Nashua – Concord railway line

Nashua NH – Concord NH, as of 1999
Society:	PAR
Route length:	55.30 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1 (formerly 2)
Legend from Lowell to Nashua City Station 0.00 Nashua NH Union Station (formerly Nashua Junction) from North Acton Nashua River 9.29 Thornton's Ferry NH (formerly Thorntons) 11.47 Merrimack NH 14.19 Reeds NH (formerly Reeds Ferry) 20.58 Moore's Crossing NH Merrimack River 21.03 Goffs NH (formerly Goffs Falls) ? South Manchester NH by Lawrence and Candia 26.91 Manchester NH after Henniker 29.24 Amoskeag NH 34.68 Martin NH (formerly Martins Ferry, Martins) Merrimack River 40.89 Hooksett NH according to Suncook ? Merrimack Generating Station from Portsmouth ? Bow NH (formerly Bow Mills, Bow Junction) 55.30 Concord NH to Claremont and White River Junction to Wells River

The Nashua – Concord railway is a main railway line in New Hampshire ( United States ). It is about 55 kilometers long and connects the cities of Nashua , Manchester and Concord . The route is used by Pan Am Railways exclusively for freight traffic.

history

The Concord Railroad , founded in 1835, planned the railway line as a connection to the Lowell – Nashua railway line . Construction work began only after this line was completed at the end of 1838. However, due to two crossings of the Merrimack River , the completion was delayed. On July 1, 1842, the section from Nashua to Manchester went into operation, on July 26, Hooksett was reached and only on September 7, 1842, the line to Concord was completed. The terminus in Nashua was initially called Nashua Junction , but soon became a major railway junction and was renamed Nashua Union Station . In 1848 the line was expanded to two tracks.

The Concord and Montreal Railroad took over the Concord in 1889 and with it the railway line. In 1895 it was in turn taken over by the Boston and Maine Railroad , which now ran the business. In the heyday of the railroad, several express trains from Boston to Montréal and the White Mountains as well as numerous passenger trains ran on the railway line . The decline and increasing competition from road vehicles led to the cessation of continuous passenger traffic in the direction of Montreal on October 31, 1954. Local passenger trains ran to Concord until June 30, 1967. During this time the line was dismantled on a track. From January 28, 1980 to February 28, 1981, a passenger train ran twice a day on the Concord – Boston route with financial support from the State of New Hampshire. Initially, the trains only stopped in Manchester, apart from Nashua and Concord, and from April 27, 1980 also in Merrimack . However, the travel times were not competitive with buses or private vehicles, so operations were discontinued after the subsidy contract expired. Since 1983 the railway line has been owned by Guilford Transportation , which has operated under the name Pan Am Railways since 2006 .

Route description

The winding route follows the Merrimack River along its entire length . It begins in Nashua on the west bank and crosses the river south of Manchester and again at Hooksett. Since it mostly runs close to the river bank, it is prone to flooding, which has already led to operations being shut down several times, for the longest in 1936.

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/Southern-Main.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)
• Page of the current operating company (English)