What became of the Cheshire Branch R.O.W. in Troy, NH?

On a drive back to Massachusetts from Keene,NH the other day, via Rte. 12, we followed the old abandoned Cheshire Branch down through Troy, Fitzwilliam, Winchendon, etc. I recall years ago that the railroad went through a big rock cut and over a girder bridge at a place called Troy Ledges. You used to be able to see it from the road. We were unable to locate any of that. Has Rte. 12 been rerouted and obliterated that area of the former rail line? It was raining and we had no time to do any exploration, but all traces of the line in that location seem to have vanished.

Some right of way was evident in other spots, but I recall the "Ledges" as being very dramatic, from old photos. Can anyone supply any info on this?

Your memory goes back a ways! When I was a kid (and a young man), one could indeed see the Ledges from Route 12, and the way the line wove through them was pretty dramatic. I'm not sure that all of that has actually been obliterated, but the highway was rebuilt between Troy and the vicinity of the Cheshire Fairgrounds about 30 years ago. It used to cross the Ashuelot River's South Branch several times, and the railroad was pretty consistently within view. That's no longer the case. The highway has been considerably widened and elevated, and between that and the fact that the Cheshire has been gone for over 20 years, with trees having grown up and so forth, it's harder to see what's there. Local folks would certainly know; unless someone comes forth with some information in response to your question, I guess you, I and the rest of us will have to walk the old ROW and find out what still remains.

Beautiful, albeit somewhat forbidding, country up through there.

I too remember that area from my childhood. I may even have ridden The Cheshire through there.

My most recent recollection, less than a year old, is northbound rather than southbound. After you leave Troy, the roadbed is occasionally visible at the right (there may be an old road parallel to modern 12 that gives a better view). You then descend a long hill. About half way down the hill, the roadbed appears in a rock cut at your right, remaining relatively level (of course) as you lose altitude. At the point where the railbed and the road are at equal height, there is a dirt area where you can pull off and observe the roadbed. The rock cliffs in this area are still quite impressive.

The roadbed swerves away from the highway at this point, but there is another point of interest near the bottom of the long hill, where there was once a restaurant called the Black Lantern. I think there's now a car dealership or something similar there. There may still be a black lantern hanging on a post. At any rate, there is a road leaving right (east) at this point, identified on the DeLorme NH Atlas as "Webb Depot Rd," although it might also be called "Thatcher Hill Rd." If you follow this road, you soon come to a beautiful stone arch bridge where the railroad roadbed curves (!) over the road. Just after the bridge, a road on the right leads to the Webb Station site. I learned all this from an article a few years ago in the B&M Historical Society's Bulletin.

So, it's still a very interesting area!

-John

I've been in to see the arch, and it was within the last few years, so it is still there...I seem to recall seeing some very tall bridge abuttments on the right side when heading "south" on 12....I may be mistaken, but I think there is a road down to the abuttments, but it is a private business down there...

I found the article to which I referred in my previous post. It is in Volume XIX, Number 4, of the B&M Bulletin. The copyright date on the issue is 1994. The article, "The Marlboro Quarries," and most of the photos are by Donald B. Valentine, Jr, whom I know to be very expert on the railroads of that area.

On page 28, Don has good views of both sides of the stone arch overpass to which kwf and I referred.

-John

I remember leaving the Black Lantern when I was a kid at night and hearing the low rumble of a slow freight (GP-9's?) making quite a sound a few years before the line was abandoned. Some nice rock cuts just south of what was the underpass under Rt 119 in Fitzwilliam too.