Concord – Claremont railway line

Concord NH – Claremont NH, as of 1999
Society:	CLCO
Route length:	91.27 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1
Legend from Nashua 0.00 Concord NH to Wells River to White River Junction ? Concord NH Stony Hill 5.60 Garrison NH (formerly West Concord) 10.38 Riverhill NH Contoocook River 12.76 Mast Yard NH Contoocook River 16.72 Tyler NH Contoocook River 19.23 Contoocook NH to Peterborough 23.43 Dimond Corner NH (formerly Dimonds) 26.54 Bagley NH Warner River Warner River 28.10 Lower Warner NH Warner River 30.19 Warner NH Warner River Warner River 33.68 Waterloo NH Warner River 36.53 Roby NH (formerly Robys Corner) Warner River Warner River Warner River Warner River Warner River 39.83 Melvin NH (formerly Melvin Mills) Warner River Warner River Warner River Warner River 44.05 Bradford NH Todd Lake 54.38 Newbury NH 55.44 Lake Sunapee NH (summer only) 58.58 Mount Sunapee NH (formerly Edgemont) 64.54 Sunapee NH 65.63 Guild NH Sugar River 69.36 Newport NH Sugar River Sugar River 73.73 Northville NH (formerly North Newport) Sugar River Sugar River 77.49 Kellyville NH Sugar River 80.03 Chandler NH Sugar River ? East Claremont NH Washington Street Sugar River 88.21 Claremont Center NH Pleasant Street from West Claremont ? Claremont NH Mulberry Street 91.27 Claremont NH (formerly Claremont Junction) from Brattleboro to Windsor

The Concord – Claremont railway is a former railway connection in New Hampshire ( United States ). It is around 91 kilometers long and connects the cities of Concord , Contoocook , Bradford and Claremont . The line has been largely closed and dismantled, only a three-kilometer section in the urban area of ​​Claremont is still operated by the Claremont Concord Railroad .

history

After the main line from Boston to Concord was completed at the end of the 1840s and a main line was also built in the Connecticut River valley, which also ran in a north-south direction, various companies planned to connect these two lines. The concession was given in 1848 to the Concord and Claremont Railroad , which wanted to build a railway line between the places it was named after . In the same year, the first section of the line from Concord to Mast Yard station on Horse Hill went into operation. On August 27, 1849, Contoocook was reached. From January 8, 1850, the trains ran to Warner and on July 10, 1850, the line opened to the provisional end point Bradford. For financial reasons, the construction was not continued at first.

From 1853 the operations of the Northern Railroad of New Hampshire , which had leased the route, were in charge. On July 14, 1855, the Sugar River Railroad was founded, which wanted to extend the route. It was not until 1870 that the funds could be raised to build the route after some textile industries had settled along the route. In 1871 the trains ran to Newport and in September 1872 the Connecticut River was finally reached in Claremont and the line was completed. In 1884 the Boston and Lowell Railroad took over the Northern and with it the management of the route. In 1887 it was followed by the Boston and Maine Railroad , which had taken over Boston & Lowell. From August 1903, the Claremont Railway , which operated the electric tram in Claremont, used the section from Claremont Center to Claremont Junction, which was electrified with an overhead line.

After Boston & Maine had requested the closure of a large part of the line in 1954, a local entrepreneur bought the line and founded the Claremont and Concord Railway . At the same time, electrical operations in Claremont were discontinued. In the following year, the new owner stopped passenger traffic on the route. In 1958, a flood destroyed several bridges between West Concord and Contoocook, so that all traffic here had to be stopped, two years later this section was officially closed. As early as 1961, the C&C shut down the section from Contoocook to Bradford after several customers along the route disappeared. 1964 came the end for the Bradford – Newport section and from September 1, 1977 only ran between Concord and West Concord and between East Claremont and Claremont Junction trains. On the section in Concord, traffic ended in 1981, but the official shutdown did not take place until 1984 by Guilford Transportation , which had taken over Boston & Maine the year before.

In 1988 the last remaining section in Claremont was to be closed, but the Claremont Concord Railroad , which was owned by LaValley Building Supply , bought the section from Claremont Center to Claremont Junction and has been operating freight services ever since. In 1994 the route in Claremont was shortened by just under a kilometer, so that today you can only drive as far as Mulberry Street.

Route description

The route begins in Concord, where a common passenger station was used with the other railway companies from the start. It initially leads north, but turns west in the West Concord district. After a few kilometers, the route reaches the Contoocook River , which it crosses twice. One of the bridges was torn away by a flood in 1958, which led to the closure of this section. The other bridge was then also demolished. In the middle of the river, the bridge piers still stand at both points. The railway line now runs parallel to the south bank of the river to Contoocook, where the river was crossed again immediately in front of the train station. The covered wooden bridge still stands today and supports a footpath that was laid out on the railway line. On Keilbahnhof Contoocook the branched route to Peterborough from.

The route to Claremont now continues northwest to reach the Warner River just before Warner . Along this river, which had to be crossed several times, the route now runs westwards and is now used for several kilometers along the state road 103. The bridge over Todd Lake west of Bradford was also converted into a road bridge. From Bradford the route runs northwest. Only at Newbury does the state road 103 leave the railway line, which is flooded by Sunapee Lake north of the city . Shortly before Mount Sunapee, the route turns west again and passes Mountainview Lake . Before Sunapee, the route is built over again in parts by the state road 103 and turns north here. From Sunapee Station, the line runs southwest and shortly thereafter reaches Newport and the Sugar River , which it will follow to Claremont. The route crosses this river in numerous places. The bridges are still there because the route between Newport and Claremont has been rededicated as a hiking trail. Claremont is where the only remaining part of the line is in operation. The tracks begin in a freight yard between Pleasant and Mulberry Streets. They run right past the city's airport and flow into the Brattleboro – Windsor railway line at the Claremont Amtrak stop (formerly Claremont Junction ), which is designed as a wedge station .

Sources and further information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 1999.
2. ↑ Distance kilometers from http://www.trainweb.org/nhrra/Mileage-Charts/BM-RR/Claremont.htm

literature

• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .

Web links

• Boston & Maine Historical Society (English)