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Third Weirs Beach Train Station (1893-1939)

Original Weirs Beach Train Station
Second Weirs Beach Train Station
Third Weirs Beach Train Station
Fourth Weirs Beach Train Station

The Third Weirs Beach Train Station was built in 1893 and burned down in 1939. It was notable for its long canopy over the boardwalk, freight house, and Weirs Cafe.

In the photo below, notice the sign for the Weirs Times behind the station attendant. The canopy over the boardwalk was approximately 30′ wide by 300′ long.

Workers pose with a baggage cart on the south end of the canopy. On the roof of the station, the vertical pole with two arms folded downward was known as an “Order Board”. The station agent adjusted the board to signal various tasks for the train engineer to do upon arrival at the station. For example: Pickup train orders; Follow extra 232; Wait here for 603 to pass on the siding; etc.”

An unknown group pose for a photo in front of the north end of the canopy.
The layout of the third train station is revealed on the 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance map below.

View of the Boardwalk Canopy from the New Hotel Weirs

Identical photos with different captions. The earlier photo identifies the scene as “Steamboat Landing”, while the later photo, from a New Hotel Weirs brochure, identifies the “Steamer Mt. Washington Leaving The Wharf…”

Below, a similar photo to the above, from a different angle.

A colorized version of the previous photo.

The Station Master’s House

A 1910’s view from the Hotel Weirs towards Spindle Point. The house in the center of the postcard was the Station Master’s house – one of the earliest houses built in Weirs Beach that is still in existence.

A similar view of the Station Master’s house shows the Hotel Weirs wharf, while the old Mount Washington steams out of Weirs Bay.
Another view of the Station Master’s house, circa 1885, this time looking uphill towards the early Hotel Weirs, before its considerable expansion. The short canopy over the boardwalk provided protection from the elements for passengers awaiting the train and was later replaced in 1893 by a much longer canopy that spanned pretty much the entire boardwalk.
Looking down the boardwalk from the vicinity of the Station Master’s house, circa 1885. The second train station is visible in the distance on the left.

Final Thoughts

From a 1914 Lake Winnipesaukee booklet by the B&M railroad:

The tourist has choice of three different routes to Winnipesaukee from “The Hub”. He may go via Portsmouth to Wolfeboro, getting some entrancing glimpses of the Atlantic and its surf-washed strand en route. Another route lies through a smiling section of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, via Dover, to Alton Bay, one of the prettiest and most popular of the the Winnipesaukee resorts.

The third and favorite avenue is the far-famed Merrimack Valley route, which takes the traveler in fast-moving, comfortable trains along the curving banks of the lovely Merrimac river, passing Lowell, Nashua, Manchester, Concord (the capital of the Granite State), Laconia, Lakeport, and other interesting communities, and in a few hours depositing him at Weirs, the great railroad, steamboat, and social headquarters of the Lake, in full view of Winnipesaukee’s fairest charms.

This is a ride that poets have often praised in verse, and novelists woven into their romances. It is one of the most satisfying and inspiring railroad journeys in all America…

Above, a real photo of the third station in August, 1925.