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5/29/00 Sunday, great day today, temps in the high sixties to low seventies. Great weather for riding the bike. Todays mission was to clear up some loose ends on the WN&P between East Lebanon and Springvale. Headed up the back roads to Epping, jumped on the WN&P and drove up to Barrington, more back roads and I was in Rochester. Headed out Eastern Ave to East Rochester, and decided to take a quick bike ride on the little bit of WN&P remaining in East Rochester. If you take a left at the four way intersection just before heading over the bridge into Maine and follow that road a half mile or so you 'll come to the point where the WN&P crossed. Going towards the river it's been obliterated by new construction. Going West you can ride it about a quarter of a mile. It looks like it has been in use as a road as there are tire tracks and it's more than wide enough. The problem is that you really can't go very far without riding over the lawn of an elderly housing project.

Headed West on this stretch of ROW looking for any signs of the former RR. There was an occasional tie that had been thrown out of the way. When you get almost to the point where you can see that the ROW has been obliterated you can see pieces of right of way fence and posts in the swamp on the left. I was hoping to find a block signal base in this section. No soap. Other than the ROW fence, fence posts, and the ties thrown out of the way and an occasional spike there's little left to show that the RR went thru here. I did notice near the end that there was a parking lot on the left side of the road and 202 was clearly visible. I don't remember seeing this the last time I was on this part of the ROW a year or less ago.

Headed back to the car and on my way to East Lebanon. Jumped back on 202 which shortly after crossing into Maine becomes the WN&P until Depot Rd in East Lebanon. From there the line goes thru the middle of a trailer park, until you get to a river with the bridge missing, then it goes pretty much as straight as an arrow for a mile or so until you get to another set of abutments where the bridge is out.

From my last trip up this way I remembered that there was a way to get into this section of right of way between the two missing bridges, via another trailer park. Headed down 202 and took a left into this trailer park, took another left followed the road around until I came to the dirt road coming from the right of way. Parked the car, took the bike off the back and headed to the ROW. When I got to the ROW I headed West, went further than I did last time. The ROW was in good condition, easy to ride on. I went as far as I could go, right down to the abutments where the bridge is out. What was weird is that you're going along, everything is fine, the a hundred feet before the abutments there is a drop of 3 or 4 feet. It's like the RR embankment had been bulldozed away for some unknown reason. The height of the abutments made it clear how high the embankment leading up to them should have been.

Judging by all the blueberries that have been growing and other plant life. The removal of the RR embankment was nothing that was done recently.

Took some pics of the abutments.

Headed back up to the point where I had turned onto the right of way, decided to head East for a bit, see if there was anything that I had missed on my first trip here. A short distance up on the Eastbound side there was a base for a block signal. This is a nice section of ROW to ride. You're in the middle of the woods, it's pretty, and the railroad is up on an embankment that is about 5 feet or so higher than everything else.

Headed back to the car and on to the next stop, Springvale.

Took the usual back roads to Springvale, Depot, Heath, Bakers Grant, Deering Neighborhood, then onto the main street in Springvale. One thing that I had been wanting to do is to see where the Deering Pond Spur was. I decided that I would take a right onto Route 11A and look for the crossing. The topo indicated that Deering Pond was about a mile from the crossing.

No problem finding the crossing. Parked the car, took the bike down, and started riding West. The row was in excellent shape, it was obvious that it was in regular use as a trail but fortunately this section was torn up by motorized vehicles.

This section of the row was a constant upgrade. There was a little water in the ROW in places. Most of this section of the line was a small embankment but near the top of the hill there was a long and deep cut. This section of the line was also quite curvy.

Back when the WN&P was in use, helper engines would assist Westbounds at Alfred and would cut off at the Deering Pond spur. Deering Pond is at the top of the hill, the ROW near the pond was wider but other than that there was no sign of the Deering Pond Spur.

Right near the pond, on the West side there was a block signal base. Other than that and a few ties here and there, there was little sign of the railroad.

After the line passes by Deering Pond it's downhill. I had looked at the right of way from the other side of Deering Pond when I stopped at the crossing on Hanson Ridge Rd in Sanford/Springvale. The ROW was uphill heading East and there was a steady stream of water running down the middle of where the tracks were.

I found out why, the runoff from Deering Pond has been diverted right onto the old right of way. There is a path leading up to the pond from the west and it runs near the roadbed.

When I rode by on the bike there wee several people fishing and one person was able to drive his car in there. I did see a dirt road come in near the pond. You couldn't get up the ROW from either end because of gates.

I'm pleased to have finally been able to get up to Deering Pond. It was a good ride and I recommend that those interested in the WN&P ride this section at some point.

The articles on the WN&P that have appeared in the B&M Bulletin and in the RRE have emphasized the roller coaster like attributes of the WN&P, this is one such section.

From here I headed back to the car, I took a look at the short section of the ROW on the East side of the street that I had parked the car on. This section  was the short section between route 11a and the Main St crossing in Springvale. There was a noticable downhill grade heading East and this section had been turned into a washboard by motorized vehicles. This section was on a rather high embankment. I decided to save riding this section for another time.

Headed East, crossed over the Mousam River, and headed towards 202. Passed by  RR St and crossed the WN&P at grade on 225. As I climbed the hill towards 202 I expected to find two crossings of the line. Both fairly close together according to the maps. Didn't see either one. Checked with a railfan who had actually ridden the line between Springvale and Portland before it was abandoned in 59 and he said he could only find one of the crossings.

Took a left onto 202, crossed the town line into Alfred and saw the long diagonal crossing of the WN&P there. I understand the freight house is still there. On one of my next trips up that way I'll explore Alfred.
 

5/28/00 Saturday, great day today, couldn't ask for better weather, temps in the 70's. Great bike riding weather. Decided to head out West today and follow the WN&P from Hudson to Ayer. Stopped at the bike shop on the corner where Central St in Hudson meets 3A. Besides bikes, they also sell Lionel trains downstairs. The owner of the shop had told me a couple of weeks ago that he got quite a few of the granite blocks that came from the bridge abutments that carried the WN&P over the "Lowell Rd." He also showed me where the abutments were, in other words, where the bridge was. As I had suspected, the area there had been extensively changed since the RR and it was pretty tough to tell where the line was. The intersection of the Lowell Rd (3a) and Central had been changed as well. It turns out that the embankment went thru the dirt parking lot of the bike shop. Comparing topos to what is there now shows that that is quite likely.

I headed towards Nashua on 3a, took my first left, a short distance down from the bike shop, and went up to where the line crossed. The line went thru that area in a cut and the road I went down had filled in the cut but you could see it on both sides. Too many trees and too much foliage to see much heading back towards 3A. Will need to explore that area this fall. Most likely will have to do it on foot.

Headed thru Nashua, into Hollis, down Depot Rd, crossed into Mass and onto Groton Rd, the River St. Went by the last place that I had ridden from , which was the first crossing. Went down to the second crossing on River. Parked the car and got the bike down. Rode West first. There were no gates so I could have driven the mile or so that I had ridden. The Row was in good shape, easy to ride on, one handed even, was talking on the phone while riding the bike and still didn't have any trouble. Heading West, towards Pepperell, it was a noticable downgrade. It was hard to tell that this section of the line was double tracked at one time. Went down a mile or so, then turned around and went back ot the car.

Going East at this crossing was a bit tougher, had to detour around to get by some dirt piles, there was a block signal base just East of the crossing on the East side. Rode about 1/4 mile until I got to a point where a bridge was out and there was quite a gap between where the abutments should have been. Last time when I was out here I rode to this same point from the other side.  Once I got by the obstacles near the grade crossing, the riding was fine.

Went back to the car and continued riding in a Southerly direction towards East Pepperell. Got to route 113, took a right and headed into town. Found RR St without a problem. Saw the right of way cross and saw where it continued heading South to the River and ran adjacent to the river. I crossed over the river, found the old station on the branch that left the Greenville branch just outside of Ayer, Squanacook Jct it was called, it wen up to Pepperell on the other side of the river then continued North and joined the Hillsboro branch in Milford. The station was in good shape, was having soem work done on it's roof. It's in use as a video store.

Was in the area, stopped by Ron Karr's house to say hello. Unfortunately he wasn't home. Don't blame him on a nice day like this. Ron was on TV the other nite, on Chronicle, was interviewed for a program dealing with RR's in New England. WWW.branchlinepress.com for info on his books. Lost RR's of New England I like especially. Very handy reference, cheap too.

Was going to ride the bike along the ROW in East Pepperell but decided to head down to Ayer first. Rode 111 down to Ayer, went thru Groton on the way. The bridge carrying the WN&P over 111 is still there. Decided to first stop off at the old Fort Devens in Shirley. Headed out 2A, crossed over the freight main on a new bridge that had been put in since I was last out there about four years ago. Before that, crossed under the Greenville branch bridge.

