I should note the tracks are legally out of service (a different legal designation than abandoned). In the physical sense though the line looks like any other abandoned track that hadn’t been used in 20+ years. Stay tuned for a future video and more information on the project if released!
It was hard sitting on this information for months. There is a larger force pushing this, VRS is the vessel to get the job started so to speak. There will be more developments coming down the pipeline, which I'm sure will excite the railfans. Think BIG.
@@SouthCoastRailVideos I honestly thought I would never be able to chase a freight train on the 'Mountain Division'. NH DOT was in the process of taking switches out of service at Whitefield just 2 or so years ago. We came within inches of losing everything.
Lol, there is nothing big going to happen with this line. This is another money grab for VRS for car storage in the tax payers dime like all their other lines.
Outstanding video! I believe VTR attempted to purchase the operation in the late '90s when the railroad transitioned ownership. However, the previous owner's son, Edward Jeffrey, took over. From what I understand, they have been ready to seize this opportunity for many years. It would provide them with a valuable connection east via CSX and SLR.
Thanks for watching! I remember seeing something about them wanting to go to at least Gilman when there were rumors about the mill coming back. Hopefully something comes of it this time!
Good to see old B&M station in Whitefield still there, as ball sugnal in super good shape. Glad track wasn´t removed for bike trail. Pretty hard to haul logs on a bike... Thanks for these good news.
This is really exciting! I have a list of abandoned rail lines that have been abandoned and/or pulled up that I believe deserve a second chance; the track in Whitfield is one of them! Thank you for sharing this!
@@hahayesmanfunny Here are a list of the other railroads I think deserve a second chance: - The railroad line between Newburyport, MA and Portsmouth, NH (or at the very least, the Hampton portion of the branch between Hampton, NH and Portsmouth) - The railroad line between Lawrance, MA and Manchester, NH - The Peabody, MA RR branch - The railroad line between Rockingham Junction (Newfields, NH) to Manchester
Great video, and thank you for keeping the railfan community on RUclips updated on this development. As a northern New Hampshire resident and railfan, I'm excited to see the progress on this project and to see more trains running. It would be great not just for the railfan community but for the loco economy as well!! Perhaps in the future, VRS and CSRR can do some excursions together. Perhaps have a meet-up in Whitefield with CSRR 7470 and VRS 405.
The 7470 has operated into Whitefield already, and diesels with rare excursions. They normally only go as far north as Fabyans Station and Crawford station.
This is a good thing. Along with being a career railroader, I've been a rail fan all of my life, so I really like seeing these old lines being restored. I'm also a cyclist, but I've never been a total fan of Rails-To-Trails. Sometimes, it is inevitable, when you have multiple lines going to the same place, but not always. I'd rather see a dual-use right-of-way, wide enough to have both the railroad and a trail, being fenced off, side-by-side. Either way, this will be interesting to watch, as things progress. An excellent video.
I'm pretty sure the deal for the rail trail on the mountain division in Maine was that the rail has to stay put, with the trails being built alongside it. There are not many aspects of the Maine and Vermont government that I would consider superior to New Hampshire, but NH has been down right embarrassing when it comes to rail. From eliminating all connections north from Manchester to Vermont and Canada, the line from Manchester to Portsmouth, ripping up the Manchester and Concord yards and the failure to support Steamtown USA when it was located in Keene just to name a few. You can try and blame Pan An for a lot of this, but the state could have easily taken over their abandoned lines and either mothballed them or leased them to a short line.
I'm really glad to see this old railroad being brought back to life instead of being ripped up and turned into another bike trail like those rails to trails people were planning to do back in 2023. The rest of the B&M line was about to suffer the same fate, so I'm glad to see that got saved as well.
Fantastic seeing rail come back into service 👍🏻 hopefully a little more can come back in time and the uk can do the same 😊 Good luck 🍀 cheers Stevie 🏴
This is GREAT news and Thanks for the post. Also I would like to add Very Good footage of this area, bad weather is always hard to work and film in. Again Thanks.
That would be great. Hopefully, the trail crowd leaves the remaining unused railroad lines alone. So many have been lost. It seems that most of the trail people don't believe in rails with trails. There's always some excuse why the railroad needs to be completely removed. This keeps happening over and over again 😮
While we're at it, why not restore the ex-B&M south of Conway to Osippee? 3 miles were cleared by the now defunct Silver Lake Railroad for train rides but south of Silver Lake to south of Osippee has been unused since the early 70's when the B&M ran a farewell excursion to North Conway. Conway Scenic could expand their operations. Heck, they could go to Osippee or go to St. Johnsbury, VT. North Conway to St. Johnsbury would be a very long excursion though. The excursions from North Conway to Fabyans Station are 5 1/2 hours long round trip. And Maine has no interest in the track on their side, the ex-MEC to be reopened? Conway Scenic can go up to a truss bridge right near the state line and the rails are covered on the bridge with wood planks. There are breaches in the ROW in Maine as well.
@@robkrasinski6217 While that would be cool it seems as though NHDOT has recently pushed for a trail on the Conway Branch. Same with Maine DOT on their stretch of the Mountain Division. Both lines have freight potential but it seems the states want to dump money into rail trails versus rebuilding what is already there.
