New Hampshire Central Railroad (NHCR) Discussion

I'm still waiting for someone to upload the whole chase. I was just glad I was able to catch NHCR 7324 heading back through Lancaster!

Add NHCR to the VRS portfolio...

Very exciting stuff. Will be interesting to see what they do with the property.

Not really sure why VTR opted to go for NHCR. But I guess that makes two railroads they own in NH with barely any traffic base left. Who knows, maybe SLR is next so they can have the trifecta...

Vermont Railway was the line yesterday with two trucks . they entered the line at the crossing at Page Hill Rd in Lancaster and headed south. Saw them headed north on US 3 a couple of hours later.

25 empty propane cars waiting on the North Stratford siding for SLR pickup tonight.

Spotted a VRS grapple truck parked in Lisbon facing east coming into work today. Maybe headed up north?

Haven't even filed with the STB yet have they?

Maybe they are loaning a truck to the current NHCR operation in the meantime. IIRC, the highrail they had was late 90's or early 2000's and may have finally died. I think they did the same thing during the NEGS transaction, but I could be wrong.

newpylong wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:57 am Haven't even filed with the STB yet have they?

Yup

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 308250.pdf

Thank you for sending that STB filing link. I fully recognize that there is no business on these lines (the car repair being maybe the only exception), and that any bridge traffic involves shipping nothing from nowhere to nowhere, but I have to wonder; what in the world is VTR doing acquiring these lines?! It is only 20 miles from Gilman (mp 111.57 referenced in the document and map) to St. Johnsbury. Are they imagining some sort of deal where they ship Vermont slurry to the paper mills in Maine using a connection with SLR? It all seems so crazy but why would you throw money at something like this if you didn't have SOME end goal in mind?

There's the Rymes propane transload right at the car repair shop, and car storage north of the shops, both of which are well documented within this thread.

Shipping <30-40 slurry cars a week ( if it's even that many these days) over 4 different railroads and multiple handoffs isn't really a feasible idea, considering the massive investment needed to rehab over 25 miles of OOS track.

Not at all arguing with what you are saying. I am just coming at this from the angle that VTR is making this investment, why? They must have some reason, they must see some potential advantage. I just can't see what it is. The slurry business is the ONLY potential thing I can see, and as you say it just doesn't pencil out. When it is in-state I can sort of see how a state-owned entity can justify something like this (i.e., a service to state residents) but when it is an out of state investment it seems difficult to justify

I could be wrong, but I noticed after the last few rebuilds at Sappi, they seem to be using less slurry from the few trains I have seen on the branch.

woodeen wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 8:20 pm I can sort of see how a state-owned entity can justify something like this (i.e., a service to state residents) but when it is an out of state investment it seems difficult to justify.

The state owns all of the track involved in this transaction, as they do in the case of the NEGS purchase by VRS several years ago. The 25 car propane move noted above is about as many cars, if not more than NEGS moves in an entire year.