Brush clearing in Plymouth, NH

I noticed that the tracks in downtown plymouth that are usually used by the foliage trains are in the process of being removed. January seems to be a wierd time to be doing work to the tracks, since they rarely use the line except for equipment moves and the foliage trains.

Might try contacting Hobo Railroad. I'm sure they can shed light on this track work. WWW.hoborr.com

NEGS had about 4 or 5 hoppers full of Ballast sitting on the Claremont Branch in Concord last week. After talking with Peter he said it was for some track work that was taking place on the line. Maybe that's where the Ballast will be heading. I know they were doing bridge work in the Plymouth over near the football field last summer maybe there going to put new track with lights and gates with the new bridge and all.

b&m 1566 wrote:NEGS had about 4 or 5 hoppers full of Ballast sitting on the Claremont Branch in Concord last week. After talking with Peter he said it was for some track work that was taking place on the line. Maybe that's where the Ballast will be heading. I know they were doing bridge work in the Plymouth over near the football field last summer maybe there going to put new track with lights and gates with the new bridge and all.

The ballast I think is heading to the Northern. NEGS is pretty excited with the warm weather as they can get a lot of work done this year.

Ian MacMillan wrote:

b&m 1566 wrote:NEGS had about 4 or 5 hoppers full of Ballast sitting on the Claremont Branch in Concord last week. After talking with Peter he said it was for some track work that was taking place on the line. Maybe that's where the Ballast will be heading. I know they were doing bridge work in the Plymouth over near the football field last summer maybe there going to put new track with lights and gates with the new bridge and all.

The ballast I think is heading to the Northern. NEGS is pretty excited with the warm weather as they can get a lot of work done this year.

Unfortunately there's nothing going on with the Northern line up to the Penacook area. After talking with Peter and Chris last week it was troublesome news. Just as I suspected... when Pan Am inspected the line this past summer they went all the way up to Boscawen right to the current end of the track and told Peter they wanted the tract from Bow to Boscawen to be all class one standard, even though Peter doesn't have a customer up in the Penacook area. All that track work is being done because Pan Am said they want it done. There currently is not customer in Penacook nor is there a customer looking in that area. Pan Am is being Pan Am and is trying to shove it up Peter's ***. Peter is sending them the bill for it however since Pan Am owns it. It's been about 10 years give or take since they've been up there and Pan Am is still making them maintain the track. Peter and company will be cutting brush up to Penacook shortly but they have no plain right now to dump blast on that line. Peter did say that the blast currently sitting in Concord is for the other line but didn't say where. I'm assuming Plymouth but it could also be were the most recent wash out was. At the very least if there is going to be another MBRRE fan trip, they should head up to Penacook so that way their work can pay off for something; maybe even the caboose trains as well but when I asked Peter and Chris that question they hand not been notified of any MBRRE trip for this coming summer.

I heard from an reliable sourse that this spring, Plymouth, NH will have a re aligned grade crossing with automatic protection at Bridge Street as well as at the station

Maybie this is related to the work being done

b&m 1566 wrote:

Ian MacMillan wrote:

b&m 1566 wrote:NEGS had about 4 or 5 hoppers full of Ballast sitting on the Claremont Branch in Concord last week. After talking with Peter he said it was for some track work that was taking place on the line. Maybe that's where the Ballast will be heading. I know they were doing bridge work in the Plymouth over near the football field last summer maybe there going to put new track with lights and gates with the new bridge and all.

The ballast I think is heading to the Northern. NEGS is pretty excited with the warm weather as they can get a lot of work done this year.

Unfortunately there's nothing going on with the Northern line up to the Penacook area. After talking with Peter and Chris last week it was troublesome news. Just as I suspected... when Pan Am inspected the line this past summer they went all the way up to Boscawen right to the current end of the track and told Peter they wanted the tract from Bow to Boscawen to be all class one standard, even though Peter doesn't have a customer up in the Penacook area. All that track work is being done because Pan Am said they want it done. There currently is not customer in Penacook nor is there a customer looking in that area. Pan Am is being Pan Am and is trying to shove it up Peter's ***. Peter is sending them the bill for it however since Pan Am owns it. It's been about 10 years give or take since they've been up there and Pan Am is still making them maintain the track. Peter and company will be cutting brush up to Penacook shortly but they have no plain right now to dump blast on that line. Peter did say that the blast currently sitting in Concord is for the other line but didn't say where. I'm assuming Plymouth but it could also be were the most recent wash out was. At the very least if there is going to be another MBRRE fan trip, they should head up to Penacook so that way their work can pay off for something; maybe even the caboose trains as well but when I asked Peter and Chris that question they hand not been notified of any MBRRE trip for this coming summer.