So no hope of Conway Scenic expanding beyond what they currently have? The ride from North Conway to Fabyan Station is already 5 1/2 hours round trip. They only use 5 /12 miles of the ex-B&M to Conway to the south. Coleman Concrete breached some of the ROW and might have paved over it or removed track south of Conway. Below that three miles were cleared by Silver Lake Railroad which closed. CSRR could have bought that segment but connecting it with their track at Conway station would be difficult with Coleman Concrete in the way. The track or ROW goes right through their property I saw on Google Maps. It's hard to tell if the rails are there or gone inside Coleman Concrete. I never went to NH or Conway Scenic but was always fascinated with it. I'm from eastern PA and there are a bunch of tourist railroads within driving distance. There is a runaround track at Silver Lake by the freight station which is north of the passenger station. The road crossing to the south of the station has the rails cut and removed. I saw pics, vids and Google Street View of Silver Lake and the little train ride they had for a few years. It closed before Covid. It was a way to ride some of the oos ex-B&M south of the active Conway Scenic tracks.
This is great news! I grew up right along the stretch leading from Whitefield towards dalton and the trains were up on a ridge behind my neighborhood and I used to wave at the train when I was on my bike. A couple years ago the ridge gave way during heavy rains and washed out part of the tracks. If you go into meadowmist drive you can see the line going by, not sure what the status of those rails are now since the washout
Washout killed the bloody Lamoille Valley. If that dam CV train didn´t derailed on the bridge, may be LVRC track would still be there. With former CV it would have given Whitefield, St J, St Albans.
I lived at 43 meadowmist from 2017-8, it was there before that. One of several washouts between there and St. J The status remains the same, the tracks have been OOS since NHVT departed at the end of 1999.
I'm glad to see this line coming back at least in part. I remember seeing MEC running freight on the Mountain Division until Guilford killed it all. I am sad to read that the state of Maine opted for a rail trail on their end of the line. The rail trail lobbyists have been pushing for that for years and they finally got their way.
The rail trail (in Maine) is built along side of the tracks, leaving the tracks intact. Having used the trail and seeing the condition of the infrastructure, it is in terrible condition and would be barely passable with a hand car. I would like to see it back in operation, but it will cost 10's of millions to repair.
Speeders and hi rail equipment traverse the Maine side of the Mountain Division somewhat regularly. I wouldn’t run a train on it but it is passable in those vehicles. My understanding is Maine wants to get rid of the track unfortunately.
@@SouthCoastRailVideos That's what I was afraid of and it's typical of the blind politicians not seeing the good of restoring and preserving a rail corridor. Yeah, a rail trail is supposed to preserve the ROW for the future just in case it's wanted again, but that never happens. Once the rails are gone, they're gone forever especially when NIMBYs move next to the ROW. We know very well and way too often what ensues once a rail line restoration is proposed.
I looked at Google Earth and followed the line from Whitefield to St. Johnsbury and it appears that, existing grade notwithstanding, there's a lot of work ahead. Compare this with the resurrected line between Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls, WI. There is still about 100 yards (yup, YARDS) left with a road crossing to recomplete that line. Keep us posted. BTW, I'd like having a track skirting my front porch like the one on Union St. 😃👍
Whitefield was very well known for cold beer and roast beef “bombers”. Delicious! The power there was RS11 405, RIP old girl. Their resident GP9 669 was the work horse.
Great video. Nice footage. Did you set out to get the snowy-day footage? Pretty - just the as this region is meant to be seen. Last august we stopped for dinner in St. Johnsbury VT, on our way back to Montréal from Maine (through Franconia Notch and the Pemigewasset) We have great time exploring these states. I’m from California so it’s a long way from our *golden hills* Some maps would be great to accompany this video! If you can do it. All the RRs you mentioned - class A. Conway scenic. I was just down shooting video on the shore of lake Champlain today. It was beautiful and wintery
VRS will now have another eastern gateway on the east to reach the St. Lawrence and Atlantic's east-west main line with this project. Great to see freight traffic come back after 25 years on this stretch!
I support the reactivation of the line from Gilman to St K but wow- there is a whole bunch of work needs to be done - deferred maintenance is an understatement. Severely rotted ties, washouts, missing signals just to name a few. I’m glad they are thinking of reactivating it- makes sense from a strategic standpoint but wow there is going to have to be a lot of work done... I’ll be surprised if there is money enough to do the repairs to being that section back again....Glad to see you visiting up north South Coast, lots of old rail history up there .
They do not need signals to run a short line like this. They might keep the old rails as well, new or second hand ties will be needed. Not as expensive as u may think.
85#, 100+ year old rail. Doubtful any of it would be kept if they plan on running through freight over it. It will be in the tens of millions to repair, anything but cheap.
I believe I attended a NARCOA excursion on this line back in the late '90s, or at least part of it. I remember stopping and taking pictures at the ball signal.
PS. I attended the long defunct Franconia college in 1967ish having come up from NYC.. I dropped out but stayed in New England..I then lived in Littleton NH. and was in a couple local music groups, playing bass..One member lived in (was it ?) St.Johnsbury or Whitefield.. and several times carried my electric bass on my back on my loud 2-stroke Kawasaki motorcycle to have a rehearsal with him.. I grew up loving trains and model railroading but in those days completely forgotten them as guitars, girls, and ganja became my life. I later lived in Bangor and Waterville Me. with a girlfriend from there and do remember seeing those B&A BL2s here and there and do regret today not having been involved in trains in those days..I did eventually move to Los Angeles in 1978 as a professional musician and have been very involved with real and model trains, having been a member of 2 MRR clubs here, and having made many MANY trips in my car to all the different 1:1 scale RR. areas, including Union Sta., where I can get up close to it all or stand on the many bridges in the city which go over all the trackage.. I'm 77 now..and though I wish it were all still steam, I will always love trains, and, thanks to the net and RUclips, can enjoy videos like this one..
