New Hampshire Commuter Rail Discussion

cody810 wrote:I have heard from a few different sources that the M&L branch was used a few days ago to move freight.

Is this true/verifiable?

The M&L branch is dead. The MBTA owns up to the state line with no current plans to use it. The Pan Am owned section in Salem was abandoned in 2001 with most of the rails removed. Windham and Derry was abandoned in 1984 and Londonderry and Manchester abandoned in the late 80's early 90's to make way for the airport runway.

b&m 1566 wrote:

cody810 wrote:I have heard from a few different sources that the M&L branch was used a few days ago to move freight.

Is this true/verifiable?

The M&L branch is dead. The MBTA owns up to the state line with no current plans to use it. The Pan Am owned section in Salem was abandoned in 2001 with most of the rails removed. Windham and Derry was abandoned in 1984 and Londonderry and Manchester abandoned in the late 80's early 90's to make way for the airport runway.

They should at least make a light rail shuttle to the airport.

http://www.nhrra.org/other.php

I think this means something....

cody810 wrote:http://www.nhrra.org/other.php

I think this means something....

They have been working on that since the dawn of NHRRA....actually it was pretty much their first project...then it went the wayside when the Nashua-Concord commuter rail actually started to move forward.

b&m 1566 wrote: I don't believe they have gone on or past the Merrimack River Bridge in quite some time. Service to Salem ended in June of 2001 (operating push-pull mode) it was a few years after that, that they stopped servicing the customer up by 110 (2004 maybe).

I can assure that the M&L is active over the Merrimack River Bridge to Eastern Packaging near Haverhill Street.

This is my photograph of LA-1 on the M&L north of the Merrimack River in Lawrence taken just this month:
http://shawsheen.com/2008/grs7jan/slides/IMG_0409.html

alexander wrote:

b&m 1566 wrote: I don't believe they have gone on or past the Merrimack River Bridge in quite some time. Service to Salem ended in June of 2001 (operating push-pull mode) it was a few years after that, that they stopped servicing the customer up by 110 (2004 maybe).

I can assure that the M&L is active over the Merrimack River Bridge to Eastern Packaging near Haverhill Street.

This is my photograph of LA-1 on the M&L north of the Merrimack River in Lawrence taken just this month:
http://shawsheen.com/2008/grs7jan/slides/IMG_0409.html

How often does this run?

alexander wrote:

b&m 1566 wrote: I don't believe they have gone on or past the Merrimack River Bridge in quite some time. Service to Salem ended in June of 2001 (operating push-pull mode) it was a few years after that, that they stopped servicing the customer up by 110 (2004 maybe).

I can assure that the M&L is active over the Merrimack River Bridge to Eastern Packaging near Haverhill Street.

This is my photograph of LA-1 on the M&L north of the Merrimack River in Lawrence taken just this month:
http://shawsheen.com/2008/grs7jan/slides/IMG_0409.html

Service must have been none existent for some time. The tracks on both sides of Water Street were buried in dirt for quite some time with no signs of use. I remember the brush was getting pretty thick with no signs of disturbance. One thing that I use to love about the crossing at Hampshire Rd., you could always tell when the train when through just by looking at the brush.
When did Malden Mills stop receiving shipments by rail? You can still make out the spur going into the mill complex from aerial photos.

Indeed, the line is dead for the foreseeable future. However, Salem Depot will be getting a makeover. Gotta love rail-trails.

Check it out here.

Since this is a question about current operations I'm going to move it to New England Forum.

-otto-

Nothing would be able to make it into Salem these days anyways. Over the last 2 years or so I have noticed most of the grade crossings along Route 28 have been torn up and re-paved by either the state or the Town of Salem DPW. However for the most part in some sections the trackage remains and it will stay their until god knows when.

GP40MC 1116 wrote:Nothing would be able to make it into Salem these days anyways. Over the last 2 years or so I have noticed most of the grade crossings along Route 28 have been torn up and re-paved by either the state or the Town of Salem DPW. However for the most part in some sections the trackage remains and it will stay their until god knows when.

Most of the track in Salem is gone. Just weeks after the last train pulled out they removed the tracks from Hampshire Rd. all the way to the Spicket River Bridge; from there most of the track is buried to Kelley Rd. From Kelly Rd. to Hagop Rd. all the rails were removed in the summer of 99 when they built the Best Buy and Plaza. That same summer the tracks up near the race track were removed where the engine use to run around; which is why from the summer of 99 to the summer of 01 than ran in push pull mode.

That's so sad. I always had a soft spot for Salem, because it was the last of its kind, a local dead-ender on an old-timey line. It reminds me of the last days of the B&M in Rochester, with trains going out to Farmington on the old Dover & Winnipesaukee. And the gravel trains from Ossipee right before NHN bought in. When you sat in certain rooms of the high school, you could see both lines. And in 1985-88, you still saw a few trains a day. It was hard to concentrate on my classes.

A lot of business' in Salem could some day be in for a rude awakening. According to what a source in the Rockingham county planning commission told me, the ROW was never legally abandoned or ceded to anyone, at least as far as Windham. Theoretically, PA/GRS could go up there tomorrow and start grading and throwing down new rail and no one could do a thing about it.

truman wrote:A lot of business' in Salem could some day be in for a rude awakening. According to what a source in the Rockingham county planning commission told me, the ROW was never legally abandoned or ceded to anyone, at least as far as Windham. Theoretically, PA/GRS could go up there tomorrow and start grading and throwing down new rail and no one could do a thing about it.

A BREAKTHROUGH APPEARS!

I spent some time following the ROW from the state line south to Lawrence last year. I found rail in place everywhere I checked south of Hampshire road. I think the gauge is out around Methuen as a abuuter has used tha rail as a a retaining device for their parking lot pavement near the old station.