Manchester to Concord

I was looking on a website a few days ago that featured old maps of railroads in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I was looking in the Manchester, Concord (NH) area; and noticed that there was tracks that also ran down the eastside of the Merrimack River along with the tracks on the west side, that are still there and in use. So the other day when I was up in Concord I saw what use to be and old bridge near the Blue Seal company from 93. The siding that Blue Seal uses was where the tracks split. Though the bridge crossing the Merrimack River is gone the tracks still lead right up to it.
My question is: why were there tracks on both sides of the river between Manchester and Concord? Was this due to, two different railroads competing? I was looking at the different size lines on the map, because on this map it said the bolder line meant doubled tracked and the thin line meant singled tracked and it looks like the main line coming down from the Plymouth area continued on down the west side of the Merrimack River (single tracked) and the line coming from Penacook area (not the Concord and Claremont line) crossed the Merrimack River and went down the east side of the river (doubled tracked). Though when I looked at the tracks near Blue Seal (in Bow), the tracks leading to the bridge (gone); I only saw one set of tracks. Does anyone have any information on this; when the tracks were abandoned and what not? Is the line on the east side of the river still considered a ROW or not?

Check out "The Blueberry Express" if you can find a copy, the library near you might have it. ROW is the Suncook Valley I believe.

It may also be the Concord & Manchester electric railway. This map shows the junction @ Bow.

(In the upper right corner)
http://docs.unh.edu/NH/cncd27se.jpg

In ancient times the B&M had a line on the east side of the river between Bow Jct. and Hooksett via Suncook, which became the Suncook Valley RR in 1927. Local shippers took it over after the B&M threatened abandonment. The SV actually ran from Bow to Suncook and then up to Center Barnstead, and in the diesel era it had two GE centercabs, a 45-Tonner and a 44-Tonner. It was abandoned in 1952, and as Mr. 393 notes, there was a book written about it (although it's long out of print).

As an embellishment to what Tom said, I would note that according to Ron Karr's "Lost Railroads of New England," trackage from Suncook to Concord was originally part of the Portsmouth and Concord RR, but the Concord RR demanded that the Portsmouth line be re-routed to Manchester instead. The segment from Candia to Suncook was abandoned, but the segment from Suncook to Concord later became part of the Suncook Valley RR, which went from Concord to Suncook via the aforementioned segment and then northward to Center Barnstead. If this suggests the use of a switchback at Suncook, you're right!

-John

I came a cross a website that has a map of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1916. Not sure if it shows all the lines but it looks like it might. It shows the tracks on the east side of the river coming from Bow. Here's the link for it http://69.3.40.137/bm1916map.htm

Also today 4-7-05 at 16:30 (4:30pm for those who don't know) I saw the New England Southern's Ex- Union Pacific 2370 coming down from Tilton, NH area. No cars were coupled with it. Does anyone know what uses freight north of Concord on this line? I know there was a bridge being worked on north of Concord, which put the line out of service for a little while. I saw the train heading south after it had just crossed the Merrimack River (it was at the crossing). Sorry no picture of it; I was on the other side of 93 walking out of class when I saw the train passing (NHTI). It sure would be nice to see more traffic on those tracks, its only the second time I have seen a train on those tracks in 3 years. The last time was before they started work on one of the bridges north of Concord, not sure where.

There is one customer in Tilton that occasionally receives cars. Not sure of the name but they are located off route 3 after the small park and ride lot (just past Shaw's and across from 99).

They also interchange with Hobo/P&L at Lockmere (located in Tilton on the town line with Belmont)

Most likely they were moving engines to Hobo for work. Look to see if the 566,503, and the QBT 20 are still in Concord. If any are gone, espically the 20, thats where they went. Expect to see them repeat the move in a few months to pick up the engine.

NHGUY

The customer in Tilton is or was called Quin-T. It is more likley that this is where they were coming from, as they have not gotten any cars all winter. I've seen them deliver cars here before, Englehard tank cars.Two years ago I caught thier first run north after winter and this is where they were going.

A little more information...

My aunt works for Quin-T. Apparently it's about half as expensive to get their shipments by rail than it is to truck it it. So hopefully that means that they will remain a customer for the forseeable future.

Engine 20 and 566 are still in Concord. They have not moved in almost a month now. The only engine I've seen in use lately is the ex-Union Pacific 2370. The 503 I haven't seen move at all but there's always different cars coupled with it almost every time I see it, so it must be moving in the early mornings. I only see the 2370 in the late afternoon, usally shutting down for the night.

test

This may be a little off topic, but can someone tell me why the NEGS needs all this new (used) power?

At first they had the GP18 #503. Then they got the GP10 #566 right about the time that they picked up the new customer, Cement Quebec. Now they have a new (used) switcher #20 and a new (used) GP39 #2370.

Do they have any new customers up there? Is Cement Quebec got the volume to justify 3 Jeeps to haul the tonnage? Is the Concord yard so busy now that they need a switcher?

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the NEGS grow. I just don't understand why all the new power.

Michael

Boy I wish you had asked that question earlier today (Meyblc), I spent about 10 or so minutes talking to on of the workers as they were switching the cars around. I asked him a lot of questions but didn't think of that. All I know is that the engine 2370 is there main motive power and is the newest and biggest of there other three engines.
I was able to get some kind of schedule from him. They tend to do there local work in Concord starting at 7am and go to about 1pm then at 1:30pm they work there way south making stops at Blue Seal (when needed), Bow Power Plant (when needed) and Cement Quebec (when needed). I wasn't sure if he said there was a stop in Hooksett or not because just after he said Cement Quebec, 2370 rolled by on the run around track just behind Marshall’s in Concord. Today's stops where: Bow Power Plant and Cement Quebec before heading to Manchester.
There last run to Tilton, NH was this pasted Monday, April 11th.

(Meyblc), I think just maybe your question has been answered. NEGS sometimes hauls the Bow coal train too as seen at this web address http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... d_Southern