Honestly, when Guilford became Pan Am in 2006, I laughed. The logo that was once featured on Boeings was now on EMD's. Bust hey, as a B&M guy, at least locomotives were blue again. Being the native New Englander that I am, I wished they would go back to the McGinnis logo or Minute man and maybe lighten the blue a bit. Well fans of B&M, our prayers have been answered. Now, running around Waterville Maine is Springfield Terminal GP9 #77 completely repainted in glorous B&M maroon and gold, complete with Minute Man! I don't have pictures of it but I do have a youtube link! See below. It gets better. PAR is planning on doing an another B&M locomotive and two Maine Central units. My bet is the B&M 1957 McGinnis Bluebird and the Pine Green and Harvest Gold and Green for the two MEC units. I plan to go up to NH and Maine later this month to get pictures of this locomotive before I head back west. I did not shoot the pictures in this youtube link. http://youtu.be/DOr3lNU6064
Cant wait to see it myself! i too, am a B&M Fan. I only heard about one MEC Locomotive but hey i might be wrong! that would be awesome if they repainted their FP9's to the Minuteman Scheme!
Great to see that someone in the Pan Am board room appreciates railroad heritage, and does something about it. Thanks Jim.
Trainman, the FP9's are going to stay in the dark blue PAR paint as told to me from a reliable source. I'm going to Madison NH for the B&MHS meeting and to do more research on Potter Place NH for my layout. I'm trying to sneek out of the office a day early so I can try and get some pictures of #77.
Isn't that the truth. After years of neglect and almost trying to erase the B&M and MEC, some changes are taking place. I personally like the PAR scheme, way better than the primer gray and construction orange scheme, now heritage units. What is next? Would love to see the Northern restored to service.
Yah i know they will but it would have been nice. i saw them fly through shirly with the NS/PAN AM OCS. it was over a year seince i saw them at the conway scenic hauling a frieght through the crawford notch. oh and what northern? is it a 4-8-4 or some tracks?
Trainman, the Northern was a main line that went from Concord NH to White River Junction VT. It is the Line that went through my home town and is the basis for my layout.
oh ive seen those tracks so many times! Id love to take my speeder for a run on that track if i got permission. i only saw a portion from concord to the large strieght track past the peirce house. When was it abandoned? tracks are too good of shape.
PAR owns and "maintains" the tracks from Concord, all the way to Pennacook. Once you pass the Hannah Dustin Memorial and go under the overpass, the tracks start to go into the weeds. The Northern line saw service until around 1983 or the end of B&M. After the RR strike in 86-87 on Guilford, most of the Northern was closed and sold to the state of NH. Pennacook at one time had a modest yard as well as a lot of industrial track thanks to the Tannery. It would make for a good layout. When I was a kid, rebuilt B&M GP9 would deliver a box car or two to the depot that is still there. Stembeck and Sons would get some of their supplies there.
Jim, is the "Northern" you refer to the same line that went up through Laconia, then Plymouth where it branched northwest to Woodsville? If so, that's the line where I saw the CP/BM Alouette southbound through Plymouth one summer morning in 1953. If you have time during your trip to Madison, you might consider going to Lincoln where The Flying Yankee is being restored in the Hobo RR shops, http://www.flyingyankee.com/. EDIT: Now having read your latest post entered while I was typing, I realize the "Northern" is the line that went NW from Concord, not from Plymouth. If I had been thinking geographically, that would have been obvious since WRJ is way south of Woodsville and Wells River....oh well, too soon old, too late smart.
ok they really need to fix if up if it has been "Abandoned" for so long. It would help make the manchester line active if its reactivated all the way to White river junction. I live 2 miles from manchester so i know this line the best. You know the Manchester and Lawrence Branch?
Yes, familiar with the M&L, never fanned it much except for a brief period in the mid 1990's. The State of New Hampshire owns the Northern from about Pennacook to Lebanon. The State has been fighting for years to have the line open, as they want to reduce the wear and tare on NH's 93 on truck traffic. Guilford never saw the line profitable and has since used the Conn River Line for north / south traffic. Unfortunately, track has been ripped up in most of the line and is now a bike path. I doubt we will ever see a train go through there again.
