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  • Portsmouth Branch Activity

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1552104  by b&m 1566
 
My understanding is, that was a very standard crossbuck style the B&M used; I think they started using that style crossbuck in the 1940's. IIRC, this section of the WN&P was in-service from Epping to Main St in Freemont until the 1970's.
 #1552108  by S1f3432
 
The point I was trying to make was that B&M didn't need three routes west out of Portland- I should
have left off the "after WW2" part. The part of the WN&P in Maine, the old Portland & Rochester, became
the Sanford and Eastern with the portion between Sanford and Westbrook giving up in 1964. West of
Sanford on over into NH was gone earlier. Likewise the Eastern Route, the old Eastern RR east of North
Berwick was gone after WW2.
 #1552374  by arthur d.
 
Pinsley bought The Rochester to Portland section in 1949 along with some electrified trackage around Springvale/ Sanford which he dieselized to access the Sanford mills. Rochester to Springvale ended in 1950. The rest hung on till, depending on the source, '63 or '64.
Previously, Nashua to Fremont and Epping to the Gonic section of Rochester went In 1934.
 #1552431  by gokeefe
 
So Sanford actually had freight service for a brief period? WOW ... First I've ever heard of that ...

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 #1552452  by MaineCentral252
 
Sanford not only had freight service, but was part of what was a rather extensive interurban line in the early 20th century. I believe Seashore Trolley Museum has one of the freight motors
 #1552455  by MEC407
 
Indeed they do.
 #1552511  by S1f3432
 
Atlantic Shore Line Ry motor 100 at Seashore Trolley Museum.
Attachments:
Atlantic Shore Line Ry 100.jpg
Atlantic Shore Line Ry 100.jpg (258.72 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
 #1553148  by oibu
 
as far as the "activity" part of the thread, would anyone know the current operational pattern for the Portsmouth Branch? It seems like operational reports etc. seem to ebb and flow on the various lists/groups and lately haven't seen or heard much about it.
 #1553152  by GuilfordRailSD45
 
I'm not too familiar with operations, but when I showed up at Portsmouth Yard at 6:15 PM yesterday, it appeared that 507 & crew were just beginning to do their switching work in the yard.
 #1553160  by oibu
 
Hard to say on PAR how reflective of "normal" that is or isn't, but you lucked out with seeing 507 on it anyway!
 #1553170  by oibu
 
Thanks Jonathan, was hoping it was more frequent than that... thought it was but my impression is probably out of date.

Slightly OT but since you are local maybe you could confirm if my freight main info is outdated or not : are AYPO/POAY and POED/EDPO all still daily? LAst I knew I think AYPO was through the NH section early-morning-ish, POAY was night/early AM, POED out of RIgby in late afternoon and EDPO into Rigby late afternoon/early evening. Has that changed? Thanks!
 #1553227  by Jonathan603
 
It sometimes is a little more frequent, varies quite a bit but I still think it has been relatively slow.

I believe AYPO/POAY, and EDPO/POED are still daily. I still hear plenty of freight moving through. Sometimes I think they combine them. Almost anyone else you ask will probably give you a better answer than me though :-) I am very new to railfanning and with COVID, my work days are 16+ hours and don't get out much!

Check out this channel... he is out in Royalston, MA and posts daily... a lot of his videos are of Ayer/East Deerfield trains.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeqEd9 ... GWvCaSZkxw
 #1553250  by oibu
 
Thanks for the info you could provide Jonathan. Welcome to the hobby, like any there are some sour ones here and there and today's climate is much less tolerant of being on the property and in some cases less freely giving of helpful operational information- but mostly you will find both railfans and railroaders to be good folks as long as you use common sense, stay safe and respect that the professionals have a job to do.

Royalton is probably too far west to give an accurate picture of what goes on in NH with any pickups/setouts/recrews/etc that are made, but I did check out a couple of his vids, at least it might give a heads-up for something coming east even if the timing is hard to speculate.
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