New Hampshire and Vermont RR/Twin State

[HighlandRail&DEY-7 652]

Does anybody have some good historical info on the NH&VT? Such as Equipment, customers served, track miles, what was sold. When did they start operations? Also when did they end. I remember very little about this line and am looking for some detailed historical info. Thanks.

[Dick H]

This information is taken from "The American Shortline Railway Guide"
by Edwin Lewis (5th edition, published 1996)

The New Hampshire and Vermont operates freight service from a connection
with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad at Groveton NH, to Waumbeck
Junction and Woodsville, 60.3 miles. The railroad has trackage rights over
ST Rail System from Woodsville to White River Jct. VT, 40.5 miles, where
interchange is made with the ST (B&M). A branch line runs from Waumbeck
Jct. to Berlin, 19.7 miles. Additional connections were made with the Twin
State Railroad at Whitefield and the Berlin Mills Railway at Berlin. By 1995,
Most of the line between Berlin and WRJ was out of service. The NHVT
was owned by CSF Acquisitions and is affiliated with the Lamoile Valley
and Twin State railroads. The NHVT had three locomotives, an Alco RS-11
#405, GP9 #669 and a GP38 #3800.

This information is taken from "The Rail Lines of Northern New England"
by Robert M Lindsell published in 2000.

The NHVT discontinued operations west of Littleton in 1995 and received
permission to abandon the Woodsville-Littleton and Waumbek Jct-Berlin
segments in 1996. The NHVT discontinued operations between Whitefield
and Littleton around 1997. The sections between Coos Jct. and Groveton
and from Whitefield to Waumbek Jct. were operated by the NHVT to service
a (paper) mill in Gilman VT until the fall of 1999, when the mill closed.

[trainsinmaine]

I haven't been in that area for several years. Are the rails still there north of Lancaster?

[Dick H]

The rails from Lancaster to Groveton are still in use.
The New Hampshire Central Railroad uses this route
to service the one customer at Whitefield (Presby).
This was also the route over which the PSNH transformer
was moved to Hazens to connect to the Conway Scenic
in June 2009 and for the CSRR to ship their two FP9s
to PAR and get the GP38 and GP35 from them.

In addition, the NHCR has been storing surplus cars
at Whitefield over the last two years and has recently
taken some of them back to Groveton.

The state of NH owns the line from south of Groveton
to Hazen's into Whitefield and the unused lines between
Whitefield and Littleton and Whitefield and the state
line at the Connecticut River.

[HighlandRail&DEY-7 652]

Thanks, Anyone have info on equipment? When and what they acquired.

[xcnoah]

The NHVT and TSRR shared motive power with other CSF Acquisitions line the Lamoille Valley.

Common motive power used on these lines:

RS-3s - Believed ex- Delaware & Hudson (Original Lamoille Valley)
7801, 7805 (7805 had a chopped short hood)
These were the last two left on the property and were definitely used on the New Hampshire operations. Both in LVRC yellow and green paint.

RS-11s -
405 -ex- N&W Red with NHV lettering
3612 - ex- CV Red with LVR lettering
3608 - ex-CV Red with LVR lettering (chopped short hood)

They also had a GP-9 (#669) and a GP-38 (#3800) that were used. Do not know the origin of these units.

-Noah

[HighlandRail&DEY-7 652]

I believe the GP38 was ex MEC, GP-9 not sure. Anyone know where they or the Alco's went? Also, does anyone know what they had for cabooses? From what I can tell Ex BM(steel) NH 2? (Steel) CV(wood) Santa FE (steel) Several old freight cars as well.

[thebigham]

NH&VT pics at NERail:

http://photos.nerail.org/show/?order=by ... %20Vermont

[LVRCboy]

I believe the GP38 was ex MEC, GP-9 not sure. Anyone know where they or the Alco's went? Also, does anyone know what they had for cabooses? From what I can tell Ex BM(steel) NH 2? (Steel) CV(wood) Santa FE (steel) Several old freight cars as well.

the ALCO's I can tell you about are the 5 RS-3's from the lvrc. 7802 was totaled in the early '80's 7803 and 7804 were sold to West Jersey as the same #'s and then 7803 went to West Michigan as 203 and 7804 went to Pioneer Rail Corp. as 204. 7805 ( witch replaced 7802) stayed until the end when its motors and batteries were put into 7801 when it and RS-11 3612 were sold to York-Durham. 7805 was cut up in the morrisville engine shop 7801 however was sold not too long ago to D&L(former D&H) the original owner before Lamoille Valley got it. 7801 has been repainted, rebuilt and put into active service as 4068 >RAIDO< (video on youtube). As for cabooses, ??? lvrc had 2 #100 & #200. Trying to find #100 (offset coupola,3 window wood)

[BR4]

The GP-9 went to another Forbes operation, the Florida West Coast.

[PAR381]

The NHVT 3800 was the Maine Central 258. When the NHVT stopped operating it was returned to Helm and was sold to the Ottawa Valley Rail Link


Rich B
http://www.pbase.com/richbarnett

[thebigham]

The former NH&VT section house in Whitefield
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=184117

The WellsRiver/Woodsville bridge
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=184125

Brushy tracks in St Johnsbury
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=184144

B&M caboose next to the former NH&VT mainline in Bath
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=184123

[thebigham]

Video of a NH&VT train between Gilman and St Johnsbury in the early 1990s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4FmWEdt ... ure=relmfu

[BowdoinStation]

Was it the 'strength' of the Woodsville / Wells River Rail Bridge that helped end that line, or was it the bridge decking that needed replacement due to rotted ties that the owner did not want to invest to replace ? That bridge was back in service 2004-2005ish as vehicle traffic on Route 302 was re-routed over that bridge when the road bridge was being rebuilt. It was cool driving over it.

[mowingman]

I just stumbled across this photo posted on a Yahoo Group I belong to.http://nditech.rrpicturearchives.net/sh ... id=3300148
Seems like this caboose ended up on another Forbes-owned railroad in Florida. That railroad, the Florida West Coast, I think, is also long gone. The location is noted as Newberry, Florida.