Conway Scenic Railroad (CSRX) discussion thread

b&m 1566 wrote:For the life of me I cannot remember where I read that they have plans for that track, but if I find it I will post it; it was within the last few days. One thing is for sure, they have cleaned up all the dead rolling stock. Excluding the track that holds the cabooses (which has been permanently spiked shut) the only two peace left on the number 2 track is the box car that probably hasn't moved in 15 years and 4268 which probably has moved in 20 years. No idea what it would take to get those moving again but I do know 68 is missing some hardware on its rear coupler.
For the sake of discussion, should they decide to use track two (northend) for loading and unloading the notch train during peak fall foliage, they would have to temporarily store the freight cars on the adjacent track else where, so people can board first class. Assuming they would be able to store all 9 cars overnight without moving them I suppose the freight cars could be spotted where they currently spot much of the notch train for the night. You also have the access road to the coal dock, so I imagine the train would have to be split in two if stored overnight putting one or two cars else where entirely.

There was some consternation when the G&U, under it's new owner scraped their ALCO locomotive. There was a lot of consternation when he made lots of changes at Edaville (tearing down the train station, etc). What are people's expectations for CSRX?

This is not a property that is in disrepair like the G&U or Edaville. It is an exceptionally well maintained operations with little if any dead weight. What little there was is now basically gone with MEC #2001 off the property. While it's hard to imagine CSRX increasing their operations from where they are right now I think its possible with the new owner who will almost certainly seek out additional opportunities.

One thing that is very different from the other two properties of the new owner,
Edaville and G&U, is that the former MEC Mountain Division between Redstone,
through Crawford Notch to Hazens, is owned by the State of NH. AFAIK, the
State and the CSRX have had an excellent relationship, since the Notch
service began twenty years ago. About 10 years ago, there was a major
spring washout south of the Notch and more recently, there was quite a
bit of damage to the CSRX in the area of the Fourth Iron and elsewhere from
Hurricane Irene, This occurred just prior to the peak foliage season and the
railroad, the state and private contractors worked feverishly to get the line
back open, along with RT. 302, for the "leaf peepers". It would seem in the
new owner's best interests to maintain that good relationship with the State.

BandA wrote:What are people's expectations for CSRX?

If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say the new owners won't be looking to make any drastic changes unless the railroad suddenly stops making money. It does appear the railroad is getting rid of items that are not essential to the core operation, a campaign which began several years ago with the departure of the Alco, the snow plow, the boxcar, the MEC instruction car, and so on. Many forget Conway Scenic is not a museum.

-otto-

What new owner? Only a sales agreement or interest has been expressed. No one signed on the dotted line yet...

And as of last week, that agreement is now dead.

There will be no new owner anytime soon.

wait what?!?!?!

b&m 1566 wrote:Yes, that's the way it's done currently and then they block the crossing again at the end of the day but they have to wait to unblock the crossing until everyone is off the train. I can't remember if they also block the golf course crossings as well.

When the Notch train runs with more than 7 cars I believe, we can't fit the entire train between the Grade Crossing/Parking Lot access road and the Golf Course Crossing and have to do a bit of shuffling around to make it all work. Adding to this is also the fact that the 10:30 Conway trip has to use the station before the Notch train can load and depart at 11:00 , so in the past we've pushed the Notch train into the North Yard to clear until the Valley Train has made it to the bottom of the hill. It makes for a busy morning of switching to get the entire Notch consist together and ready for service.

Although this has likely been operational practice for some time, I have to wonder how long it was previously since any regularly scheduled passenger train coming in to North Conway had to be concerned about length. I would certainly imagine this was well before the Golf Course crossing existed.

Fascinating to think of how far CSRX has come as an excursion/scenic operator.

Depending on the schedule, the Notch train is pulled up along side the Valley Train for servicing of the water tanks and dumpers, and then goes into the north yard. Then we back it into the platform. We do NOT block the golf course in the afternoon as they are playing. All folks get off, we pull her down the hill, and then back up onto
the yard track. Break her apart from there and put the engines away.

I'm not sure what difference it would have made about the golf course and it's crossings. The tracks were there long before the golf course.

Before the Conway Scenic adjusted the tracks to fit their needs the yard looked different. Track two was never severed like it is today; I have no idea if there was a crossover between the station and freight house but I don't believe there was one in 1974. The track they store the notch train on, used to continue past the freight house (no idea what it is called) and reconnect at the north end of the yard. The track they typically store the freight cars and their caboose on, was added when they removed the track between the Roundhouse and freight house. And last the switch at the north end of the yard was much, further up closer to the bridge.
With the longer running tracks back in the day, I imagine it was easier to accommodate longer trains like the Ski trains. The present setup doesn't accommodate a 9 car notch train to well but back in the 70's that wasn't a thought.
FYI - It wasn't uncommon for the B&M to store ski trains in Bartlett for servicing and free up room in North Conway. I have no idea how many ski trains were in North Conway at the same time but the yard could only fit 3 trains going by photos.

Reader#108 wrote: I'm not sure what difference it would have made about the golf course and it's crossings. The tracks were there long before the golf course.

Actually, NCCC was built in 1895...so the railway was really only there a short while before the golf course was built. I was a member for many years. As you can imagine, it was great to enjoy both hobbies at the same time! Did you know that one of the founders of CSRR was also involved in restoring and expanding the golf course?

I enjoy both hobbies as well...............


20 years is enough time

That's good to hear!
Re: "20 years is enough"
And also to be fair, the first tee wasn't always over the tracks! I'm guessing it would have been far more civilized to access the golf course through the granite arch just east of the current club house. The embankment is quite steep in the area where today's first hole begins.

Which raises another point:
Where else in the world are you required to hit a golf ball over active railroad tracks? Clearly the railroad and golf course were restored to be mutually beneficial to each other...and while some days the relationship is strained, I think overall they are succeeding.

Reader#108 wrote:And as of last week, that agreement is now dead.

There will be no new owner anytime soon.

CSRR573 wrote:wait what?!?!?!

Are 573 and I the only people who are wondering what happened?