New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad (NHN) Discussion

newpylong wrote:The D&H Alcos would have been the only possible GTI 6 packs pre 1987 correct?

I'm not 100% certain but I think the C628s and C630s were gone (or at least inoperable) by the time Guilford purchased D&H. I can't think of any that ever ran during Guilford. All of the pictures I've seen of them are from the late '70s or earlier. (They did of course run the D&H 4-axle Alcos.) I was thinking more along the lines of the D&H U33Cs which definitely ran during the Guilford era, the ex-Detroit Edison units (five SD40s and one U30C) and the ex-Illinois Terminal SD39s. The SD39s, SD40s and U30C came in '84.

My apologies. I meant the U33s not the Alcos.

FYI the SD39s came over a little later than the Detroit Edison units - August of '85. All of those pre-strike MEC lettered 6 packs totally escaped me thanks for the reminder.

When NHN took over the sand operations, wasn't the Conway Branch in deplorable condition to the point 6 axle units were not allowed?

newpylong wrote:...totally escaped me thanks for the reminder.

#NeverForget

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Gotta love these two; somebody had zero F's left to give when they were applying the Big G:

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MEC407 wrote:

newpylong wrote:The D&H Alcos would have been the only possible GTI 6 packs pre 1987 correct?

I'm not 100% certain but I think the C628s and C630s were gone (or at least inoperable) by the time Guilford purchased D&H. I can't think of any that ever ran during Guilford. All of the pictures I've seen of them are from the late '70s or earlier. (They did of course run the D&H 4-axle Alcos.) I was thinking more along the lines of the D&H U33Cs which definitely ran during the Guilford era, the ex-Detroit Edison units (five SD40s and one U30C) and the ex-Illinois Terminal SD39s. The SD39s, SD40s and U30C came in '84.

Most of the original D&H six axles (C628s, U30Cs, SD45s, and PA4s) were sold to Mexico in 1978, although the D&H didn't get much for them. The U33Cs were the only ones that were kept, and lasted into Guilford.

Big NHN Northbound 2/14.
Leaving Dover with 22 loaded LPG, 2 loaded steel and 16 empty hoppers.

From a Feb. 2 post in Pan-Am Portsmouth Branch thread

Dick H wrote:While on the subject of NH propane supplies, the NH Northcoast RR had
29 loads of LPG going north this AM. Over the last three weeks or so,
they have had a number of trains with between 15 and 23 cars of LPG.

In addition to the 29 LPG this AM, the northbound also had two loads of
steel and 22 empty gravel cars, making it one of the longest northbound
trains in recent memory.

Feb 3 post

gokeefe wrote:Long train, short railroad, mixed cargo ... Definitely sounds viable for a long time to come ...

Any idea where the steel is going?

Dick H wrote:Harris Corporation in Fryeburg Maine is the business that gets the steel.
The steel is unloaded in the area of the NHN engine house in Ossipee and
trucked to Fryeburg. The rail shipments are somewhat seasonal, with
many more cars arriving in Ossipee during the construction season,
with a downturn during the winter. More on the Harris Corp. here.
http://ahharris.com/our-products/fabric ... and-steel/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi,

Am hoping to catch some NHN action at Rollinsford. Does anyone know how often they currently operate? On Wikipedia it says:

NHN runs an average of two trains approximately five days a week: one southbound, and one northbound. The trains generally arrive at the pit in Ossipee around 11:00 AM and depart for the Pan Am interchange around 2:00 PM. "Shuttle" trains are run as needed to bring sand and gravel to the facility in Rochester. Once the train arrives in Dover, it assumes the Pan Am symbol DOBO (Dover to Boston) for the run to Boston. It returns as BODO (Boston to Dover) in the early morning. Until recently when they were replaced with a pair of EMD GP38-2s, the trains ran with several EMD GP9s.

Is that still current?

Yes, the operation is pretty cyclical and largely driven by the need to traverse the MBTA commuter rail network to reach Boston to switch Boston Sand & Gravel which is right outside of North Station. Figure on NHN heading out of Dover for the pit at Ossipee sometime after 7-8am, and returning to Dover around 4-5pm during the week. Unless things have changed their crew used to come on-duty at 7am at Dover. There is some lease power up there now too.

Thanks. Am hoping to get some drone footage of the trains. This will help

Trinnau wrote:lease power

FURX 5509 (built as SOU 2801) is still down there.

Just to clarify, the NHN only runs south to Dover on Mondays and only runs north
from Dover on Fridays. They run round trips Dover/Ossipee on Tuesday through
Thursday. DOBO only leaves Dover for Boston on Monday through Thursday nights
and returns from Boston to Dover on Tuesday through Friday mornings. Beware of
any week containing a holiday as that can alter the schedule. I do not know if the
NHN will observe Patriot's day. That probably will depend on what the parent
company, Boston Sand and Gravel, does.

If you have a scanner, the NHN will talk on the PAR frequency when getting
permission to work and leave Dover in the morning and when approaching
Rollinsford in the afternoon. The NHN uses a digital radio frequency, when
talking to their own dispatcher and during switching operations. When they
first got their digital radios, supposedly the digital format was not able to be
picked up on digital scanners. With the upgrading of digital scanners in recent
years, I do not know if that is still the case or not,

Perfect. Thanks for the info. I got some drone footage at Rockingham today and am looking forward to getting some in Dover/Rollinsford soon. I have a digital trunking scanner so I’ll keep an ear out.

When did NHN begin running the gravel train? Did GRS ever run it post B&M? Why so docile with NHN when GRS/PRS routinely are antagonistic with other real or delusional competition?

As far as why, dunno what cut PAR gets outta the gravel job, but their expense is pretty much limited to crew since NHN supplies the power.
As far as details, I strongly recommend that any who can gets a copy of Mike Enos's 2013 I Am the Train! It was originally offered through the B&MRRHS and may still be available from them. Enos had a 41-year career on the B&M and Guilford and bid back onto the gravel job after a 1993 move to Dover, having been on it prior to his 1987 move to Vermont. Because of the Big Dig, DOBO could be 70-80 cars and 8,000-10,000 tons while that project was active, per p. 97 in the book.