New Hampshire Central Railroad (NHCR) Discussion

They are spotting Presby's cars on the siding at Issacson Steel in Berlin NH. They are viewable from 110 and are by where the old overhead crane is. Hope this helps.

Took a field trip yesterday, which included covering the line from Whitefield to Lancaster to Groveton to North Stratford. In Whitefield, the line that extends to Hazen seemed to have had something run over it in the not too distant past. I was thinking...the storage track toward Hazen is not too far, so would they sometimes pull down as far as Whitefield when they are switching out at Hazen? I cannot think of any other reason for activity there. The rest of the area at Whitefield is pretty sadly overgrown.

A string of boxcars and a couple hoppers on the siding at Groveton. On the bright side...looks like the station in Groveton got a new roof!

Plenty of LPG tanks in the yard at North Stratford. They were busily switching the yard when I came by. I noticed the old hand operated turntable south of the yard has been completely cut off from the main, and almost completely invisible in the bushes. Lots of new rail along that part of the line. Going back a few years there was an old Budd car north of the yard behind a type of lumber yard. It looks like the lumber yard is out of business and the Budd car is long gone...at least I could not see down behind the building.

Steve

RRFAN wrote:NHCR has their GP9 out! Also the last time there was no cars and now their yard is filled will oil tankers.

Nice loco...Is the NHC the old north strafford RR?

NHV 669 wrote:

p42thedowneaster wrote:Is the Groveton-Hazen branch state owned?

http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/aerorailtrans ... e_2014.pdf

Seems to be a no-doubter

What's the difference between inactive and abandoned?? Seems New Hampshire has more inactive raillines...

FLRailFan1 wrote:

NHV 669 wrote:

p42thedowneaster wrote:Is the Groveton-Hazen branch state owned?

http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/aerorailtrans ... e_2014.pdf

Seems to be a no-doubter

What's the difference between inactive and abandoned?? Seems New Hampshire has more inactive raillines...

"Inactive" are the landbanked lines owned by NHDOT. "Abandoned" are ROW's that have lapsed into private ownership.


And, yes, the NH has been absolutely decimated by abandonments...whether landbanked or not. And this map doesn't even reflect NHCR's two most recent abandonments or PAR's Hampton Branch abandonment, so it needs some updating. (It's also missing the very much healthy and active PAR Portsmouth Branch between Newfields and Portsmouth.)

FLRailFan1 wrote:

RRFAN wrote:NHCR has their GP9 out! Also the last time there was no cars and now their yard is filled will oil tankers.

Nice loco...Is the NHC the old north strafford RR?

Yes

Mikejf wrote:

FLRailFan1 wrote:

RRFAN wrote:NHCR has their GP9 out! Also the last time there was no cars and now their yard is filled will oil tankers.

Nice loco...Is the NHC the old north strafford RR?

Yes

Thanks..

Hello,
Being chased out of the field by rain today, I headed home early along the NHCR North Stratford line.

As far as I could tell, there are now no boxcars or covered hoppers stored along this line, as there have been for many years now. Of course, the rail line is only visible from U.S. route 3 in about half the places, so that there may have been cars stored out of sight.

In contrast, lots of tank cars stored in the yard at North Stratford. The 7324 was parked by the office as well.

Perhaps most interestingly, it looked like the NHCR has been doing major brush cleaning along the line for several miles north of the North Stratford yard. Not sure why they are doing so much clearing along a line that has, as far as I know, no customers and has only been used for storing cars over the last five plus years.
Cheers,
Fritz

I would suppose if they want to have a future in storing cars on the line they are smart to keep it clear.

p42thedowneaster wrote:I would suppose if they want to have a future in storing cars on the line they are smart to keep it clear.

That was my thinking too. Plus any work they need to do to keep it up to class 1. Need to know whatever they put in there they can get back OUT.

Do any of the local NH people here know where the tracks end?

Before Colebrook?

I believe the iron ends just north of Colebrook. I snowmobiled that grade (was an ipeccably groomed sled trail when I rode it) north of Colebrook several years ago, and where the grade crossed back and forth across route 3 going north to Beechers Falls, there were no rails showing at the pavement crossings. While I personally would much rather see rails on rail grades, they do make for nice snowmobile trails when repurposed.

Hello,
The rails still extend north to Bridge Street in Colebrook (approximately MP 12.8); however, the NHCR only has the track to the Columbia Bridge (MP 9.25) in service. And they haven't used the northern 1-2 miles even for car storage over the last few years. I hope this helps.

As for future car storage, I think the State of New Hampshire has largely put a halt to long-term car storage on these lines. Having lines of rusty boxcars lining the scenic byway that is the upper Connecticut River was fairly controversial.
Cheers,
Fritz

Hello.
I wanted to correct an error in my previous post. According to a very authoritative source, the State of New Hampshire has not put an end to car storage on either the North Stratford or Groveton lines and, in fact, the agreement between the State and the NHCR allows both short- and long-term storage. I also wanted to add that the NHCR put considerable effort into "hiding" the stored cars, so that they would not be located in front of homes or where visible from U.S. route 3, which is part of the Connecticut River Scenic Byway. Thanks to the person who provided the correct information!
Cheers,
Fritz

highrail wrote:Took a field trip yesterday, which included covering the line from Whitefield to Lancaster to Groveton to North Stratford. In Whitefield, the line that extends to Hazen seemed to have had something run over it in the not too distant past. I was thinking...the storage track toward Hazen is not too far, so would they sometimes pull down as far as Whitefield when they are switching out at Hazen? I cannot think of any other reason for activity there. The rest of the area at Whitefield is pretty sadly overgrown.

A string of boxcars and a couple hoppers on the siding at Groveton. On the bright side...looks like the station in Groveton got a new roof!

Plenty of LPG tanks in the yard at North Stratford. They were busily switching the yard when I came by. I noticed the old hand operated turntable south of the yard has been completely cut off from the main, and almost completely invisible in the bushes. Lots of new rail along that part of the line. Going back a few years there was an old Budd car north of the yard behind a type of lumber yard. It looks like the lumber yard is out of business and the Budd car is long gone...at least I could not see down behind the building.

Steve

The Budd and the high cube box cars that once languished in the yard are now at the northern end of the line, almost completely hidden around a curve. They might be able to be seen from the VT side of the river on RT102. I'll check it out next time I'm up.