Professional Summary - New Hampshire Central Railroad

New Hampshire’s North Country is rich in railroad history from passenger train service
provided between Berlin and Boston by the Boston & Maine Railroad to mixed train
service provided by the Maine Central Railroad to Colebrook and Beecher Falls Vermont.
Daily passenger service between Montreal and Maine’s largest city was provided by the
Canadian National on the lines now operated by the Saint Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad.
The past three decades have brought many changes to New Hampshire’s North Country
railroads much due impart to the decline of industry in the area including paper mills and
other rail dependent manufacturing company. The 1980’s and the Staggers Act allowing
the railroads to abandon or sell off branches to shortline operators only hastened the
decline in the railroads market share of freight being moved. .
Today the State of New Hampshire owns more miles of railroads then that of New
England’s largest railroad Pan Am Railways. Some of these lines are operated as tourist
railroads and others are operated by entrepreneurs providing freight service/
In 1993 the New Hampshire Central started operating the long out of service former
Maine Central Beecher Falls line between North Stratford and Colebrook. Initially
business consisted of ballast being used by the St Lawrence and Atlantic who now
operates the former Canadian National line between Richmond, Quebec and Portland,
Maine. In addition to the ballast, veneer logs and pipe for a gas line generated revenues for
the railroad.
Recognizing the need to have additional sources of revenue to make the operation a
success the railroad built a two track repair facility just north of village of North Stratford.
With completion of the repair facility the New Hampshire Central entered into an
agreement with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic to performing repairs to their fleet of 70 ton
box cars used in paper service loading. The success of this agreement brought additional
business to the New Hampshire Central from the St Lawrence and Atlantic in the repairs
of their locomotive fleet. Recent worked performed by the New Hampshire Central for the
St Lawrence and Atlantic includes the installation of Auxiliary Power Units on 10 GP-403’s locomotives. The APU’s allows the locomotive to be shut down during the colder
months of the year when not being used eliminating the potential of the engine freezing
1
up. With the installation of the APU’s the cost of operating the locomotives are lessened
by reduced fuel consumption and reduced exhaust emissions.
Customer service is an important key element into the success of a shortline railroad. In
2000 a petroleum terminal was built adjacent to the repair facility. Initially the company
handled inbound loads of home heating oil, kerosene and diesel fuel. The company has
since expanded and now handles inbound loads of LP-Gas and Bio-diesel fuels. The New
Hampshire Central provides the operator of the petroleum facility with on-demand service
so they can always have product available to their customers.
In 2001 the New Hampshire Central was to triple in its size when it took over the
operations of the former Boston & Maine line between Groveton and Whitefield and the
Maine Central’s former Mountain Subdivision between Whitefield and Gilman Vermont
owned by the State of New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire Central along with the State of New Hampshire provided funds to
reopen the line between Groveton and Littleton. This work consisted of rail replacement,
tie replacement, cutting brush over the entire line and surfacing of the line.
Today, the Groveton Line has one customer located in Whitefield that receives plastic
pellets that is used in the manufacturing of plastic piping used in the construction of
homes and commercial buildings. The New Hampshire Central built a transload track
located near the customer’s plant and the Whitefield Airport at a location on the railroad
known as Hazens. This connection also allows the Conway Scenic Railway which
operates the former Maine Central’s Mountain Subdivision now owned between Intervale
and Hazens by the State of New Hampshire a connection for the movement of equipment
in and out of North Conway.
As mentioned earlier there has been a general decline in industries in the North Country
that are dependent on railroads for the movement of material required for manufacturing
or the shipping out of finished product. Paper mills and furniture manufacturer have
closed their doors greatly reducing adequate annual carloads required to make the railroad
revenue adequate. Paper mills like the one located in Gilman opened up briefly only to
close never using the railroads for inbound or outbound loads. The New Hampshire
Central is not excluded from this trend.
On the New Hampshire Central today storage of cars is a major source of revenue. With
the recent economic downturn in the world’s economy especially in the manufacturing
section of the United States many railway equipment leasing companies have worked with
shortlines to store this equipment until the economy improves including the New
Hampshire Central. In addition to the storage fees each car is inspected and any safety
related work is performed on each car before the cars are released from storage.
Safety is of the upmost importance of the any railroad. The New Hampshire Central has a
comprehensive training for its employees and the communities it operates through. As part
of the safety program the New Hampshire Central is working in a joint partnership with
2
Lockheed Martin in the deployment of a switch point monitoring device that displays the
positions of switches equipped to the locomotive engineer to avoid train crews from
operating through an improperly lined switch within radio range approximately 3 miles in
advance of the switch location. The Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandates
that railroads that handle poisonous inhalation hazards or toxic inhalation hazards
inhalation mandates switch point monitoring in non-signaled territory when these
commodities are handled.
New Hampshire Central and Lockheed Martin have installed a monitoring device at a
switch at Shops Yard where the repair facility is located with the necessary locomotive
equipment being installed on the 7324 a GP-9 locomotive. While testing is on-going the
results are very positive and the device is providing the locomotive engineer with the
switch status. When completed an individual with the necessary permissions will be able
to log into using any computer to find out the location of the locomotive and fuel readings
of the locomotive.
Because of the innovative thinking of the management of the New Hampshire Central and
the close working relationship they have with the New Hampshire Department of
Transportation the New Hampshire Central has been a success story during difficult times.
The New Hampshire Central looks forward to increasing its business with new on-line
customers.
St Lawrence & Atlantic M420-W fresh out of the paint shop
3
Fabricating steel for repairs in the Shops
4
Repairs under way on trainline
5
Car in Shops with Accident Damage
6
Car Undergoing Repairs
7
Repairs Almost Complete
8
In 2007 The Town of Gorham operated special excursion trains as part of their centennial
here we see New Hampshire Central 1732 crossing Route 2 in Lancaster returning the cars
back to Hazens to be returned to the Conway Scenic Railroad
9
NHCR 1732 at Groveton
10
NHCR 7324 prior to being repainted enroute Whitefield with storage cars
11
NHCR 7324 after being repainted at Hazens.
12
Transformer for New Hampshire Public Serviced handled by the New Hampshire Central
13