Lost Trains of the White Mountains

While on a recent 12-hour car trip to New Hampshire's White Mountains, I thought there had to be a better way of getting there. Turns out there were dedicated trains to bring tourists to the Mountains.

The Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) controlled almost all of the track in New Hampshire and Massachusetts north of Boston. The railroad used three lines to access the White Mountains. 

Three routes of passenger trains to New Hampshire's White Mountains

Eastern Line

The eastern line ran from Boston to Dover, NH and north to Conway and Littleton/Bethlehem, sharing part of the route with the Maine Central Railroad. While unnamed trains had run between Boston and Littleton, the named passenger train Mountaineer replaced them around 1941. In 1945, the Flying Yankee trainset displaced the steam-hauled train as it was too small to meet demand on its Boston to Bangor route. By 1952, Budd RDCs replaced it. While the Flying Yankee had food service, the Budd cars likely did not as the B&M mostly used them for commuter service and were trying to economize on this route. The Flying Yankee was recently moved from Lincoln to North Conway for restoration to operating service on the Conway Scenic Railroad.

Flying Yankee in Lincoln, NH

While the automobiles has begun to draw away potential passengers, the opening of fast highways such as the Spaulding Turnpike in 1956 and Interstate 95 in 1950 struck the final blows. The Spaulding reduced travel times between North Conway and Boston by an hour to 2:30, faster than the Mountaineer’s 3:00 timetable and 4:00 local service with a change in Dover.

In 1956, the terminus shifted from Bretton Woods to Intervale and in 1957, was cut back to North Conway. In 1958, the Mountaineer's from two daily shuttle trains between Dover and North Conway into a single daily through train to Boston. That train also skipped eight small station stops. By early 1960, the B&M proposed removing one of the three crewmembers but discontinued the service after the two railroad unions objected. Service was restored by April after the New Hampshire Public Utility Commission ordered its restoration with two crew. This arrangement was short lived as by December 1961, that passenger train was discontinued on the Conway Branch. More details available at Wikipedia.

Today, passenger trains run from Boston to Dover on their way to Maine (Amtrak's Downeaster) and scenic trains run between North Conway and Bretton Woods. Between Dover and Ossipee, the tracks are used for freight trains carrying sand and gravel to Boston. While the tracks remain in place between Ossipee and North Conway, they are abandoned and would require complete reconstruction to be used again, making restoration highly unlikely.

Central Line

The central line ran from Boston to Manchester, Concord, Plymouth and Woodsville. It served New Hampshire’s largest cities and state capitol, connecting them to smaller towns in the northern part of the state as well as Lake Winnipesaukee. Most trains ran between Concord and Boston.

In 1954, the line between Plymouth and Woodsville was abandoned, severing the connection between New Hampshire’s largest cities and the White Mountains. While Plymouth did not have a dedicated train to New York City, it did have a seasonal sleeper car originating in Philadelphia that was removed from a Maine-bound train in Lowell until 1956. Passenger service to Plymouth was discontinued in fall of 1959.

As more logging mills and other industry closed along the tracks between Concord, Plymouth and Lincoln, abandonment seemed highly likely. But in 1975, the state of New Hampshire acquired the entire line in order to retain service to a struggling paper mill in Lincoln. In 1976, tourist railroad service began in on the line, operated by the Wolfboro Rail Road Company, for a year before financial troubles led to the Goodwin Railroad taking over until 1980 when freight service ceased after the mill closed. Tourist train service was eventually taken over by the Hobo Railroad which was recently renamed as the Granite State Scenic Railway and runs on two sections, Lincoln and Lakeport. We took a scenic train ride from Lincoln a few weeks ago.

Author and son riding the Granite State Scenic Railway

While the line still exists, it would have to be completely rebuilt from Lowell, MA to Lincoln to handle modern, fast passenger trains. Amtrak has listed the Boston-Lowell-Concord segment in its 2035 Connect US plan for restoration.

Western Line

The western line ran along the Connecticut River and only turns toward the White Mountains at Wells River, VT. All of these trains originated in New York City rather than Boston although connections to the latter were available in White River Junction and Wells River.

The Day White Mountains and Night White Mountains first appeared on the OAG’s June 1926 timetable although they were unnamed trains prior to that. Their purpose was to provide a summer connection between New York City and the White Mountains, terminating in either Berlin or Bretton Woods. Both trains made their last run in the summer of 1956 although the Day White Mountains was replaced with an unnamed Budd RDC run between White River Junction and Berlin until being discontinued in 1961. 

North Wind in the 1950's

The North Wind was a summer only daytime all-coach train between New York City and Whitefield, NH which began in 1946 and was an initial success according to B&M management. As it was a seasonal train, the earliest public timetable I could find was 1948. The train was discontinued in 1956. While the North Wind’s 8:30 travel time was close to pre-interstate driving speeds, the same driving trip takes about 6:00-6:30 today. It offered coach and parlor car service. Please see the wikipedia article for more details.

Timetable from August 1956

Today, Amtrak's Vermonter runs from Washington, DC to White River Junction, turning northwest towards St. Albans, VT. The track remains in place between White River Junction and Wells River. However, the last freight train from Wells River to Whitefield ran in 1999 and the tracks have since been converted into a trail.

While scenic trains are going strong in New Hampshire, the state has been unwilling to invest in passenger service, relegating many visitors to long car rides for the foreseeable future.