Lot changed in the Fort since I was last there. Lot's of new buildings. To the left of the entrance on 2A there used to be housing for the enlisted, it's all gone, replaced by other buildings. The elementary school was still there. Seemed like most of the other base buildings were still there. Headed East down towards the old RR yard that came off the WN&P, couldn't get there, the road was blocked, they're building this huge building there. Will probably head back out that way Monday, if so I'll spend some more time looking around.

Headed back to Ayer, parked at the T station. There were a couple of old freight houses on the East wye coming from the WN&P. The Ayer tower is still there, still used, but only as an office. Just beyond the tower is the switch for the Greenville Branch.

I spoke with a Guilford employee who was very friendly and very helpful. He pointed out where the WN&P went by the tower and crossed the main road. He also said that they no longer go up to Vose on the Greenville branch, just up to some company a couple miles up the track.

Had to meet someone for supper  back in Methuen so that was the end of that. Did run into a few other railfans out there. Couple from NeRail, one who didn't own a computer. Nice people. Chatted for a bit.

Good trip today, lots more to see on the WN&P between Ayer and Hollis. Will be spending more time out there.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

5/26/00 Friday, great day today, long weekend coming up, weather supposed to reasonable. Gas up to about $1.45 per gallon. Had some extra time today, took a ride on the WN&P between Martin Crossing  right on the Epping/Fremont line to route 101, less than half a mile. The ROW was still in good shape, except for horses hoofs, it was an ok ride. This stretch of ROW still has just about all of the original right of way fence still in place. Half way down on the Westbound side there was a block signal base and not far from that was an original Whistle post. The only granite that I have seen on the WN&P thus far.

Headed over towards Exeter then further East to Hampton. Took a left  onto route 1 from 27, went up a short distance and took another left into the back parking lot of Lily Software. Parked the car and got on the bike. There is a lumber company there that still gets rail service. There were two boxcars on one of the sidings. There is the Northbound mainline still in place and two sidings at this location. One siding starts just north of rte 27, runs parallel half a mile, then rejoins the mainline. The third siding is terminated with a bumber post.

I first rode along the tracks heading South, went under the rte 27 bridge, and stopped behind the old station. The bayed window is still there, just boarded up. A short distance South of the station I could see a covered hopper on a siding.

Headed back North for about a mile, rode past the airport on the left, passed another lumber company on the right that used to have rail service, the switch is still there, but the track into their property has been removed, and it looked like it wasn't that long ago.

The riding was not too bad, the Southbound track has been removed so there is plenty of room to ride. The track itself is in passable condition. I'm sure that they don't go much more than 5mph, but they probably don't derail too often either.

Glad to see customers still down that way.
 
 
 

5/17/00 Nice day, had some extra time, decided to take a ride on the WN&P just East of Hampstead station to see if I could find the location of the 1911 head-on collision that took place there. I saw a picture in a B&M bulletin of the crash and in the left side of the picture you could see a stone culvert that allowed water to go under the ROW. It was a fairly good sized one and there was also water in the foreground of the picture. According to an article published by the Railroad Enthusiast's back in the 70's, the fireman saw the headlight of the other train just after they passed under a highway bridge. The highway bridge was route 121 and the train was heading West. The area back then was clear, no trees like there are today. The location that I found was the correct distance and matched the picture reasonable well. Would be interesting to go back there with a metal detector and see if any artifacts could be found.

I continued my ride all the way up to Hubbard Station in East Derry, which was a couple miles West of Hampstead station. The ride was mostly uphill, the right of way was in decent shape. There were some cuts and some embankements. Two block signal bases, plus one thrown over on it's side, out of the way.

Decided to head over to Sandown, see if anyone was at the station. Turned out to be a meeting night of the Sandown Historical Society. Stayed for the meeting and renewed my membership for a year.

The depot is still in great shape, it's open on weekends 12-5 or 1-5pm. I can't remember. Bertha, the curator, is back from Florida.
The meeting was held in the first of two flanger cars that have been partially restored.
 
 

5/14/00 Sunday, much better day, and a lot more productive than yesterday, not that that is saying very much. Headed up towards Rochester again. Started with a bike ride on the old WN&P between Flagg Rd and Gear Rd just inside Rochester. Nothing changed in this segment, still in good shape. It was uphill about half way then a slight downhill the rest of the way.

From here decided to go back up to Place and see if I could find the station. This time armed with better information. Got to the crossing and looked for the house, nothing stood out. I decided to call "Buster" on the phone and see if he could give me some more info. With him on the phone I was able to identify the house. It was a dwelling station, a house that was used as a station rather than a station that was used as a house. The station was a white house a short distance from the crossing on the left. There was one house between the station and the crossing. From trackside there was no evidence that it was used as a station and from there route 11 side there wasn't any either. I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of the house when it was used as a station and comparing it to the picture that I took while I was up there.

Place solved I decided to head over into Maine. Drove out 202 to East Lebanon, took a left onto Depot Road, then took a right onto Bakers Grant then decided to take a right onto Cemetary Rd and see if that would lead all the way down to the old right of way.

I was interested in this section of right of was because it was not easy to get into. It runs between Depot Rd and Upper Middle Road. It's almost a couple miles in length and is cut off on each end by bridges that are out and by water that is not crossable without getting wet or having a small boat.

Here is a 1958 topo that shows the line from East Lebanon to the East side of Springvale. Note that the RR line shows as a dottet line because it was abandoned before this map was made.

If you follow the line East from East Lebanon you can see where the line crosses the first stream a short distance in, and then it crosses again just before Upper Middle Rd. You can also see Cemetary Rd coming down thru the middle and crossing over the RR bed.

Cemetary Rd started out bad and went downhill from there. It is not a road that you want to take a nice car down. Fortunately I don't have a nice car to worry about. I went as far as I could, pulled over, parked, got the bike down and rode the rest of the way down to the right of way.

The Right of way was in good shape. I first rode West. It was a downhill ride heading towards Eastwood station. There were a few cuts on the line, some right of way fence in good shape but no other RR artifacts. There were tracks in the dirt indicating that the line was in regular use by recreational vehicles. I went almost to the bridge abutments then turned around and rode back the other way. Slight uphill grade. Passing the point where I started the grade actually seemed to be going back downhill. It continued on in good shape until some new construction had made the line impassable.

I did find one artifact on this section that I had not seen before on the WN&P, and that was the top of a telegraph pole lieing on it's side in the woods. The crossarm was still there as well as a few feet of the pole.

Down at the other end I found a place where it would be possible to sneak a car onto the right of way. Apparently the line abuts a mobile home park and if you go into the park and know where to look you can sneak on.

I enjoyed this section of the line. I recommend that other WN&P fans ride this section of the line. Unfortunatley, due to new construction, the East end of this section is going to be gone soon.

Headed back to the car and made the perilous journey back up Cemetary road and continued East.

Next stop was over at Upper Middle Road. The WN&P crossed here at grade. If you look on the map you will see the crossing, it's just East of the second water crossing. Just East of where I was just riding.

At this location was Anderson's Siding. According to the Lebanon Historical Society, this siding was used to unload and load wood. The RR owned a tract of land here. I saw no concrete evidence of the siding, unfortunately. The right of way here is drivable for a short distance East. Someone has put a gate up to keep you from going all the way over to the next road.

From here I headed over to Smith Road which is the road East. The RR crossed underneath Smith Rd. It was fairly plain to see how things were laid out. The roadbed just East of Smith Road is not used for trail purposes and is covered by trees and water.

If you head East a little bit there is a dirt road that heads down to the right of way and you can drive east for a short distance.

Next stop was Springvale. Stopped over on Railroad St, right where the station used to be. I had been there before. The goal was to find milepost 36, which would have been about half a mile East of the station according to the timetable.

Got on the bike, rode down the ROW east. The old stone and dirt loading platform was still visible. Ties were visible on the railroad embankment as well. This section appears to have been double tracked at one time. The dirt path that I was riding on was beside the remaining ties. The embankment just East of the old station is pretty steep in places and pretty high. Over the side you could see junk that people had thrown over, including the remains of a Volkswagon Rabbit. I saw some some wood that could have been the remains of a snowplow that had been thrown over the side. There was a picture of it in the B&M bulletin, around 1980. Milepost 36 was also pictured in the bulletin as well which is why I was hoping to find it.

I rode as far as I could, when I got to where the power lines crossed the ROW a washout made it impossible to cross. I'm going to try going in from the other end of this section. According to the map there was another grade crossing a half mile or so East of this location. Maybe the milepost is in there.
 
