Jesse Mazzie and his childhood friends pose on Springfield Terminal GP7 #27 (ex-Maine Central #573) in the yard at Danvers, MA on the former Boston & Maine Newburyport Branch — just feet from his childhood home. Guilford operations on this now-abandoned line played a huge role in his railroading interest.

For many younger people today, the Boston & Maine Railroad is "gone but not forgotten" — the railroad and its legacy influence our lives in many ways. Jesse Mazzie of Danvers, Massachusetts grew up in the 1980s and 1990s alongside the former Boston & Maine Newburyport Branch, instilling in him a love for railroading. That love for railroading, and later the Boston & Maine, has followed him through his life, both as an enthusiast and eventually in a part-time freight railroading career on former B&M trackage. In part one of this interview, we talk to Jesse about the B&M, the Maine Central, and logging railroads of New Hampshire; his connections to the Wolfeboro Railroad; and his involvement in the motorcar enthusiast world and the Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club.