I hope the State maintains a watch on the ROW to prevent local communities from "taking over" the land. The Penn Central ripped up the rails from the northern 50 miles of New York Central's Harlem Division, planning to hold onto the ROW for possible future use. Unfortunately, PC and later Conrail didn't keep an eye on the ROW and some communities and local residents started using it by tearing down underpasses to widen roadways, plowing or leveling roadbeds for larger pastures or buildings, or generally taking over sections of the ROW. Now, New York City's MTA, who owns the southern section of the old line, considers the northern section as lost because it would be too expensive to restore the roadbed.
Dang, i live next to the M&L, i want to preserve the Yard and a bit of the mainline in londonderry, my hometown. i just seem to have not a single bit of support, and the trail group wants to rip em up and have a trail there. and the clock is ticking on these old rails so if i dont react quickly they will be lost forever..........
Don't get me wrong, I am an avid rails to trails supporter, besides Jess my Jeep I also have mountain bikes. Just about everything with wheels I own has off road tied to it. However to rip up tracks just to rip them up is not a good call. Do what you can, for some reason, some people in NH are under the impression that trains are bad for the environment when in truth a train can haul ten times the cargo as a truck with a less carbon foot print. Do your best to educate!
i know! i just need the support, i need the Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club and the Boston and Maine Historical Society with all the members combined and me, we could save and clean up the tracks. i just wish that it wasnt this hard to save it. The Manchester and Lawrence Branch line is exactley 164 Years old. Older than the Civil War. Londonderry's Railroad Station burned down in the 20's and a B&M Coach was used as it. then when passenger service ended the coach was scraped and frieght continued till the 80's. I just want the public support to stand against the trail people. Mabey i could write Gov. John Lynch a letter?
Writing Gov. Lynch certainly cannot hurt. A good thing about New Hampshire is the state is in touch with the historical past within the state. Outline your key points as to why the rails should remain in place and remind him how regrets of tearing up other lines come up from time to time when NH DOT invests millions into the highway infrastructure repairs due to a high volume of trucks.
id love to have rides on it with my Fairmont MT-14, Mabey make a museum someday as well and aquire some rolling stock for display in the 3 track yard. Theres a pond along the tracks so that could be a picnic spot for people to enjoy, and build a building to display RR artifacts and Photographs of the place back then when trains were still running. I have it all planned out
I was in hopes of going up to New Hampshire this weekend, but the weather is going to be bad and I have a lot in the shop I need to get done. Can you take some pictures of this area and post them here? I would be interested to see how much has changed since I last saw it in 1996. We'll have to get together sometime when I get up that way. I'm trying to get as much done while I'm close. After March I'm back in Illinois.
tell u the truth, im just a 16 yr old guy with big plans in life. I accually took a switchstand from the first switch in the yard. there are alot of plants and trees and strangley with all that, the tracks are in beter condition than the hillsborough branch! I just think that the residents of Londonderry should understand that there ARE railroad tracks in this town, and i will show them it. It might take years, but i would love to have a parking lot with a museum building with artifacts and photographs, a plymoth with a modified 40ft flatcar to run trains, some rolling stock on display like a caboose and a passenger car, a picnic area at the pond that would be nice to have a "Picnic Special". And MABEY sign a lease to have White Mountain Central R.R. #1 trucked down to operate for a bit. im already useing TRAIN2009 to see what my proposed railroad and museum would be like and so far it is nice! Im also Drawing stuff in school of the yard and all that. Does it scare you that all these ideas are comming from a 16 year old like me? xD Ive never loved anything more than railroads. I have been diagnosed with "Railroad Fever". LOL (Oh and my signiture is also something special, my dad when he was young got to have his picture inside the Wolfeboro Railroad #250, a Baldwin 2-6-2 made for the Tatum Lumber Company in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. i just would love to see her run again, shes on display in Carver, MA at Edaville, USA.)