 
 
 

5/13/00 Saturday, not a great day, headed up to Rochester to do some railroad research as well as to stop by the HossTraders flea market at the Rochester fairgrounds. Was up there Friday at 3pm to look for a 220 mHz fm mobile radio but didn't find anything. Didn't cost any more to stop by Saturday so while I was up there I did. Even though it didn't rain this year for Rainchester, it was cold and overcast. I walked around for a bit and only bought a Larsen 5/8 wave two meter antenna.

Back to railroading, Saturday afternoon I headed up to a place called Place. This was on the Farmington Branch, just inside the Farmington town line on route 11. I had received some information from Richard Sanborn of Epping advising me that the station at Place was still there. Gary Lapoint had Place listed on his site (www.lightlink.com/sglap3) as needing a visit to see what was there.

I went up there expecting the station to be on the right just before the former grade crossing of route 11. Unfortunatly my memory had failed me and when I looked at the topo again I found that the station was supposed to be down a littel further.

From there I headed back towards home, took a trip by the Portsmouth Branch, between routes 27 and 87, Mast Road, where I rode a week or so ago. Wanted to quickly take a look at the location where the station was and where the short spur into Hedding campground was.

The location can be easily found by following Mast Rd to where it goes right next to the right of way. Unfortunatley there was no evidence of a station being there and no evidence of the spur going into Hedding. You can see the dirt road across the street that once was the right of way. Appartenly there was a lot of bulldozing and it's obliterated anything railroad related. Couldn't go down too far because of too much water. Couldn't get through on the mountain bike.
 
 

5/8/00 Monday, day started off hot then after some showers the temperature dropped considerably. Didn't have much time but did have enough to take a trip over to Hudson, just past the Windham line. Headed out 111, went thru the cut and at the light took a left into the industrial park with the new cellular tower in it. Parked the car in the parking lot of the first company on the left.

As you head out route 111, after you cross into Hudson, the WN&P is first 111, the it goes off on your right, you pass by Lawrence corner, the ROW continues going off to the right and into the woods. It then crossed 111 a few hundred feet West and if you look to your left you will see where it goes behind the hill that 111 blasts through. The line continues on the other side of the hill and comes out in the industrial park where I parked. It then becomes 111 for a distance and as you're coming into town you can see the ROW deviate from 111 on your right.

Quite some time ago I wrote about this section. I had ridden in, gone underneath the power lines and had stopped at the point where the right of way has been turned into a stream. I had left a thousand foot section that was on a curve and I wanted to know if there were any railroad artifacts left.

Today I decided to find out.

Unfortunately there was no safe way to get in on the East end. No place to park the car off route 111. So I had to go in the West end. The row is in good shape where it begins at the end of the parking lot, there were some obstacles. Downed trees and someone had dumped a whole load of dirt and rocks a long time ago. No major problem getting around these. There were traces of right of way fence on both sides. The line here is on an embankment and is in the middle of a swamp.  The line is in good shape until you get past the power lines. At that point it is heavily overgrown and it tough to get through. Go a little further and the line turns into a stream. I had to follow a trail that went away from the row and then came back. This section of the line is in miserable shape. The only railroad artifacts were a stone culver that allowed water to go under the tracks and there was a piece of a tie with a couple spikes in it as well. I also saw a tie in the ground that looked like it used to be for the right of way fence.

From 111 the little piece you can see from the road going behind the hill looks ok but once you go in a few feet it's in real bad shape.

I don't recommend going in there. It was miserable, but, I had to find out if there was anything there. Unfortunately there wasn't.

This is supposedly Butcher Hill. Articles I've read on the WN&P indicated that it was uphill to Butcher Hill. The section from the parking lot to underneath the powerlines seemed pretty flat to me. There was a downhill grade when you got past the powerlines but it didn't seem like enough to warrant being called a hill. I will say that there appears to  be a pretty tight S curve at that location. It doesn't look too bad on the map but there it does.

There was a head-on collision near Lawrence Corner early this century. The picture in the B&M bulletin shows the train on an embankment with a building behind it. I've been trying to figure out the exact location of the crash.
 
 
 

5/7/00 Sunday, nice and warm, actually it's was quite hot, temps in the high 80's. Nevertheless I did get out and did a bit of riding. Not as much as I would have liked but some riding at least.

Started off in Hampstead. The WN&P goes thru Hampstead and I wanted to go back and double check for the location of the original station. When the line first went in the station was East of route 121. I headed up route 121, took a right onto Depot and went down half a mile or so until I got to the old dirt road that lead down to the tracks. Got on the bike and rode down to the right of way. There were two spots that the station could have been located on. Unlike over at Hubbard, I could not find the stone foundation.

Anyways, I like to revisit places occasionally because some times you get lucky and find something new.

Off to Epping. Rode the Portsmouth Branch from Route 27 up to the next crossing which was route 87 I beleive. A distance of a few miles. The right of way was in excellent shape, as flat as a board and straight. If there is one word to describe this section it would be straight. No mileposts, flanger signs or whistle posts. There were two posts but they were broken off near the bottom. I suspect that they were whistle posts. Quite a bit of right of way fencing still visible.

Good section to ride if you'd like to go for a bike ride. One thing I can say about the Portsmouth branch is in general the riding is excellent. Some motorized vehicles do sneak on occasionally but fortunately they haven't torn up the line.

Rockingham Junction. Stopped by, took a look at the station, noticed that the door on the Portsmouth Branch side was open. Took this opportunity to get some inside pics. One door had a sign that read baggage. There were a couple  of bathrooms inside and a door that lead to the cellar. I hope that the door is secured and that the station doesn't deteriorate any further. Unfortunatley the flash wasn't working on my cheap camera so it will be interesting to see how well the pics came out.

Rode West on the Portsmouth Branch, as always the riding was good, quite a bit of right of way fence was visible but no other railroad artifacts. The iron on the West wye is still down but hasn't been used for quite some time. It's overgrown and is disconnected from the main line. The grade was slightly uphill on this section of the Portsmouth Branch.

Last stop was Raymond. Stopped by the Depot in the middle of town. In great shape. The historical society was having a meeting and I went for a short ride on the Portsmouth Branch heading West. The riding was good. After you cross the main street, the old freight house is on your left. Go a little further and there is a loading platform on your right. Unlike the one on the other side of the station, this one is made of concrete and more modern than the old stone and dirt one. Passed by the concrete floor remains of a business that used to be trackside. A little further up on the right is another business that used to get rail service. I only went a bit further. The line was up on an embankment, was in good shape, and the remains of old ties could be seen.
 
 
 
 

5/6/00 Saturday, cool day, a sprinkle here and there, didn't get out of work 'till 4:30pm. Decided to take a ride up to Barrington, see if some friends were around and take a quick ride on a favorite section of WN&P. Parked the car at the Scruton Pond Road crossing in Barrington. The line used to cross here on a bridge. The embankment on the East side is about 25 feet about the road. Some stonework is still there. The West side abutment is gone. The embankment on that side is mostly gone as well. Rode up the hill going East to get up to the right of way. Accidentally rode over some old right of way fencing which got caught up in the chain. No big deal, kept a small piece. Anyways, I had been over this section of ROW a couple of times. Never saw any block signal bases or other artifacts. Was hoping to this time as the foliage was at a minimum. Did see four or five deer cross the ROW ahead of me.

The ROW is in good shape the first 500 feet or so. You can see coal on the ground and the riding is easy. As you head East you are climbing slightly and in heavy rains the right of way becomes a stream. Because of the erosion there were a lot of exposed roots crossing the ROW which made for some not so pleasant riding.

Continued riding up to the Green Hill Rd crossing, crossed over and rode the ROW down until it went off into the woods. Here the ROW looks like a dirt road and it's being used as someones driveway. Interestingly there was right of way fence on both sides of the ROW and in some places it was actually in pretty good shape. The ROW was fairly wide about 100 feet.

Other parts of the ROW had right of way fencing as well.

Not an overly exciting ride but I'm glad that that section of  ROW is still intact. I did ride this section last fall and because of the foliage it was a beautiful ride.

WN&P fans should walk or ride this section of the line.
 
 
 
 

5/5/00 Friday, beautiful day, couldn't ask for a nice day. Temps in the high seventies. Made some extra time today to go out an check out a few areas. Since I had to be in Andover on business I figured I'd head over to Tewksbury and take a second look at Tewksbury Junction. I parked the car on East St near pumping station number one and rode in. I went up to the embankment carrying the freight main and had no trouble locating the stonework that allowed the line from Andover and Lawrence to go under the current freight main. On this side of the embankment a lot of dirt had been dumped over the side so you could just barely make out the stone work. Wasn't even worth taking a picture. Due to all the trees it was almost impossible to get a good picture anyways.