It would have been nice to extend the no rails bed from Bethlehem to Whitefield. I have rode that several times on a sled. Looks like this will be closed to snowmobile traffic now. 😞
Congrats to White Field résidents that gave a good education of respect with their kids. Nothing smashed banged and covered with graffitis !!!! Last time i was there was in 1990 ! With LVRC RS3 or red NHVT RS11. Remove white snow, put green grass and nothing changed. I´m really impress, and back to life....
This is welcome, wonderful and exciting news. Happy to hear this should be the end of any more track removal coming up from the Bethlehem / Littleton border towards Whitefield. If I'm not mistaken it seems like the line is only officially abandoned as far NE as Wing Road Bethlehem?
How far does that other line go (towards Woodvsille) before it becomes the now Ammonoosuc Rail Trail? The Washington County railroad in Wells River still has the switch in place despite the tracks toward Whitfield being removed.
@theaudiorecordist8514 tracks end just before Oxbow Road near the Bethlehem/Littleton town line. WACR stores MoW equipment on the south leg of the wye, the north leg and switch are gone.
Great video and information. I remember seeing trains through Whitefield as a kid in the early 80s. Hope they run again!! Just to be clear, is the thought that the section of the line from Gilman to Whitefield (along RT 142) could be active again??
Conway Scenic doesn't operate regular service down into Whitefield... VRS doesn't lease the Mountain Division east of the junction at Hazens, so unlikely such a scenario would occur.
It would be cool but as NHVT mentioned it likely won’t be happening regularly or at all. Perhaps CSRR will meet some freights that bring some equipment to them.
@SouthCoastRailVideos they have borrowed CSRX equipment in the past to run up to Groveton, the last few equipment moves have included some direct handoffs between the two railroads.
This is a true SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTION! So many other abandoned and seldom used lines all over the country that have this same potential as this one. A lot of class 1 railroads do not want regional railroads rehabbing seldom or unused rail lines and becoming competition to them. So much potential all for stuff just like this all over the country though. Could be some class 2 railroads that grow and become class 1 railroads in the next decade.... Gonna be exciting to see!
SouthCoastRailVideos... Im big on the reading & northern and I think some day they will be running into buffalo n.y. on the ex Pennsylvania rr upper buffalo line currently owned by the ever struggling western new york & Pennsylvania rr. So this may happen sooner rather then later.
@ thank you this is very useful. But at the same time is there one that may show abandoned rail Lines at all? Such as the ones in this video. Or even the ones the state has tuned into rail trails over the years?
I dunno- not sure if you’ve seen what the segment looks like these days but there are whole areas washed out with tracks either hanging in the air or underwater now due to changes in the landscape and flooding . I’ll stay hopeful they get the money to return it to service but not sure on the cost/benefit for that stretch…it’ll be a challenge for sure.
I live in Berlin NH and there is a Train I can see go past my home everyday well night. I have know idea about it but sure would love to know more about it. Thanks
Thank you so much for that info. I must say when I can’t sleep at night and I can hear that whistle blowing as it gos by my home. I sure do love it. And I mean that it’s a treat I wish more people could enjoy.
I know this is an observation from out of state, but considering the history of the line, if all this is reactivacted, would this not allow some glimmer of hope for tourist trains to run past crawford notch and down the other side of the mountain?
@GooseinTheCabooseProductions running to Whitefield is already an all day trip, they would have to increase speeds to get people to willingly sit on a train that long. There's not much to see west of Whitefield.
As NHVT noted there’s not much to see. It would be great to have occasional tourist trains in/out of Whitefield but I don’t see it happening on a regular basis. If they do decide to run some passenger trains maybe they can run some for a few weeks then take the trainset back to Vermont. I think the VRS already does something like that as I believe the dinner/tourist trains have bounced around every season or two.
Crossings can be replaced in a day. Rehabbing 28 miles of track and roadbed that was in poor shape when it went out of business 25 years ago is the big hurdle.
@SouthCoastRailVideos I live on the other side of Bethlehem, it would be something to be able to ride my ebike down to Wing Road to see rail traffic again. I was at the selectboard meeting where these plans were unveiled; we'll see where it goes.
The track and signals have been ripped out and regraded two places on Rt 142 between Whitefield and the junction of Rt 135. it's going to be a major traffic problem and very unsafe for rail traffic to cross Rt 3 and Rt 116 at that junction. Why has the track been ripped out in that direction?
From what I have read elsewhere, NH DOT claims they needed to fix drainage at these crossing. When you drive over the new pavement, you can notice how little change the to road elevation that was made. It could be just the timing of all things coming together.
I love that old highball signal I seen a pic of it from back in the 70s thought it'd be long gone by now but at least some RR's keep their history alive unlike UP.
I am positive that VRS would not make this large an investment unless they are anticipating several new online customers. Perhaps a company such as LP industries,makers of SmartSide, a hugely successful building product made from forestry products. Paper production has vanished, but the trees are still growing! Thanks for the update. The last time I was up that way, CP was running 5 man crews to St Johnsbury, pygmy signals abounded in the yard there, and I got a shot of a Lamoille Valley Alco-led freight in the covered bridge. Cheers!
