“Photo of New Haven freight train coming along Truro track towards Wellfleet – June 27, 1960.”
Photo by Ralph Sanford.
Sixty years ago, as of Saturday, this photo was taken by my late grandfather. This was likely shot with either a Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash, or Kodak Brownie Starmite, both of which now sit on my father’s shelf at home. It also would’ve likely been captured on Verichrome Pan 127 film.
I’ve spent many hours researching and traveling to try to recreate some of the old family photos, but this one has proved to be a lot harder than most. I first assumed that the caption might be incorrect and instead, the train was heading into P-town because of the background (possibly near the cottages on Shore Rd, facing southeast). After visiting that spot in person I realized that the buildings would’ve had to have been a lot closer to the train than they appear in this photo (some of the pre-1960 buildings in that area don’t match as well), and this would have to have been taken very early in the morning. My second guess for the location of this photo would be somewhere along Knowles Heights Road in Truro, facing northeast in the late afternoon. I’ve studied that location and attempted to find old photos/maps from the area, but with little success matching it up. The landscape in the outer cape area has changed so much in the past several decades that I fear I will never be able to figure out where the hell this was taken! I have some doubts about the caption being wrong, because my grandfather was a railfan and he most likely would’ve remembered correctly, especially since this section of track was to be abandoned soon after.