Actually...having doing some work on the Northern line myself with him in December, I'm pretty sure that stone is going to be put down on it. I can't remember if he was going to try and get it done before the snow fell, or wait until this spring to get it down. It wont be much, but there will be some. A link to one of my work sessions was posted in the NEGS thread;

http://www.amoskeagnorthern.com/index.p ... &Itemid=47

I know that there is nothing up there right now, but we've been doing quite a bit of work up there. Recently new ballast was added just shortly before Sewell Falls Road.

I'm just curious about this: does it make sense to install automatic crossing protection in Plymouth? The tracks only see a few trains a year, and these are usually followed by a flagger for the crossings. Are they planning to run more trains on this section of the line?

I don't think it has anything to do with how much the tracks are used. I think the decision was made when the environmental impact study was done for the bridge construction. I think the road had enough traffic on it to warrant such protection regardless of the amount of use the tracks get. Same thing happened in N. Conway with the relocation of the track on the Mountain Division. The CSRR only uses those tracks 3 to 4 times a year and yet all the new crossings have lights and gates.

Very true. I had forgotten about that renovation. Will they eventually install electronic crossing protection along the entire length of track from Concord to Lincoln?

The last time I was in Laconia, the crossings right next to the station looked like they had gates at one point that were removed. (maybe in the early 1970's when the B&M was trying to get rid of the line. Can anyone verify this?

Crossing protections were installed over the summer at the Hobo Station and I do believe there are a few other crossings that will be getting the protection systems back. NEGS has already installed some on their end of the line including one just south of the old Lakeport Station area. That protection system was tied in with the traffic lights at the intersection next to the grade crossing. I believe the crossings near Laconia Station will be receiving and up-grade as well after being down graded to just crossing signs years ago and I though Peter told me there are future plans to install a system near Northfield replacing the traffic light that currently has to be manually turned on to protect the crossing.

b&m 1566 wrote:Crossing protections were installed over the summer at the Hobo Station and I do believe there are a few other crossings that will be getting the protection systems back. NEGS has already installed some on their end of the line including one just south of the old Lakeport Station area. That protection system was tied in with the traffic lights at the intersection next to the grade crossing. I believe the crossings near Laconia Station will be receiving and up-grade as well after being down graded to just crossing signs years ago and I though Peter told me there are future plans to install a system near Northfield replacing the traffic light that currently has to be manually turned on to protect the crossing.

One of the crossing's in Laconia, that passes right by the Laconia Fire Dept, Lakeport Staiton where the student firefighters live associated with my school I used to go to, NHCTC-Laconia. Anyways one day I was in the station visiting my buddy's, when I hear the crossing bells go off. Me, the rail buff that I am, I run to the fire pole, slide down it and bolt out the door expecting a loud train horn and only to see a pickup with hi-rail wheels testing the signals.. I was very disapointed haha

Just got this from George Kenson, who works up at the Hobo in the summer

Also the track from the Plymouth NH restored semaphore to the station has been removed so that a whole new alignment can take place due to the future opening of the new bridge on RT 175 over the Pemi River at Bridge Street. The road height is a little bit higher so about 1000 feet of new iron with grade crossing signals will be put in by the bridge project.

Is the Semiphore at Plymouth at the location where the line to Woodsville used to branch off? (Or should I say where the Pemi line used to branch off from the mainline.) Is there any evidence of the switch left?

The split was up near Old North Main St. which is a little further north of the Plymouth Station.
Was there a Wye at that spot or a Wye and or a turn table near the station? Looking at aerial photographs it doesn't look like there ever was anything; I'm just curious.