Oh how SAD .. WHY DO CITY GOVERNMENT WANT abandon Tracks for just walking trails (we are glad your team made a excellent video on PROTENDIAL economic development opportunity they now have both tourist and freight rail traffic .....Hopefully you make another video on this beautiful track ..besure to point out there are wonderful federal grants for bike and railway track shared CORRIDORS ($3100 A MILE TO MAINTENANCE OF TRACK AND TRAIL USES TOGETHER ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
We have major bridge and general infrastructure issues across the country and your'e weeping about a useless bike trail? We have Greenland to pay for, there is no money for such trivial projects.
Best bet would be to allow Conway Scenic occasional access. They are the closest excursion railroad. The normal northern end point for excursions is Fabyan Station or Crawford Station. They did operate a few rare excursions into Whitefield where the ball signal at the diamond is.
Better yet, the 7470 but that would be a bit far for a small steam locomotive, but there were railfan specials with the 7470 and maybe a diesel as well to the ball signal in Whitefield.
As war drums 🥁 are beating, railroad is a major transport of military equipment. So many railroad tracks have been abandoned all the way back to the 30s and 80s. This means a lack of tracks to back logs available to transport services.
I should note the tracks are legally out of service (a different legal designation than abandoned). In the physical sense though the line looks like any other abandoned track that hadn’t been used in 20+ years. Stay tuned for a future video and more information on the project if released!
This is terrific news! I always love it whenever an abandoned rail line is resurrected.
Thanks for watching!
I hope they reactivate MEC's Mountain Line and the Hippies don't rip it up for another little used bike trail!!
I wish they would resurrect the Northwestern Pacific line from Willits to Eureka, CA.
Agreed, it's very good news indeed.
@@k4106dtI wish they'd resurrect all the railroads!
It was hard sitting on this information for months. There is a larger force pushing this, VRS is the vessel to get the job started so to speak. There will be more developments coming down the pipeline, which I'm sure will excite the railfans. Think BIG.
I’m excited to see what comes next!
@@SouthCoastRailVideos I honestly thought I would never be able to chase a freight train on the 'Mountain Division'. NH DOT was in the process of taking switches out of service at Whitefield just 2 or so years ago. We came within inches of losing everything.
Lol, there is nothing big going to happen with this line. This is another money grab for VRS for car storage in the tax payers dime like all their other lines.
Good video. It is always great to hear of a dormant railroad being brought back rather than torn up, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching! Stay tuned for more! There’s many similar videos on this channel from all over New England.
Outstanding video! I believe VTR attempted to purchase the operation in the late '90s when the railroad transitioned ownership. However, the previous owner's son, Edward Jeffrey, took over. From what I understand, they have been ready to seize this opportunity for many years. It would provide them with a valuable connection east via CSX and SLR.
Thanks for watching! I remember seeing something about them wanting to go to at least Gilman when there were rumors about the mill coming back. Hopefully something comes of it this time!
Thanks for reporting on this. I'm anxious to hear updates.
Thanks for watching! I plan to post an update on this project in the Spring if everything goes to plan.
this is fantastic. I have a huge fascination with that line and area. Especially St. J. Thanks for sharing.
Me too! Thanks for watching!
Amazing video. Thanks for covering this, i never thought id see this line getting resurrected and back active ever!
I’d love to see more activity in this area of NH, hopefully this spurs some growth, northern NH needs all the help it can get.
Thanks for watching! It would be great seeing the train serving the lumber industry here.
Good to see old B&M station in Whitefield still there, as ball sugnal in super good shape.
Glad track wasn´t removed for bike trail.
Pretty hard to haul logs on a bike...
Thanks for these good news.
Thanks for watching!
you did a great job with the reporting and video… the falling snow you added was a nice touch.
Thank you! The snow wasn’t even planned but worked out haha
This is really exciting! I have a list of abandoned rail lines that have been abandoned and/or pulled up that I believe deserve a second chance; the track in Whitfield is one of them!
Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for watching!
I’d be interested to see the rest of that list since I’m big on rail revival.
@@hahayesmanfunny Here are a list of the other railroads I think deserve a second chance:
- The railroad line between Newburyport, MA and Portsmouth, NH (or at the very least, the Hampton portion of the branch between Hampton, NH and Portsmouth)
- The railroad line between Lawrance, MA and Manchester, NH
- The Peabody, MA RR branch
- The railroad line between Rockingham Junction (Newfields, NH) to Manchester
I was at the St Js bridge earlier this summer. I took some photos on the front end of it. I am glad it's going to be active again.
Thanks for watching!
Great video, and thank you for keeping the railfan community on RUclips updated on this development. As a northern New Hampshire resident and railfan, I'm excited to see the progress on this project and to see more trains running. It would be great not just for the railfan community but for the loco economy as well!! Perhaps in the future, VRS and CSRR can do some excursions together. Perhaps have a meet-up in Whitefield with CSRR 7470 and VRS 405.
Excursions would be very cool!
The 7470 has operated into Whitefield already, and diesels with rare excursions. They normally only go as far north as Fabyans Station and Crawford station.
This is a good thing. Along with being a career railroader, I've been a rail fan all of my life, so I really like seeing these old lines being restored. I'm also a cyclist, but I've never been a total fan of Rails-To-Trails. Sometimes, it is inevitable, when you have multiple lines going to the same place, but not always. I'd rather see a dual-use right-of-way, wide enough to have both the railroad and a trail, being fenced off, side-by-side. Either way, this will be interesting to watch, as things progress. An excellent video.
Thank you!