I was able to follow the depression that marked the right of way for a short distance. It's on the edge of a farm. There was a very small piece of what appeared to be right of way fence, on the ground, and there was a wooden post of the type that the railroad used holding up part of the fencing. You could just make out where the line came in from the Livingston St crossing. The line that went Southeast towards Wilmington Jct appeared to go right next to a pond and then someones back lawn. It was tough imagining what the layout was back then.

The town appears to have reshaped the land when they put in their wells, that made things even tougher. No sign of the old station either.

I then headed over to South St. Here the line from Tewksbury Jct going over to Wilmington Jct crosses. I was able to find the crossing this time. It's the entrance to some farm, further in you get to a dump, and then the end appears to be some area used for paintball. From there the ROW continues but it's really not drivable. I could hear route 93 traffic when I got out of the car to take a picture, so I think I was pretty close to Wilmington Jct which is supposed to be on this side of 93. I'll go back at another time and head in a little further and see what the story is. Looking on a topo it appears that there may be a river to contend with, most likely there is no bridge. We'll see.

On South St there is a guy with a nice railroad layed out in his yard. It's 7 1/5" gage and he has an small "deisel" engine and several cars. The engine is power by a small gas engine. The tracks have been in since 89 and were in good shape. He operates quite often and was a very nice guy. Showed me the whole setup including motive power and rolling stock. I had stopped last time I was down there but noone was home.

Had supper with a friend in Plaistow, wanted to get one more ride in, headed up to Fremont again, parked on the right of way behind the station on route 107 and rode in a mile and a half or so. Been there before, didn't see anything new. The block signal base near the station is still there and painted in a reflective color to keep people from hitting it. This end of the Fremont branch was in good shape and easy to ride on except for the horses hoofs and the horse shinola. Even though they have signs up saying you can't use motorized vehicles on this right of way, I ran into one. There are a lot of dirt roads in the woods out here that cross the ROW so they could be coming in from  many different places, not just the ones with signs.

There were files out but at riding speed they weren't a problem at all. Let's hope this great weather continues.
 
 
 
 

5/4/00 Thursday, had some extra time, it was a beautiful day, went for a ride on the former Fremont branch in Fremont. This is the old WN&P. This section was in use up to the late 70's. I have ridden this section several times before, was looking mainly for exercise and to enjoy the rest of a beautiful day.

The ROW was in good shape except for some hoof marks from horses. Gotta put up some No Horses Allowed signs. There were still quite a lot of old ties laying around and an occasional piece of iron, like joint bars.

On the way back I found another block signal base. This one was about a half mile from North Rd on the Westbound side. A half mile or so further on the Eastbound side there was another one. This one has been spraypainted with reflective paint to keep snowmobiles from hitting it.

There was quite a bit of right of way fence on both sides in places.

Near North Road the ROW was a bit rough to ride on, half a mile in or so it's really good to ride.

4/30/00 Sunday, nice day, windy, temps in the 60's although because of the wind it felt colder. Was kind of tired today so didn't do as much as I had hoped but still managed to make it as far as Rochester.

First stop was where the WN&P joins route 125 in West Gonic, this is just south of Oak Street. Route 125 passes by a condominium complex that will be on the left as you head North. These condo's are down in a valley as compared with route 125. The WN&P ran behind this complex and comes up and essentially joins route 125 for a short distance then crosses over , goes right thru the interchange with the Spaulding, and if you look on your right after you pass underneath the Spaulding you can see the embankment on the South side of the Amerigas building.

I went up past where the line and 125 merged, turned around and pulled over. Got out to take some pictures. It was quite plain to see how everything came together. I was quite surprised to find a block signal base at this location. There was also some fencing that looked like right of way fence. Looking East you can see how route 125 was built on part of the old ROW at this point and looking West you can see the downgrade as the line ran behind the condo complex and then it's upgrade again as you head West.

Headed through Rochester to Eastern Ave. Eastern Ave runs from the center of town over to 202. The WN&P ran parallel to this stretch. Last time when I was up here I noticed that there were more places where you could see the embankment and I decided to take some time to investigate.

The ROW appears to be pretty much intact from just East of the Church on the West end of the Street to just up to where you take the turn left to hit 202. There is a farm that has bulldozed it away and some other places where it is gone but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that more of it than I thought is intact. Unfortunately it's in peoples back yards so it's not accessable. I couldn't even get in position to take a good picture of it.

I had ridden on my bike parts of this ROW and did find a block signal base. Parts of it are accessable and were ridable. Was looking for a milepost but no soap.

I have a book written by the Lebanon Maine Historical Society. It's called "The Railroad in Retrospect, Lebanon Maine." Very well done. The book says that one of the buildings used for storage by the railroad was moved from East Lebanon to East Rochester near the church on the East end of Eastern Ave. I drove into the church parking lot. There were several buildings, mostly new plus one pretty old one out back. Most likely that was the one.

Headed North on Route 125 up to the location of Hayes in North Rochester. The station is gone, I head heard it was moved back several hundred feet. I didn't notice it. There was a siding up there, the track was in great shape.

Headed back thru Rochester, Barrington, then 152 over to Newmarket and Newfields. Stopped at Rockingham Jct. There were ballast cars on the East wye, the line to Portsmouth. Lots of ballast being spread. The station is slowly deteriorating. One of the two front doors was ripped open. The second one held so you still can't get in. I took a couple of pictures. The West wye had been used to store cars. It's been disconnected, some of it ripped up, some still there. There was snap track laying around as well as piles of used ties.

Headed home.

4/29/00

Great day, nice and sunny, got out of work early, headed home and got the bike. Temp in the 60's, sunny and not much wind. Todays mission is Springvale and East Lebanon. Headed up through Rochester, East Rochester, and blasted out 202 to East Lebanon.

Took a left onto Upper Middle Road. This road turns to dirt a short distance in. I drove up to the WN&P crossing and looked around. To the West, short distance and a bridge out. To the East the ROW goes a short distance and is then blocked by a gate someone put up. Too bad, this would have been a great shortcut from Upper Middle over to Smith Rd.

It was in this location that allegedly Andersons siding was located according to the book on Lebanon Maine. I looked and looked, I drove East on the WN&P until I got to the gate. No soap, no trace of it.

Headed to my next stop which was the corner of Smith St and Blanchard Rd. The WN&P crossed underneath Smith St. There used to be a bridge. This area need further investigation. I found the ROW ok, it was at a lower level and it was easy to see that it would have crossed underneath. What I don't quite understand is the fact that I saw what appeared to be an embankment that was about level with the road. I know that there appeared to be quite a grade on Andersons siding, at least that's what it looked like in the picture. I'll be back to check things out.

Headed down Blanchard road a short distance, found a dirt road that went into the WN&P, it was drivable so I decided to try it. Drove in and started driving East on the WN&P. No problem, ROW was in reasonable shape, was able to go a quarter of a mile until a washout put an end to things.

Headed East again on Blanchard Rd. There was interesting stone archwork that carried the WN&P over a stream. I had driven over it in the car. Got a picture of that.

East again on Blanchard. Came to Hanson Ridge Rd. Stopped at the WN&P crossing. Going East was a disappointment. The right of way has been turned into a stream. This crossing is just East of Deering Pond. I had been wanting to get in to see Deering pond and see if there is any sign of the old Deering Pond Spur. Last weekend when I was hear the water was really pouring down the right of way. This week it wasn't as bad but you could plainly see that the bed of the ROW was all rocks.

Headed West on the WN&P on my bike. Nice riding, went in a mile or so. No mileposts or other granite posts but there was quite a bit of right of way fence.

Headed back, next stop Springvale.

Headed down the Main Street. Saw where the line used to cross. The abutments and embankment on the East side of the street were gone. On the West side the embankment was still there.

The line is used as a trail near the Mousam river.

Found RR ave, and saw where the line ran parallel for a short distance. Pulled in next to the right of way. There were a couple of buildings that looked like they used to have rail service. One of those loading platforms made out of earth and stone was visible. The stone wall was next to where the tracks were and earth behind it allowed people to load and unload cars. Sandown, Hampstead, and Hubbard had similar loading facilities.

Got on the bike and rode East for a bit. There were quite a few ties still in the ground. I found myself riding on the embankment on what could have been a path beside the tracks when they were there. The ties were on the left. At times the embankment was quite high. I was looking down 30  feet or so. After a quarter mile or so there was a powerline right of way and at that point there was a fairly good sized washout. Didn't go any further.

I expect to be spending more time up that way as I'm sure there is much more to see.
 
 
 
 

4/22/00 Had to work, weather was lousy rained all weekend. Good day to work, I wouldn't have been too happy if it was 75 and sunny out and I was stuck inside. Anyways, decided to head up route 108 and check out Durham and Dover. Not a long trip. Drove up Route 108 and crossed into Durham, took one of the left hand turns and drove downtown, I managed to find the railroad station. It's in good shape and is being used by UNH as a place to eat. The freight house was there too. I took pictures from all sides.

