Wing Road – Mount Washington Railway

Wing Road NH – Mount Washington NH, status 1999
Society:	last BM
Route length:	32.30 km
Gauge :	1435/914 mm
Tracks:	1
Legend from Woodsville 0.00 Wing Road NH after Groveton ? Maplewood NH from Profile House and Bethlehem 6.52 Bethlehem NH (1893–96 from here three-rail track) (formerly Pierces Bridge, Bethlehem Junction) Ammonoosuc River Little River Railroad approx. 12 Litte River Junction NH Little River 14.16 Twin Mountain NH Ammonoosuc River from Lunenburg Zealand Valley Railroad approx. 18 Zealand NH (formerly Zealand Transfer) (End of three-rail track 1435/914 mm, 1893–1896) 20.18 White Mountain House NH 21.44 Fabyan NH (formerly Fabyan's Place, Fabyan-Bretton Woods) to Portland Ammonoosuc River 22.60 Bretton Woods NH (summer only) Abenaki Brook Mount Pleasant Brook Sokokis Brook Franklin Brook 32.30 Mount Washington Base NH (summer only) Mount Washington Cog Railway

The railway Wing Road Mount Washington is a former railroad in New Hampshire ( United States ). It is around 32 kilometers long and connects the Woodsville – Groveton railway with the Mount Washington Cog Railway . The line is completely shut down and dismantled.

history

The White Mountains were already open to tourism in the 19th century . There were resorts in Carroll and the Mount Washington Cog Railway, a rack railway with a track width of 1422 mm, brought tourists to Mount Washington as early as 1869 . The Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad wanted to connect these places to their route network and compete with the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad , which was also planning a route in this area.

In July 1874, the first section went into operation from the Wing Road branch station to Fabyan's Place, where the Portland & Ogdensburg route crossed, which was later taken over by the Maine Central Railroad . There was initially no track connection, it was only installed in 1932. In 1875 it was extended to the valley station of the rack railway. Due to the different gauge, no track connection could be built to this, but the stations were located directly next to each other. In addition to tourism, the timber industry along the route was an important source of income for the railway company. Two forest railways , the Little River Railroad and the Zealand Valley Railroad , carried wood to the railroad that was transported to paper and other mills in the area.

Initially, the Boston and Lowell Railroad ran from 1884 , replaced by the Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1889 and finally the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1895. Throughout the year, through coaches ran from Bretton Woods to New York City and Boston. Between Fabyan-Bretton Woods and the valley station of the rack railway only shuttle trains ran in the summer half of the year, i.e. during the operating hours of the rack railway. In 1893, Concord & Montreal built a third rail between Bethlehem Junction and Zealand Transfer station, so that the narrow-gauge trains of the Profile and Franconia Notch Railroad , owned by Concord & Montreal, could go there. The passengers of the Maine Central Railroad could now save a transfer process. When the narrow-gauge railway was switched to standard gauge at the end of 1896, the third rail was no longer available.

The shuttle service from Fabyan to the valley station was stopped on August 31, 1931 and the section closed in June 1932. Also from 1932 onwards, all trains were diverted over the Maine Central Railroad and all traffic on the Wing Road – Fabyan line was discontinued. However, the passenger trains continued to use the Fabyan-Bretton Woods station on the route. Passenger traffic there ended in 1938 and the entire route was officially closed and later dismantled.

Route description

The entire length of the railway line runs in the valley of the Ammonoosuc River . It begins at Wing Road station , where it branches off the Woodsville – Groveton railway in a track triangle and leads south on the east bank of the river. At the intersection of Maple Street was the Maplewood station , which had a loading siding and was not set up until 1925 after the Bethlehem Junction – Bethlehem railway line was closed. Their branch at Bethlehem Junction is reached shortly afterwards. The junction of the railway to the Profile House was also located here. Both branches were originally narrow-gauge, but were later re-gauged.

The route now follows the course of the river and turns east. Shortly afterwards she crossed the Ammonoosuc for the first time. At the Little River branched off with the Little River Railroad, a forest railway that led up this river. After the now following Twin Mountain station , the train crosses the river again and meets the Portland – Lunenburg railway line , next to which it now runs to Fabyan. At the Zealand stop, a forest railway, the Zealand Valley Railroad, also branched off . The two railway lines each had their own station in Fabyan-Bretton Woods. The stations were right next to each other, but were operationally separate. After the train station, the two railway lines intersect and the route towards Mount Washington crosses the river for the last time, following it to turn towards the valley station of the rack railway. On the way there, the route crosses several smaller tributaries of the Ammonoosuc.

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)

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/White-Mtns-Main.htm