Just love the quant quiet town with pretty snow , and all the old train tracks , signals and things . Great job and great shots !! ❤🙂
Thanks for watching!
I drive through Whitefield several times a year and see the old tracks. Great news! Will look for changes next time.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Much appreciated!! Thank you!
Good work! Thanks for bringing this to an ex-Vermonter's attention.
Thanks for watching!
In the same class!
Would be great to see these lines active again..
I agree!
I'm pretty sure the deal for the rail trail on the mountain division in Maine was that the rail has to stay put, with the trails being built alongside it. There are not many aspects of the Maine and Vermont government that I would consider superior to New Hampshire, but NH has been down right embarrassing when it comes to rail. From eliminating all connections north from Manchester to Vermont and Canada, the line from Manchester to Portsmouth, ripping up the Manchester and Concord yards and the failure to support Steamtown USA when it was located in Keene just to name a few. You can try and blame Pan An for a lot of this, but the state could have easily taken over their abandoned lines and either mothballed them or leased them to a short line.
My understanding is that the Maine DOT has decided to remove the rails and will do so when the money is allocated for the project.
Really like seeing trains and rails in the snow.
Thanks for watching!
I'm really glad to see this old railroad being brought back to life instead of being ripped up and turned into another bike trail like those rails to trails people were planning to do back in 2023. The rest of the B&M line was about to suffer the same fate, so I'm glad to see that got saved as well.
Thanks for watching!
I love stories like this!
Thanks for watching!
This is great news- hope more lines come back into service
I hope so as well
I'm impressed, over 200 comments this quick. You hit a good subject and I read every comment.
Thanks for watching! This video is indeed popular!
Great video, I'm so excited!!
Thanks for watching!
Fantastic seeing rail come back into service 👍🏻 hopefully a little more can come back in time and the uk can do the same 😊 Good luck 🍀 cheers Stevie 🏴
Thanks for watching!
This is GREAT news and Thanks for the post. Also I would like to add Very Good footage of this area, bad weather is always hard to work and film in. Again Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Beautiful photography.
Thanks for watching!
Great video. Especially with the snow. I hope to see a work in progress video or two on this.
Thanks for watching!
VRS hosted a hazmat training for my team in November of 2024. Great group of safety folks from the railroad company!!
Thanks for watching!
Love the vids! Thisn is great news.loved the vod of berkshire scenic on the budd ride.i think we met there .was a great trip
Thanks for watching!
Happy to see a railroad renewing its lines for new business.
Thanks for watching!
This is very exciting news - even for a guy down in Florida. I sure hope it comes to fruition and is profitable.
i worked at the Spaulding Inn, in Whitefield in the summer of1968. i will never forget some of those memories!!
Thanks for watching!
Wow! Great video Mike!
Thank you!
Great work!
Thanks for watching!
Sweet! More power to VRS!
Thanks for watching!
God I wish the whole Mountain Division could come back.
That would be cool
That would be great. Hopefully, the trail crowd leaves the remaining unused railroad lines alone. So many have been lost. It seems that most of the trail people don't believe in rails with trails. There's always some excuse why the railroad needs to be completely removed. This keeps happening over and over again 😮
While we're at it, why not restore the ex-B&M south of Conway to Osippee? 3 miles were cleared by the now defunct Silver Lake Railroad for train rides but south of Silver Lake to south of Osippee has been unused since the early 70's when the B&M ran a farewell excursion to North Conway. Conway Scenic could expand their operations. Heck, they could go to Osippee or go to St. Johnsbury, VT. North Conway to St. Johnsbury would be a very long excursion though. The excursions from North Conway to Fabyans Station are 5 1/2 hours long round trip. And Maine has no interest in the track on their side, the ex-MEC to be reopened? Conway Scenic can go up to a truss bridge right near the state line and the rails are covered on the bridge with wood planks. There are breaches in the ROW in Maine as well.
@@robkrasinski6217 While that would be cool it seems as though NHDOT has recently pushed for a trail on the Conway Branch. Same with Maine DOT on their stretch of the Mountain Division. Both lines have freight potential but it seems the states want to dump money into rail trails versus rebuilding what is already there.
So no hope of Conway Scenic expanding beyond what they currently have? The ride from North Conway to Fabyan Station is already 5 1/2 hours round trip. They only use 5 /12 miles of the ex-B&M to Conway to the south. Coleman Concrete breached some of the ROW and might have paved over it or removed track south of Conway. Below that three miles were cleared by Silver Lake Railroad which closed. CSRR could have bought that segment but connecting it with their track at Conway station would be difficult with Coleman Concrete in the way. The track or ROW goes right through their property I saw on Google Maps. It's hard to tell if the rails are there or gone inside Coleman Concrete. I never went to NH or Conway Scenic but was always fascinated with it. I'm from eastern PA and there are a bunch of tourist railroads within driving distance. There is a runaround track at Silver Lake by the freight station which is north of the passenger station. The road crossing to the south of the station has the rails cut and removed. I saw pics, vids and Google Street View of Silver Lake and the little train ride they had for a few years. It closed before Covid. It was a way to ride some of the oos ex-B&M south of the active Conway Scenic tracks.
A former coworker retired several years ago, and moved to Dalton. NH. This line runs right through his backyard.
Neat!
Whitehead must have been a busy junction back in the day .
More rail ! Let’s keep it going.
Good video
Maybe some more good jobs as well
Thanks for watching!
Great news!
Thanks for watching!
Very informative!
Thanks for watching!