Headed up to Dover, was on the phone with a friend who reminded me that the old engine house is still around. I found it without difficulty on Oak st. It still looked like an engine house. It's some business now, can't remember the name though. There were three parallel tracks running nearby. A short distance East of here is Rollinsford and the interchange with the New Hampshire Northcoast.

It was not the greatest of days for railfanning. Left Dover, headed back home.

4/23/00 Headed up to Rochester, East Lebanon, and Springvale, lousy day, even more rain. This was basically a mission to scout out the territory in plans to come back the next week. I'm going to put all the details in the 4/29 writeup.
 

4/16/00 Sunday, nice day, a little cloudy, temps in the 60's. No rain to speak of despite what the weather people were saying. I've learned to not plan my trips around weather forecasts. They tend to be wrong a little too often..

Anyways, interesting trip today, headed up the back roads through Sandown, Fremont, Epping, then jumped on the WN&P up to Barrington. (For those that may not be aware, route 125 from Epping to Barrington was built over the old WN&P) More back roads and came out in West Gonic, just south of the Spaulding.

Stopped at the Amerigas company just North of the Spaulding, on the right. The WN&P came through here on an embankment. The opening picture of my page was taken here. Last summer, before they did all the work, you could drive right up to the river and if you looked across you could see the abutments on the East side of the river. The abutments on this side of the river had been removed although if you walked up to the edge of the river and looked down you could still see the base of the abutments. The embankment has long since been bulldozed as well. On the other side of the building part of the embankment is still there and there is also an abutment as well. The embankment remaining is about 100 feet long or so and is well covered with trees.

The embankment ran between the abutments and the exit ram for the Spaulding. It looks like at one time cars were loaded and unloaded there.

From there I headed on out to East Rochester and over into Maine. I headed East out to East Lebanon. The station is gone. If I'm not mistaken the station was taken apart and moved and is now a house but not anywhere in the area. There was a building next to the general store that reminded me of a freight house.

Route 202 was built on top of the old WN&P from South Lebanon to East Lebanon. When you get to Depot Rd in East Lebanon the WN&P more or less went straight while 202 took a slight turn to the right or towards the South a bit.

It was not too much trouble to find the ROW. You can't see it from 202 but if you go into the trailer park on the corner you will see that the main street in the trailer park is the right of way. The road ended a short distance in and the ROW continued into the woods. It was not trouble riding the mountain bike over. It doesn't get too much use because one or two tenths of a mile in there is a good sized brook that puts a stop to any riding. The abutments are still there but the distance across is such that it's unlikely anyone is going to make a make-shift bridge across and the water looked too deep to cross without swimming or a boat.

So much for that. I continued down 202 to the next street heading North. Took a left on Upper Middle Road and went up a mile or so, the road went from being paved to being a dirt road. It crossed over a stream on a bridge then a little ways up the RR crossed. If was not blocked so I drove Eastward on the line for a couple tenths of a mile before the line was blocked by a gate and a no-trespassing sign.

Drove back to the road and headed in the other way. A few hundred feet in, abutments, an even wider stream, and no way to go any further.

Headed back to Rochester and Barrington. Went up and down the streets between West Gonic and Barrington to see if the ROW had been further encroached upon. Fortunately it hadnt.

Stopped across the street from Calefs and rode the bike down the ROW to get some picture before the houses came in and destroyed the ROW.

Headed back towards home, decided to take some time and check out Londonderry. Headed up 28, Crystal Ave, in the middle of town, crossed over the ROW, then came across it again near an industrial park, just East of 93. Went for a quick ride but the dirt was so soft that I turned right around.

Headed further into Londonderry, was surprised to see iron down and the remains of several sidings. The iron was in ok shape, if you had a railbike you could have some fun on it. Took quite a few pics, but by then it was getting dark, hopefully they came out.

It was a good weekend, covered quite a bit of the WN&P from Pepperell MA to E. Lebanon Maine. Got a quick peak at some iron on the M&L and found another piece of the line from Candia to Concord.

4/15/00 Sat, great day today, temps in the low 70's and sunny. Ran the car air conditioner on and off. Figured I'd head off towards the West today. Went up thru Sandown, Hampstead, Derry, Windham, and then over to Hudson. Seeing if anything on the WN&P had changed. Stopped by the remains of the old West Windham Station. Nothing changed there, no cleanup after the fire, no nothing.

The station in Hudson is still in the old Benson's Animal Farm and looked to be in good condition.

I headed West on 111 thru Hudson, passed by the Burger King, the WN&P abutments behind the BK are still there although it looks like blocks are disappearing gradually.

Instead of taking a right turn at the lights and following route 111, I decided to go straight and stay on Central Street. The WN&P used to run parallel to this section of Central Street. As you were heading down Central you would have seen the line come in on your right, run along side you, then cross over to the other side. As you got to the end of Central, the line went off a bit to the left, crossed over 3A on a bridge, and continued on it's way to the river.

I had gone up and down Central Street many times looking for any remains of the line. That stretch of Central St. is too hilly to have been a railroad line. After not finding anything I had to conclude that the road, which is fairly wide, may have been built on the old line and because the road was wider than the embankment, the embankment was cut down. It is also possible that housing alongside Central St, which is constant, obliterated the line.

About halfway down that stretch of Central St, First Brook crosses underneath the road. I had wondered if there were any WN&P abutments remaining. Foliage had made it tough to see from the road in the past. This time I thought I had seen something on my way out West. I made a mental note to check it on the way back. Sure enough, the stone I saw turned out to be abutments from the old RR. They were on the left side, or the Eastbound side of the road and were in about the right place according to the topos that I had seen. I thought that was a good find and was pleased.

I also remembered looking at the topos and seeing that the line ran along side a stream or small pond near 3A, I was going by there and noticed what looked to be a 50 foot or so stretch of  ROW. It was in the right place and looked like a right of way. Probably was. Other than that I haven't been able to find any trace of the line between 3A and 111.

Headed thru Nashua, the WN&P ROW along Hollis St looked the same as last year. Headed out past route 3 and continued on towards Hollis. On my way out I decided to check out the area behind the cemetary on the Eastbound side of 111. I was hoping that the area behind the cemetary may be untouched and traces of the ROW could be found. No such luck. I had looked at a topo that didn't show the RR directly but you could follow the contour lines on the map and see where it was. The map had it passing right behind the cemetary. There was a depression behind the cemetary and if the line did come thru in a cut it could have been it but there wasn't enough evidence to come to any definate conclusions.

Continued West, took a left onto Depot Rd, passed by the gas company that marked the end of the Hollis Branch which was the last use of that stretch of WN&P. Continued right onto Groton road and continued down till I got to the grade crossing. Parked the car, got on the bike and rode West for less than a mile. The roadbed was in usable condition. 4 wheelers had made it tough in places. In other places there were rather lame attempts to keep people off the right of way. Someone dumped a whole load of dirt and rocks, no problem, trail users made a trail around the obstacle. Kept riding till I came to the crossing of the Nashua River. The abutments had been torn out and it looked like the roadbed went right down to the water. It may have been possible to cross, not sure. Headed back to the car, crossed over the road and headed East for a bit. Came across a block signal on the Westbound side. 4 wheelers had heavily torn up this section. The holes were deep.
 

Headed West into Pepperell, just took a quick look around, wasn't planning on heading out that way so didn't make up any maps in advance. Did cross over one right of way though. The line that went over to West Hollis on it's way up to Milford. Not in great shape.

Headed up to Candia. Found where the line crossed over the Chester Turnpike, just south of route 27. It looked in good shape towards the East, towards the West it headed straight into the dump and was fenced off.

Will update more tomorrow.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4/14/00 Friday,  nice day today, finished up work, had supper with a friend and Larry's in Plaistow, had the bike on the back of the car because I was planning on getting a close up look at Newton Jct. I go thru Newton Jct several times a week, it's one of those places I don't think about  too much 'cause I'm there all the time. NJ is a somewhat interesting place, the freight house is still there and is in good shape. There is also quite a bit of iron down as well. It's disconnected from the main line but for some unknown reason it's still down.

Newton Jct used to have two mainline tracks a long passing siding as well as other shorter sidnings. A close up look at a topo map showed 5 tracks crossing the main street. Just north of the main street the line to Merrimac diverged from one of the sidings.

What is there today is the main line, and on the south side of main street are several sidings and the freight house. The sidings are in good shape in places and buried in other places. Switches and switch stands remain. Right at the main street is a bumper post. I can't figure out why it's there because there is not enough room to spot even a short locomotive past the switch let alone any cars. Maybe they put it in just to look nice. The track comes up to just about the main street, then there is the bumper post, right in front of the bumper post is a switch to take you onto another siding.

There was new ballast along the main line.

