in the water and no gold buckle.
Mason bag: I can't find much wrong with a standard issue mason bag. All the clamor over (yes very nice) $200-300 canvas bags is a bit lost on me. Pops gave me one like this, get yours at Aubuchon.

transit authority figures -update

From Don Dorr's tractor field, to the Kandahar and beyond. Figure out where you are or where you came from... The Manchester Vermont print is available now at The Image Loft in Zippy... Soon at the Northshire Bookstore no doubt. Small section preview below.


Again, full disclosure, I do know the husband and wife team behind this, Rob and Damia, and yup, think this is genius.

nantucket and martha's vineyard subway memorabilia

Get ready for the mother of all Zoning Board meetings...




From Transit Authority Figures come perfect-world subway prints for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. (Also Cape Cod extensions and a fantastic new design for Manchester, VT, including a Kandahar stop)

"...sunsets in Menemsha without arriving 3 hours early or circling endlessly around the parking lot."

"Jared Coffin probably couldn’t have imagined such a thing - nor the Nantucket Conservation Commission."

Full disclosure: I know the husband and wife team behind this, Rob and Damia Stewart, and think this is a genius idea. The Manchester print is available now. I just bought mine.