America can always use
More rail lines, not less
Thanks for watching!
Beatiuful landcascape ,very nice video 👍
Greetings ❄️
Thanks for watching!
Great video
Thanks for watching!
Great News best Wishes ❤❤
Thanks for watching!
This is great news! I grew up right along the stretch leading from Whitefield towards dalton and the trains were up on a ridge behind my neighborhood and I used to wave at the train when I was on my bike.
A couple years ago the ridge gave way during heavy rains and washed out part of the tracks. If you go into meadowmist drive you can see the line going by, not sure what the status of those rails are now since the washout
Thanks for watching! Hopefully the repair work isn’t too expensive.
Washout killed the bloody Lamoille Valley.
If that dam CV train didn´t derailed on the bridge, may be LVRC track would still be there. With former CV it would have given
Whitefield, St J, St Albans.
I lived at 43 meadowmist from 2017-8, it was there before that. One of several washouts between there and St. J
The status remains the same, the tracks have been OOS since NHVT departed at the end of 1999.
@NHVT_Productions oh no kidding I grew up at 30! Small world after all
I have a camp in Gilman, VT that is about 40 feet from the tracks. I guess having those tracks active again will take some getting used to.
Thanks for watching!
It would be awesome to see trains going past the old ball signall again. Hope their plan comes to fruition, VRS is usually spot on.
I hope it does too! Thanks for watching!
I'm glad to see this line coming back at least in part. I remember seeing MEC running freight on the Mountain Division until Guilford killed it all. I am sad to read that the state of Maine opted for a rail trail on their end of the line. The rail trail lobbyists have been pushing for that for years and they finally got their way.
The rail trail (in Maine) is built along side of the tracks, leaving the tracks intact. Having used the trail and seeing the condition of the infrastructure, it is in terrible condition and would be barely passable with a hand car. I would like to see it back in operation, but it will cost 10's of millions to repair.
Speeders and hi rail equipment traverse the Maine side of the Mountain Division somewhat regularly. I wouldn’t run a train on it but it is passable in those vehicles. My understanding is Maine wants to get rid of the track unfortunately.
@@SouthCoastRailVideos That's great, then they can run more effin trucks on our already crappy roads!
@@SouthCoastRailVideos That's what I was afraid of and it's typical of the blind politicians not seeing the good of restoring and preserving a rail corridor.
Yeah, a rail trail is supposed to preserve the ROW for the future just in case it's wanted again, but that never happens. Once the rails are gone, they're gone forever especially when NIMBYs move next to the ROW.
We know very well and way too often what ensues once a rail line restoration is proposed.
I looked at Google Earth and followed the line from Whitefield to St. Johnsbury and it appears that, existing grade notwithstanding, there's a lot of work ahead. Compare this with the resurrected line between Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls, WI. There is still about 100 yards (yup, YARDS) left with a road crossing to recomplete that line. Keep us posted. BTW, I'd like having a track skirting my front porch like the one on Union St. 😃👍
Thanks for watching!
It’s a good day for us and I think post 10 will have a new job ridding beavers from the concord vt side
Thanks for watching!
@ just found the channel would love to see your Annalise of the track and what you think they will do and a rough timeline if possible
This is going to be very interesting
Thanks for watching!
that is wonderful news and I have read about grants that been offered !
Whitefield was very well known for cold beer and roast beef “bombers”. Delicious! The power there was RS11 405, RIP old girl. Their resident GP9 669 was the work horse.
Thanks for watching!
It's still roaming Central Florida, albeit now with a chopped nose.
Great video. Nice footage. Did you set out to get the snowy-day footage? Pretty - just the as this region is meant to be seen.
Last august we stopped for dinner in St. Johnsbury VT, on our way back to Montréal from Maine (through Franconia Notch and the Pemigewasset) We have great time exploring these states. I’m from California so it’s a long way from our *golden hills*
Some maps would be great to accompany this video! If you can do it. All the RRs you mentioned - class A. Conway scenic. I was just down shooting video on the shore of lake Champlain today. It was beautiful and wintery
VRS will now have another eastern gateway on the east to reach the St. Lawrence and Atlantic's east-west main line with this project. Great to see freight traffic come back after 25 years on this stretch!
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
C'est génial 👍, bravo 👏👏👏
Thanks for watching!
I support the reactivation of the line from Gilman to St K but wow- there is a whole bunch of work needs to be done - deferred maintenance is an understatement. Severely rotted ties, washouts, missing signals just to name a few. I’m glad they are thinking of reactivating it- makes sense from a strategic standpoint but wow there is going to have to be a lot of work done... I’ll be surprised if there is money enough to do the repairs to being that section back again....Glad to see you visiting up north South Coast, lots of old rail history up there .
They do not need signals to run a short line like this. They might keep the old rails as well, new or second hand ties will be needed. Not as expensive as u may think.
Good points. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Thanks for watching!
85#, 100+ year old rail. Doubtful any of it would be kept if they plan on running through freight over it. It will be in the tens of millions to repair, anything but cheap.
I believe I attended a NARCOA excursion on this line back in the late '90s, or at least part of it. I remember stopping and taking pictures at the ball signal.
Neat!
I can’t wait to see an abandoned railroad restored.
Me too!! Thanks for watching!
@@SouthCoastRailVideosI hope there are sidings that also get restored.
@ fingers crossed
@christall109 the only siding is at the former mill in Gilman; that would require someone to purchase and run the property again.
PS.