I followed the sidings down to where they all connect to each other and then to the main line. The iron has been mangled near the main line and there is no trace whatsoever of a switch. 3 or 4 years ago the switch was out when I was down there but you could see the iron of the siding going right up to the main line and parts of the switch were still in.

I found the remains of the turntable pit near where the line comes close to Whittier St. Right near where the sidings merged with the main line. No stone in the pit, just the hole. It wasn't clear from the surroundings where the lead to the pit was.

There was another turntable in NJ, off the Merrimac Branch, where the south leg of the wye was.

Very little change in the junction over the last three or four years.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4/8/00 Great day today, temp near 70 and sunny. Gas down to a buck thirty nine.

Started off today with a nice leisurely drive up to Rochester, went via Route 108 to 152 to 125. Stopped at Calef's in Barrington, parked in the lot across the street, right next to the old mash house, the only surviving railroad building in Barrington. Took the bike off the car and rode the WN&P East for half a mile. Been here many times before, just checking to see if anything had changed. Unfortunately it looks like some change is going to occurr in the near future. As I was riding the ROW I noticed surveyors spikes, they were painted fluorescent orange and had lot numbers on them. It appears to me that they are planning on building houses in there between the WN&P and route 125. What or where the access road will be has yet to be determined but unfortunately it could be the WN&P between Calef's and Scruton Pond Rd. If anyone is interested in that section of the line, recommend you check it out soon as it may not be around much longer.
 

From there I headed up to Rochester. Stopped at the old Brachs company that is right next to the line that went from Rochester to Dover. Parked the car, got on the bike and rode the old ROW West for half a mile or so. I was able to see quite clearly where the switch used to be to go to the West Gonic Spur, I had written about this last time I was up there so this isn't anything new. What was new is that I could see where the embankment was for the WN&P. You see, the two lines used to run parallel for a mile or so on their way into town. In later years the duplicate trackage was removed and a switch was put in where the lines has diverged. Traffic going to West Gonic went down the line to Dover and then switched to the West Gonic spur at the switch. Originally the lines ran parallel and between Brachs and the location of the switch there were a few traces of the old embankment that carried the WN&P. In places the embankment was quite plain and I got some pictures.

I rode the Dover branch down to almost the point of where the line crossed 16b on an iron bridge. For some reason, before the iron bridge all the old ties are still in the middle of the ROW so going any further would have been tough.
 

Back to the car and on to my next stop. Headed out to East Rochester and South Lebanon, M.E. Crossed into Maine, took my first left and began looking for anyway to get into the area where the old abutments were. The WN&P crossed the Salmon Falls river on a bridge which has been removed. I had looked several times for a way to get in and photograph the remains. Fortunately I had the bike with me this time so I parked near where I thought they were and I rode down a dirt path towards the river. I was able to easily see the remains of the old highway bridge and sure enough the abutments of the RR bridge where there too. On the West side, in East Rochester someone built a house right on the embankment going to the abutments, their porch looked down on the river right over the abutments. On the East side the abutments were still there but the embankment leading up to the abutments was gone. Got pictures and was able to put together how the WN&P went thru S. Lebanon.

A little further East there is a few hundred feel of ROW still left. You can ride on it with a bike. It's just before the location of where the line merges and becomes route 202.

Headed back towards Plaistow to meet a friend for supper and then it was on to Candia. I was interested in Candia because the Manchester to Portsmouth line originally went not to Manchester but to Concord. The section from Candia to Concord was abandoned way back in 1862. A very long time ago. I had heard that parts of the line could still be seen. I printed some maps on the computer and hoped for the best.

My first stop in Candia was the location of the Candia Station. Old maps indicated that this was where the two lines diverged. The station was formerly on Main street. Not far from route 27. Been there before. Found it without any difficulty even though in Candia street signs seemed few and far between. On the East side of the crossing you could see a milepost indicating mileage to manchester (11) and mileage to Portsmouth. I headed West on my bike and was surprised to see the line to Concord almost immediately. The embankment was very plain and I was able to ride on it for a few hundred feet. I then headed back to the car to put the whole thing together.

At the crossing, on the West side is a day care, it's not the station though. It turns out that the line to Concord actually branched off on the East side of the crossing, passed right through what is now the day care and continued on in a Westerly direction behind the day care. The day care is on a corner. I drove in front of the day car, took a left onto the other street, the ROW to Concord was visible in the woods on my left. This street went down a few tenths of a mile to route 43. Took a left onto 43, crossed over the ROW and could see that it was in great shape for as far as I could see. Not bad for line that's been abandoned for 138 years.

Based on a tip I made my way Westward over to South Rd, on South Rd I was able to find the crossing and even the original station on that line. The station was someone's house. The ROW went right next to the house, crossed a small stream and headed West. I saw the front wooden door was open, the people were home, so I figured I'd knock and at least let them know why this strange looking character was so interested in their house. The owner was very nice, he confirmed that the house was the old station, he had been advised by the realtor when he bought it and had seen other records confirming the fact. He showed me where they added on to the track side of the house and where the boardwalk used to be.

He also allowed me to ride the ROW West. He had advised the line continues till you get to water, water everywhere, and then it stops.

I rode West, crossed over a couple of planks across the abutments that carried the line over a stream and continued riding for a few tenthsof a mile. The line seemed to parallel a stream and there was water on both sides.  Not too much further I saw what he meant. It looked as though the line was heading out on a causeway in the middle of a good sized lake. The causeway went out a few hundred feet. I rode it to the end. Because of the time of day it wasn't easy to see to the West because of the sun. Steve, the owner of the station advised that there was another causeway coming from the other side of the lake, not sure what was in the middle, could have been a now flooded out causeway, a pile trestle, who knows. A lot can happen in 138 years.

The causeway that I rode out on was not much higher than the water, wouldn't surprise me that when we get a lot of rain that the causeway is under water.

Went back to the station, Steve asked for the address of the page, I thanked him for his help and headed home. Across the street from the station, the ROW was encroached upon, couldn't see if there was anything left of it or not. When I head up there again I'll check it out.

Up in Candia the area is very very hilly. It's amazing they got a railroad through there at all.

On my way back I stopped by the location of the East Candia depot. There is a sign marking the spot but no station. I had gone by the street a few times earlier because there was no street sign. Had a seen Depot Rd up on a street sign I most certainly would have gone down the road.

So that was pretty much it, a very interesting day, great weather, I'm glad I was out enjoying it instead of having to work that day.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4/1/00   Great day, gas prices down to $1.42 at Haffners on the Haverhill/Plaistow line. The weather was sunny and in the 60's. Too bad I had to spend it working. After I got out I did have a couple hours of daylight left. Decided to take in a small piece of the Amesbury Branch, basically pick up where I left off last time. Like to leave relatively close places for days that I only have a few hours to play.

Drove down route 110 thru Amesbury, took a left after I went under 95 and went up to the grade crossing. There is a company on the right with a big parking lot. Parked there. Rode west a very short distance till I came upon the bridges carrying route 95 over the tracks. Unfortunately someone had piled up so many rocks and dirt that it was not worth carrying the bike over the mess so I headed back. Just East of 95 there was evidence that some RR related building had been there at one point. , almost looked like a station was once there. I don't think there was one there but I'll have to check and see.

From there I put the bike back on the car, drove West on 110 and went up the last street before you get to 495. Parked the car, you really couldn't ride East because of the new construction that obliterated the ROW. I rode West, underneath 495 and kept going till I got to what looked to be a huge washout. There were no abutments and no sign of a stream that the railroad went over. Just a big gap, 20 feet across and 12 feet deep. Didn't feel like going around so headed back.

The ROW from the grade crossing up to and underneath 495 had been typical, some evidence of 4 wheelers, some cinders, very few ties. Just before you get to the gap in the ROW, there is a dirt road that goes down, and around the gap, if you continued straight on the ROW, now you see all the old ties still there.

There is also evidence that someone had been in there recently and had done some brush cutting and had cut down some small trees. Don't know, maybe someone is planning on doing something with it.

Didn't see anything striking enough to take any pictures, so I didn't.
 
 

3/31/00 Was looking thru Ron Karr's Lost Railroads of New England book last nite seeing if there were any right of ways that I might be interested in checking out. I spotted the line from Hamilton/Wenham to Asbury Grove. The line was 1.1 miles long and served a Methodist camp. It was abandoned in 1901 and was used for about 30 years, summers only. Anyway, the camp is still there. It's interesting because some of the buildings are very old. You can just drive right in and take a look around.

There was no trace of the ROW where it left the main line and no trace of it at the other end either. I went up and down some streets looking for it but no soap. I'll have to go down with my bike. There were some areas that I couldn't easily get into with the car. There must be some trace of it left.

