Dover – Alton Bay railway line

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dover NH – Alton Bay NH,
as of 1999
Society: last NHN
Route length: 45.21 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks: 1
Legend
Route - straight ahead
 from Agamenticus
Station, station
 0.00 Dover NH
   
 to Wilmington
   
 7.00 Cocheco NH (also Cochecho )
   
 9.54 Pickering NH
   
 12.65 Gonic NH
   
 by Jewett
   
 Worcester – Rochester route
Station without passenger traffic
 15.96 Rochester NH
   
 according to Intervale Jct.
   
 23.06 Place NH
   
 28.20 Farmington NH
   
 34.57 Davis NH
   
 37.18 New Durham NH
   
 42.65 Alton NH
   
 45.21 Alton Bay NH
   
 to Lakeport

The Dover – Alton Bay railway was a 45.2 kilometer long railway line in New Hampshire ( United States ). It has been completely shut down and dismantled since 1995.

history

To develop Lake Winnipiseogee, which was already developed for tourism in the 19th century, and to transport agricultural goods from the region around the Cocheco River , a railway line was planned as early as the end of the 1830s, the one from the Wilmington – Agamenticus railway line , the main line of Boston, which was under construction and Maine Railroad , should branch off at Dover and run along the lake shore to a point on the planned Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad . The financial situation for the route was difficult, so that the Cocheco Railroad was not founded until 1847 . In the summer of 1848 construction began from Dover and on September 21, 1849 the first section to Farmington went into operation. In September 1851 the line was extended to Alton Bay on the southern tip of the lake. Construction stopped here because the railway company ran out of money. Forty years later, the Lake Shore Railroad built the remaining section, which was always operated independently from Lakeport .

After the bankruptcy of the railway company, the Dover and Winnipiseogee Railroad took over the management from 1862 . In the following year this changed again and went to Boston & Maine, which had leased the railway company. The route lived mainly from tourist traffic to Lake Winnipiseogee and from a few freight connections, especially in Farmington and Gonic . After the rapid increase in road traffic and the relocation there ended on July 8, 1935, passenger traffic on the entire route. Freight traffic between Farmington and Alton Bay ceased in 1941. The official shutdown took place the following year. Also in 1942 the freight traffic between Dover and Gonic ended, this section was closed in 1943. In Dover there was still a freight connection just under a kilometer long, the route from Gonic to Farmington was still used regularly for freight traffic.

In 1983 Guilford Transportation took over the route and officially closed the Rochester – Gonic section that same year. Nevertheless, trains ran here until 1990, the line was operated as an industrial connecting railway. The freight connection in Dover was shut down and dismantled in 1984. On October 10, 1993, the Guilford sold the remaining line from Rochester to Farmington to the New Hampshire Northcoast , the main line of which was the only track connection of this section. However, it ceased traffic to Farmington in June 1995 and the route was dismantled and converted into a hiking trail.

Route description

The line branches off at Dover station from the Wilmington – Agamenticus railway line and leads northwest to the banks of the Cocheco River. This is followed by the route to Rochester. In Rochester, the route touches that of the Jewett – Intervale Junction railway , with which it shared a station. The Nashua and Rochester Railroad also crossed in the station area . The route leaves Rochester first in a northerly direction, and shortly thereafter turns to the northwest. About Farmington and New Durham it reaches the end point Alton Bay, where a joint station with the Lake Shore Railroad existed.

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