I attended the long defunct Franconia college in 1967ish having come up from NYC.. I dropped out but stayed in New England..I then lived in Littleton NH. and was in a couple local music groups, playing bass..One member lived in (was it ?) St.Johnsbury or Whitefield.. and several times carried my electric bass on my back on my loud 2-stroke Kawasaki motorcycle to have a rehearsal with him..
I grew up loving trains and model railroading but in those days completely forgotten them as guitars, girls, and ganja became my life.
I later lived in Bangor and Waterville Me. with a girlfriend from there and do remember seeing those B&A BL2s here and there and do regret today not having been involved in trains in those days..I did eventually move to Los Angeles in 1978 as a professional musician and have been very involved with real and model trains, having been a member of 2 MRR clubs here, and having made many MANY trips in my car to all the different 1:1 scale RR. areas, including Union Sta., where I can get up close to it all or stand on the many bridges in the city which go over all the trackage.. I'm 77 now..and though I wish it were all still steam, I will always love trains, and, thanks to the net and RUclips, can enjoy videos like this one..
Rock on dude
Very cool man! Thanks for watching!
Damn I figured those lines would get turned into more snowmobile trails
Thanks for watching!
It would have been nice to extend the no rails bed from Bethlehem to Whitefield. I have rode that several times on a sled. Looks like this will be closed to snowmobile traffic now. 😞
Congrats to White Field résidents that gave a good education of respect with their kids. Nothing smashed banged and covered with graffitis !!!!
Last time i was there was in 1990 ! With LVRC RS3 or red NHVT RS11. Remove white snow, put green grass and nothing changed.
I´m really impress, and back to life....
Thanks for watching!
Nice video. The snow adds to the beauty. Here in central MA, there's hardly any snow on the ground.
This would be great!
Thanks for watching!
Maybe CSRR would extend their Crawford Notch trip. Is there a WYE near Whitefield?
This is cool. Any chance you could direct me to a map where is can see what is planned and what the connections would be? Thanks.
Stay tuned for an interactive map of the line
This is welcome, wonderful and exciting news. Happy to hear this should be the end of any more track removal coming up from the Bethlehem / Littleton border towards Whitefield. If I'm not mistaken it seems like the line is only officially abandoned as far NE as Wing Road Bethlehem?
Abandoned to MP 119, which is likely around the private driveway across from Pinetree Power.
Thanks for watching!
How far does that other line go (towards Woodvsille) before it becomes the now Ammonoosuc Rail Trail? The Washington County railroad in Wells River still has the switch in place despite the tracks toward Whitfield being removed.
@theaudiorecordist8514 tracks end just before Oxbow Road near the Bethlehem/Littleton town line. WACR stores MoW equipment on the south leg of the wye, the north leg and switch are gone.
Thanks for watching!
Great video and information. I remember seeing trains through Whitefield as a kid in the early 80s. Hope they run again!! Just to be clear, is the thought that the section of the line from Gilman to Whitefield (along RT 142) could be active again??
That's the whole idea, as noted in the caption and video.
Yes, this whole area. Thanks for watching!
Been seeing a lot of rail revitalization here in Oregon lately as well.
Neat! What exactly is being revitalized out there?
This is amazing so this means that Conway scenic will meet freight trains from Whitefield
Conway Scenic doesn't operate regular service down into Whitefield... VRS doesn't lease the Mountain Division east of the junction at Hazens, so unlikely such a scenario would occur.
It would be cool but as NHVT mentioned it likely won’t be happening regularly or at all. Perhaps CSRR will meet some freights that bring some equipment to them.
@SouthCoastRailVideos they have borrowed CSRX equipment in the past to run up to Groveton, the last few equipment moves have included some direct handoffs between the two railroads.
@@NHVT_Productions True, it would be cool to catch one of those handoffs one day.
This is exciting news!
Thanks for watching!
This is a true SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTION! So many other abandoned and seldom used lines all over the country that have this same potential as this one. A lot of class 1 railroads do not want regional railroads rehabbing seldom or unused rail lines and becoming competition to them. So much potential all for stuff just like this all over the country though. Could be some class 2 railroads that grow and become class 1 railroads in the next decade.... Gonna be exciting to see!
I agree, it will be very exciting to see!!
SouthCoastRailVideos... Im big on the reading & northern and I think some day they will be running into buffalo n.y. on the ex Pennsylvania rr upper buffalo line currently owned by the ever struggling western new york & Pennsylvania rr. So this may happen sooner rather then later.
@@ChristinaLarsen-dk1pemuch like the situation here, you need customers and traffic to make things work. The WYNP doesn't connect to RBMN...
I believe they can connect from Sunbury/Shamokin area@@NHVT_Productions
@douglasashleigh4989 with 100+ miles of traveling someone else's track. All a moot point if the customers are drying up.
Like a road map is a map of drivable roads is there any sucks thing as a train rail map? To be able to see the rails and where they go?
Yes try openrailway map
@ thank you this is very useful. But at the same time is there one that may show abandoned rail
Lines at all? Such as the ones in this video. Or even the ones the state has tuned into rail trails over the years?
I dunno- not sure if you’ve seen what the segment looks like these days but there are whole areas washed out with tracks either hanging in the air or underwater now due to changes in the landscape and flooding . I’ll stay hopeful they get the money to return it to service but not sure on the cost/benefit for that stretch…it’ll be a challenge for sure.
I suspect they’ll apply for a grant to repair the line. They mentioned they already applied for a grant to reactivate Whitefield yard.