On the other side of the Eastern, the line to Essex Mass diverged. It was 5.5 miles long with an extension to Conomo that tacked on an extra mile or so. The line to Essex was abandoned in 1942. I printed a current map of the area using Street Atlas 6, compared it to a 1893 topo, penned in where the railroad would have been, marked the stations and headed down that way.

You could easily see where the line headed East right across the street from the main line. I followed some roads that should have crossed it but didn't see anything. There were some stations along the line as well. I'm going to have to ride that line from the beginning on the bike and see how far it goes. Unfortunately didn't find too much out today. Will try again. Will also try some more up to date topos of the area.

Checked out the North Beverly Station for Gary Lapoint, it was listed on his web page as needing a visit. No station there, just the T platform.

3/30/00 Been really busy the last few weeks, still finding time to get out and look around but not time to write about it. This entry will catch up the last few weeks. I've already written about the west side of Tewksbury, I've also done some exploring of the other side, out towards route 93. I left off where the spur crossed North St. in Tewksbury, there used to be a station there, Tewksbury Center, I believe was the name of it. No sign of it. The old tracks come up to North St. and then stop. Across North St. you can see where the line continued on to Tewksbury Jct. Unfortunately it has been badly encroached upon. That section of the line was abandoned around 1926. The section from Wamesit to North Rd was abandoned in 1983 and had service until around 1979 according to Lost RR's of New England. Once you crossed North Rd the line continued in a North East direction up to Tewksbury jct., about a mile away or less. From there you could go to Lawrence via West Andover or down to Wilmington Jct. Traces of  this section of the right of way still exist.

I was able to find where the line from West Andover crossed under the present freight main just North of Tewksbury jct. The stone abutments are still there but the tunnel underneath the freight main has been filled in. A path leads up to the tracks and presumably down the other side. There was snow on the ground and I was in sneakers and I didn't feel like getting my feet wet so I didn't pursue it too far that day. I am looking forward to getting back in there with the mountain bike and seeing if I can find the actual location of Tewksbury jct. I haven't seen any sign that the area has been heavily built up so I expect to be able to find it with little difficulty.

The line going to West Andover on the North side of Tewksbury Jct. and on the North side of the freight main can be easily seen from the back of Boxcar Rd. If you're heading North on Livingston you'll pass by Chandler on your left, then you should see the point where  the line crosses on it's way to Tewksbury Jct., shortly after that you'll cross over the freight main, take a right onto Boxcar, go to the back of the building and look in the woods, you can see the embankment. Walk in a bit and you will see where the line crossed underneath the freight main.

Continue North on Livingston, then take a right onto Pinnacle, you'll cross over the right of way right near the brook, the line appears to have followed the brook.

Going back the other way, across the tracks again, down Livingston and onto East, I am pretty surer I found where it crosses East Street on it's way out to Wilmington Jct. Maybe I should say the "former" Wilmington jct. At some point I'll compare current with past maps and trace the route of the  right of way heading SouthEast. I headed down East St. to Chandler, was on the phone with a friend in Salem who was familiar with the area and he directed me to Burtts Crossing. There used to be a station here. No trace of it remaining. You can see the ROW as it heads SouthEast but no trace going the other way. The line crosses a small river a short distance in, the abutments are still  there and a fairly new aluminum bridge was built. The row was in good shape, at some point I'd like to take the bike down there and see how far you can go.

According to the maps that I have looked at there are no roads that go to Wilmington Jct. so the only way to get in there is via the old ROW.

Around Tewksbury on the East side, off of East Rd, there were numerous companies with sidings, a few that were still in use, some that didn't appear to be used but were still connected, then others that pieces of iron were still visible.

I found a granite post that read 100 Cars. Indicating a siding of 100 car lengths. No sign of the siding remains though.

Tewksbury was interesting, I'll get back there at some point with the bike and do some more exploring.

Recently I went to Amesbury/Salisbury with the bike and rode a few miles of the old Amesbury Branch. I parked the car on Cushing St, which is the first street West of the Eastern Route. I rode East a short distance, the line started curving towards the South to meet up with the Eastern, unfortunately there was too much water and I was going into a cut so there was no way around it, had to turn around. Before the flooded section the ROW was in good shape, ties were still in the ground but it was no problem riding over them as the dirt was level with them.

At the Cushing St. crossing there was a flanger sign, a block signal base and at two of the round concrete things for storing signal batteries. I rode West for a mile and a half to two miles. The ROW was in very good shape and was easy to ride on. I passed one vandalized milepost. It read S1, A3, indicating mileage to Amesbury and Salisbury.

I stopped riding a short distance before crossing under 95. I'll take in that section of the line at another time. I like to save some stuff that is close in for days that I don't have much time and can't travel very far before dark.

On a couple of trips I went up to Greenland. Greenland is next to Portsmouth and is on the Eastern and the Portsmouth Branch. There are/were four stations in Greenland. Three are still standing. The stations Greenland, Stratham (yes it's in Greenland), and Bayside are still standing. Breadfast hill is gone.

Greenland is in it's original location, it's in ok shape, it had a bayed window, it' now some company and the back of the station was kind of destroyed to put in garage doors. The front looks ok except that it's boarded up.

Bayside is now a house and doesn't really look much like a station, it's in good shape and is in it's original location.

Stratham is a house, in good shape, and was moved back from the tracks 75 feet. The track at that point was in reasonable shape but if you stepped on the ties you could hear water sloshing under the tie.

All three of those stations are on the Portsmouth Branch, the line from Rockingham Jct. to Portsmouth.

Breakfast Hill, on the Eastern is gone without a trace.

Danvers, very interesting place. Lots of iron, no train service, one of nine stations still survives.

Headed down to Danvers last weekend, first stop was Putnamville. This is the northern most station in Danvers, it's on Wenham Rd, just off of 35. The station is gone, if there was a freight house, that's gone too. There is iron from Wenham Rd to route 97 on the Danvers/Wenham line. A mile or more I estimate, it's in good shape, and has been cleared of brush, which has me worried, are they going to tear it up?

At the crossing there on Wenham Rd, there is a house with a RR ornament and there is a small flat trailer that used to be pulled behind a track car, on the iron. Looks like they have their own private RR. Not bad. Going the other way, towards Danvers there is no iron in the crossing, it has been torn up for a hundred feet or so then continues into town.

When you get into town, from 35 go to Hobart St., you'll see an old freight house and down further you'll see the Danvers Jct. station. Danvers Jct. station looks a little funny because it's aligned for the line that went from Salem to Lawrence via Danvers, Middleton, and North Andover. The track that went past the bayed window on to Middleton is gone. Track going to Tops field which crossed the Salem/Lawrence line at grade still passes by. The station is fenced in, in good shape, and is used by an oil company I believe.

On Hobart Street, where the tracks cross 35, just past the freight house, if you look carefully you can see the remains of  an asphalt boardwalk where the Danvers station used to be. This station is a mere two tenths of a mile according to the timetable from Danvers Jct.

I still don't know Danvers very well yet so it's tough to remember the exact location of everything. What it boils down to is that the remains of two lines are still there. The line from Wakefield up to Topsfield, and Newburyport, as well as the Salem to Lawrence line. The iron on the Salem Lawrence line ends just before the Jct. station. The turnout that would allow you to switch from the Salem/Lawrence line heading towards Lawrence, over to the track to Newburyport is still there. At other locations there are numerous sidings. If you had a railbike, Danvers is the place to go. Plenty of places to ride without fear of getting hit by train or truck, and the iron is in reasonable shape.

Down by the Crane River there are two trestles carrying the line to Wakefield over the Crane River, one is pretty short, the other is longer and higher. The second can be seen from the Sylvania plant.

Crossing a wider section of the Crane river is a very interesting bridge. It is several hundred feet long and right now appears to only carry a pipe across the river. It is possible that that is all it was ever for. One end of the bridge is near iron, the iron coming in from Wakefield, and the other end is suspiciously near a company that I understand used to be a tannery. Missing is an embankment at the customer end that would have carried the track to the loading dock. On the other end the level of the bridge is a few feet higher than the tracks. I checked a couple of topo maps and they do not show this bridge. At one time it looks like it was possible that this bridge allowed the building on the other side of the river to have rail service. Anyone have any info on this?

Last trip to talk about was a quick ride out to South Middleton. Iron was still down, you could see where it went in to a company that is now called Blistik. No sign of the former station there either. In short, not much to talk about out there. This line continued on to Wilmington Jct.

As soon as I can I'll post some pictures to accompany this update. I'll also try to make the updates more timely. Probably posting the updates the same day then adding pictures after they're developed and I have time to scan them.
 
