Hillsboro (Hillsborough) Branch

[Tim Mullins]

7777777777777777777.............You're right in saying..." real railroads".....

[Exiled Englishman]

Thanks for your all kind comments about the photos. I have to say though with subject matter like that its difficult not to get good photos.

TRP37777 - I do like America, its a fantastic country although I don't think I'll ever understand your obsession of cheese with everything savo(u)ry and cinnamon with everything sweet Or the need prove that I am old enough to drink almost every time I want a beer! Surprisingly I don't miss England as much as I thought I would but home is always home.

I don't really have a great interest in "big" trains. As I said my main interests are industrial railways but sadly they are a vanishing species, although I'm pleased to say that America still has quite a few. Something I find interesting is the line between what defines a shortline and what defines an industrial railway in the US. The Milford-Bennington is a good example of this. Personally I would say that the MBRR is a classic industrial railway but it seems to be defined as a shortline. Port railways are another example. I have visited the ones in Albany NY, Port Jersey NJ, Richmond CA, Fore River MA and Seaview RI, all of which seem to be defined as shortlines but again I would say they are all classic industrial operations. Is there a standard definition between the two?

[TPR37777]

I took note that your interests lay outside mainline freight and passenger service, however I think it a crime that a foreigner of any type should get a first impression of railroading in the United States by observing Pan Am doing anything. In this country at least an industrial railroad is usually defined as a private entity that serves a single facility or industry, whereas a short line is a small railroad that serves a single or small number of rail lines which may have one or more customers on it. I noticed that you didn't mention New Hampshire Northcoast, as this I would believe would fall well within the definition of an industrial railroad as it is wholly owned and solely services the facilities of its owner (even though the train continues on into Boston with its own power). As for the cheese, well I for one must admit that everything tastes better with it, even my wife's cooking, and that says a lot for the magnitude of its culinary influence.

[jaymac]

Exiled Englishman-
Our American obsession with cheese possibly results from us Americans having been exposed to the Monty Python cheese-shop sketch.
Also, at the risk of asking a personal question, what did you do to get King Richard II cheesed at you? One of fellow-exile Bolingbroke's blokes killed the king a really long time ago, and it should be safe to return, should you so choose.

[Exiled Englishman]

TRP37777 - fear not, its not my first exposure. I have been here for nearly a year. Its just my first I thought that was worth sharing with others. The most impressive thing I have seen since I have been here is the BNSF trains whilst driving between Barstow CA and Kingman AZ on our Route 66 "pilgrimage". The word awesome is overused to point of well pointlessness in this country. But I would have to say those seeing these trains in that setting was truly awesome.

jaymac - that reference is so obscure that most Englishmen would look at you in confusion if you used it to them! They haven't exiled me for anything so extreme.

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

>>New Hampshire Northcoast ... is wholly owned and solely services the facilities of its owner

IIRC, there is also Eastern Propane in Rochester that receives tankers.

PBM

[Hux]

Thanks for your all kind comments about the photos. I have to say though with subject matter like that its difficult not to get good photos.

TRP37777 - I do like America, its a fantastic country although I don't think I'll ever understand your obsession of cheese with everything savo(u)ry and cinnamon with everything sweet Or the need prove that I am old enough to drink almost every time I want a beer! Surprisingly I don't miss England as much as I thought I would but home is always home.

I don't really have a great interest in "big" trains. As I said my main interests are industrial railways but sadly they are a vanishing species, although I'm pleased to say that America still has quite a few. Something I find interesting is the line between what defines a shortline and what defines an industrial railway in the US. The Milford-Bennington is a good example of this. Personally I would say that the MBRR is a classic industrial railway but it seems to be defined as a shortline. Port railways are another example. I have visited the ones in Albany NY, Port Jersey NJ, Richmond CA, Fore River MA and Seaview RI, all of which seem to be defined as shortlines but again I would say they are all classic industrial operations. Is there a standard definition between the two?

Good sir, I highly recommend you obtain a copy of High Green and The Bark Peelers by R. M. Neal and read Chapter 5: "...Not Protecting..." on the Hillsboro, circa 1950. It was described as "a line so little used that grass grows unchallenged between the rails,...an upcountry branch shrunken and shriveled, forgotten by all but a handful of railroad men and shippers." Yet, here 61 years later, it perseveres in a perverse sort of way.

[MEC407]

That is a wonderful book. Highly recommended!

[djlong]

I used to live with that branch line in my side yard, watching trains of tanker cars bringing supplies to the Coca Cola bottling plant that was a few miles up the line. Even in the 1970s, the trains never went very fast - probably due to all the grade crossings (I lived next to the Deerwood Ave crossing). Now I never see a train more than 3 cars long and chasing the train for pictures would be easier because I can walk faster than the train goes.

[bunky]

Another train went on the ground at the Bedford/Milford line right under the rt 101 overpass. The three cars that hit the ground are sitting on the main bad ordered with a couple cars to the south of them and the rest of the train including locomotive is sitting behind Shaws on the runaround track. I'm guessing the derailment was either during the weekend or happened Monday morning.

[Dick H]

The PAR wreck train that is normally kept at East Deerfield, but has
spent the last few months in Waterville ME was heading west today.
Perhaps, they need either the big hook or the "sidewinder" dozer.
Usually, there are two dozers on the train, but this move today only
had one dozer.

Video here from Mainline Productions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhAvEond ... ideo_title

[b&m 1566]

How many customers remain on the Hillbilly? I'm only aware of 3 - Law Warehouse in Nashua, Harcros Chemical in Nashua, and Hendrix Wire and Cable in Milford. I'm not including the Law Stone Quarry in Wilton and Granite State Concrete in Milford since that operation is conveyer belt type of operation. I happened to notice this box car sitting on the siding for Hampshire Paper and until recently, I wasn't aware they were a customer; how often do they get shipments? Are there any other customers that I'm not aware of?

[BowdoinStation]

I know they had provided service to Suburban Propane in Milford, but it's been a few years.

[b&m 1566]

I though they stopped direct rail service years ago?
The one and only time I ever saw a car spotted on that siding was in August of 1999.

[eustis22]

so the adverse thing filing.....does this mean that PAR is going to reactivate service?