I live in Berlin NH and there is a Train I can see go past my home everyday well night. I have know idea about it but sure would love to know more about it. Thanks
@@charles64028 that's the St. Lawrence and Atlantic, running between Lewiston Junction, Maine and Island Pond, VT, up into Quebec.
Thank you so much for that info. I must say when I can’t sleep at night and I can hear that whistle blowing as it gos by my home. I sure do love it. And I mean that it’s a treat I wish more people could enjoy.
I’d love to see NCOK come back.
Thanks for watching!
Is the line abandoned or just out of service?
Out of service legally speaking
Plunkerville N.H. be mighty pleased.
Thanks for watching!
My Father's folks lived in Landaff.G.G.grandfather sold cordwood to the B&M.Grandfather worked as a yard laborer in Whitefield?
Very cool!
WE ARE JAZZED, EVEN FAR AWAY!
Thanks for watching!
I know this is an observation from out of state, but considering the history of the line, if all this is reactivacted, would this not allow some glimmer of hope for tourist trains to run past crawford notch and down the other side of the mountain?
@GooseinTheCabooseProductions running to Whitefield is already an all day trip, they would have to increase speeds to get people to willingly sit on a train that long. There's not much to see west of Whitefield.
As NHVT noted there’s not much to see. It would be great to have occasional tourist trains in/out of Whitefield but I don’t see it happening on a regular basis. If they do decide to run some passenger trains maybe they can run some for a few weeks then take the trainset back to Vermont. I think the VRS already does something like that as I believe the dinner/tourist trains have bounced around every season or two.
Amazing
Thanks for watching!
What are they gonna do with the abandoned railroad crossing installed a new one?
Crossings can be replaced in a day. Rehabbing 28 miles of track and roadbed that was in poor shape when it went out of business 25 years ago is the big hurdle.
@ yeah definitely need to be replaced lol
Wow, NHVT you’re more on top of these comments than me haha. Thanks for your input. 28 miles is going to be quite the project!
@SouthCoastRailVideos I live on the other side of Bethlehem, it would be something to be able to ride my ebike down to Wing Road to see rail traffic again.
I was at the selectboard meeting where these plans were unveiled; we'll see where it goes.
@@NHVT_Productions Keep us updated if you see or hear anything since you're close by. Unfortunately I'm a few hours away down in MA.
Id like to see the follow up video
Stay tuned! I plan to film a video once the snow season is done but before any growth in the Spring.
The track and signals have been ripped out and regraded two places on Rt 142 between Whitefield and the junction of Rt 135. it's going to be a major traffic problem and very unsafe for rail traffic to cross Rt 3 and Rt 116 at that junction. Why has the track been ripped out in that direction?
I suspect the track was ripped out at the crossings for regrading or replacing of the roadway.
From what I have read elsewhere, NH DOT claims they needed to fix drainage at these crossing. When you drive over the new pavement, you can notice how little change the to road elevation that was made. It could be just the timing of all things coming together.
Wow nice video
Thanks for watching!
I love that old highball signal I seen a pic of it from back in the 70s thought it'd be long gone by now but at least some RR's keep their history alive unlike UP.
and the kids around there leave it alone, which is great.
Thanks for watching!
I am positive that VRS would not make this large an investment unless they are anticipating several new online customers. Perhaps a company such as LP industries,makers of SmartSide, a hugely successful building product made from forestry products. Paper production has vanished, but the trees are still growing!
Thanks for the update. The last time I was up that way, CP was running 5 man crews to St Johnsbury, pygmy signals abounded in the yard there, and I got a shot of a Lamoille Valley Alco-led freight in the covered bridge.
Cheers!
Thanks for watching! VRS must have a few tricks up their sleeve for this big plan.
Oh how SAD .. WHY DO CITY GOVERNMENT WANT abandon Tracks for just walking trails (we are glad your team made a excellent video on PROTENDIAL economic development opportunity they now have both tourist and freight rail traffic .....Hopefully you make another video on this beautiful track ..besure to point out there are wonderful federal grants for bike and railway track shared CORRIDORS ($3100 A MILE TO MAINTENANCE OF TRACK AND TRAIL USES TOGETHER ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks for watching!
The state DOT and former rail operator were behind the trail conversion, as well as other groups.
We have major bridge and general infrastructure issues across the country and your'e weeping about a useless bike trail? We have Greenland to pay for, there is no money for such trivial projects.
good news all the way around. Including a map graphic would be helpful.
Good idea! I hope to link an interactive map in the video description when I revisit this topic in the Spring.
Better than an over-priced bike path.
For sure!
They should start a passenger rail service!!
I’m not sure if there would be a regular passenger service but VRS does offer excursions in Vermont.
Best bet would be to allow Conway Scenic occasional access. They are the closest excursion railroad. The normal northern end point for excursions is Fabyan Station or Crawford Station. They did operate a few rare excursions into Whitefield where the ball signal at the diamond is.
It would be really cool to see Conway’s two MEC GP38’s going to St. J.
Better yet, the 7470 but that would be a bit far for a small steam locomotive, but there were railfan specials with the 7470 and maybe a diesel as well to the ball signal in Whitefield.
Wish I were close..I have a saw and I know how to put in ties and spike!
Thanks for watching!
.Very nice, like.
Thanks for watching!
As war drums 🥁 are beating, railroad is a major transport of military equipment. So many railroad tracks have been abandoned all the way back to the 30s and 80s. This means a lack of tracks to back logs available to transport services.
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