 

3/22/00 Was reading Gary Lapoints page a few days ago, www.lightlink.com/sglap3, and was looking over the list of station sites that needed to be visited. Noticed West Andover was on there. Interesting, that's on an old right of way that had been abandoned a long time ago. The 1941 topo I was looking at showed iron to the industrial park in Lawrence and only the cuts and embankments the rest of the way. This is the line that ran from Lawrence to Tewksbury Jct. Ron Karr (www.branchlinepress.com) says it was abandoned in 1926. I used Street Atlas 6 from Delorme to print a current map of the area. I compared the old topos with this map and penciled in the path of the right of way on the new map. The line bisects routes 495 and 93 where they cross. The right of way crosses route 133, it's actually someones driveway there, follows the edge of Haggets pond and then takes a turn to the right and heads northeast toward Lawrence. The ROW is in good shape up to the interchange for route 495 and 93 where it's obliterated. On the other side of 495 and 93 it crosses several roads but it's not in good shape and in some places it's pretty tough to see. I checked the streets that the line crossed and there was no sign of any former station unfortunately. Followed a maze of streets back into Lawrence near the industrial park. Unfortunately the line is pretty much lost from the industrial park to just south of 495. Will be checking it out between 133 and Tewksbury Jct in the weeks to come depending on the weather.

3/4/00  Reasonable day, sorry for the delay in updating the page, been very very busy with work. Checked out the Lowell and Lawrence branch in Lawrence, West Andover, and Tewksbury. Click here for 1918 employee timetable, mileage, and station list.
Here is an old ALA map that shows the branch running from Lawrence to Tewksbury Jct, then on to Lowell. Scanned in good resolution.

Started out in Tewksbury following the old spur that was once the old line from Tewksbury Jct to Wamesit. This map shows the siding that I was folowing in Tewksbury.

Note that even though the line isn't shown Haggets station is shown on the map.

A friend of mine photocopied this map and sent it to me in the mail. It's a very old map of Tewksbury, appears to be from the late 1800's.

That lays out the documention for the area that we're interested in. Here are some pictures from along the spur.

Current end of track (if you can call it that) at North St in Tewksbury. According to that old map of Tewksbury, there was a station here.

View of ROW right next to previous view, this is looking West,  you can see the pole line, city hall in the distance, and on the right you can see some iron.

View looking East, where the line used to cross North St and continued on to Tewksbury Jct. I'll be going back out there to see if there are any traces of this section of the line remaining.

There appears to have been a small yard at some point behind the town hall. This view is looking East.

View looking West.

Here are some more pictures of the spur in Tewksbury, each picture should be just a little bit West of the previous one. I don't remember their exact locations but we're talking a fairly short spur so it doesn't make too much difference. These pictures will give you a good idea of what condition the spur is in and what you can expect to see if you should take a ride out there.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

That's enough for tonite, I'll try to finish up with the rest of the pics in a day or so.

3/1/00 Another nice day, had some extra time, took a topo map showing the Plaistow and surrounding areas and decided to see if I can finish the story of the "secret spur". See this map for details.

I started at the end of the spur. There is no clear indication of where it left the building and headed back towards the freight main. There is strip of land behind that building that could have been the embankment that the spur was on. There is no clear cut evidence so I didn't take any pictures. From there I headed back up to Wal-mart to look at where the spur broke off from the main line. The spot where it broke off appears to be visible. But it's had to tell what is new landscaping and what was there when the spur was there. It appears as though the end of the Walmart parking lot has obliterated the ROW. It also appears that the little river shown on the topo map has been redirected. I walked down to the stream and it doesn't appear to follow the path shown on the topo. I was hoping to use the stream as a reference point.

Finding nothing there I headed up behind Bradlees and walked in that way. One interpretation of the map is that the ROW just misses the Bradlees property. That may be wishful thinking. I went into the woods behind the store and couldn't find anything. You can walk in the woods quite a ways so I'm going to go back there with my mountain bike for a last look.

There are a few areas in between the end of the spur and Walmart that I want to check out, I'll need the agility of the bike to do it though.

I suspect that I'm going to find that the spur has been totally obliterated by recent construction.

I did get an interesting picture of the bridge carrying the freight main over the little river. It's still in the camera so it will probably be a week or so before it's online.
 
 

2/27/00 Nice day today, temps in the 50's plus overcast. Good day to go out and take some pictures. Started in downtown Haverhill over at Hale Street. At one time there was the Hale Street Yard with turntable and enginehouse. The yard was easier to get at from Stevens Street which is on the other side of the tracks. Here the tracks parallel the Little River and this area was apparently a favorite dump site so a couple of years ago access to the tracks from Stevens street was cut off with the installation of a new fence. You used to be able to drive right up to the tracks. Across the tracks was a sign with the word Hall on it. This is where Hall is, where the passenger trains cross over.

On Hale street I noted two tracks that crossed the street to serve industries on the other side. The tracks aren't used anymore and the iron is mostly buried in the street.

Followed Hale Street back to Winter St. Winter Street goes underneath the freight main. This was the scene of a rather spectacular derailment around 1950 +- a few years. Directly across Winter from Hale is the remains of a siding that served a building there. It used to be a grocery type business that received rail service. The siding is up at the same height as the viaduct that carries the freight main thru Haverhill. The bumper post is still there. I drove over to the other side of the building and if you look up you can see the siding.

Much of the freight main in Haverhill is on a viaduct that was part of a grade crossing elimination program that took place early this century. There are only two grade crossings in the city. One in Ward Hill on Cross Rd (The railroad refers to it as Cross Street) and the other at Rosemont.

Speaking of Rosemont, that was my next stop. The station is still there, heavily remodeled, and is now in use as a gift type shop. I think there may be people living there as there were a couple of cars in the parking lot. On the other side of the street there is a fenced in area used by the railroad. Just East of the crossing are the crossovers used by the MBTA to cross the passenger trains over from one track to the other.

There is plenty of room West of the crossing so it's hard to understand why they put the crossovers on the wrong side of the crossing and so close to the crossing. There seems to have been nothing to prevent them from placing the crossovers where they would not have to block traffic needlessly. The railroads need all the friends they can get. Needlessly blocking crossings is not the best way to go about doing that.

Behind the station is Gare, the last rail customer in the city. They have a siding off the Eastbound track with a trailing point switch. Normally I would see a boxcar or two on that siding, for the last two weeks there has been nothing. The siding is still there, it's in very good shape, and it is still connect to the mainline. The siding does drop a few feet to get down to building level and there is a bumper post as the end. The iron was rusty. The ties were for the most part in good shape.

Just East of the crossovers were some railroad signals that were not in use. They were facing out , away from the tracks.

From there I headed back to do another inspection of the Amesbury Branch. At the crossing on Cushing St I noticed that there were still ties in the ground and there was a flanger sign still there and a block signal base. The most interesting thing that I saw was at the Elm St crossing, it's right off route 110 near the Mobil station. All foliage had been cleared from the ROW from the crossing West. The ROW goes on for a couple hundred feet then stops as it has been totally obliterated by Stop and Shop for their new store. There is a battery box on the north side of the ROW right near the crossing, there is still iron in the road at the crossing, and there is a mangled milepost still there. Unfortunately it is totally unreadable. The "battery boxes" in reality are about 3 feet across, covered with a metal cover and are round. They were used to hold batteries for the signal systems.

Next stop was Plaistow and some food. Got some Wendy's chili and headed up behind Walmart to eat it and to take in the so called "secret spur."  After looking the area over well I came to the conclusion that the Walmart, and Bradlees parking lot has most likely obliterated the ROW. I came home, looked at the topos and still think that there may be some hope. If I have time tomorrow I'll head up there tomorrow after work with a topo and see if I can get an answer.

I drove up to the bottling plant that used to be served by this spur. Engraved in the building was 1911 Granite State Spring Water.

Back over behind Walmart, I went down by the tracks, and walked West for a bit. Was pleasantly surprised to see that the siding for the former Westville Homes was still there. Disconnected but still there. It was about a thousand feet long. Most of it located on their property which is fenced in. The siding connected to the freight main via a trailing point switch on the Number 1 or Westbound track.

Just beyond where the siding joined the freight main there was an old signal box, a milepost with the mileage 274, there was also a bridge carrying the two tracks over a fast moving stream.

From Plaistow it was off to Windham to make a quick inspection tour of the WN&P. Starting at West Windham, nothing has changed since the station burned. The hole in the ground is still there. The ROW heading back towards Windham jct is still there. No sign of encroachment. The station and freight house at Windham Jct are unchanged. The Sandown station is still in good shape as is Fremont. Headed up to Epping. Nothing new up there. The gates at the crossings to keep cars out are down to allow the snowmobilers access. Hey, if it gets cold, the ground refreezes, it would be tempted to take a ride on the WN&P.

From Epping it was on to Exeter, noticed a train heading East out of Exeter, followed the train up route 85. Noticed the new signal near the 85 underpass. I've been told it's in use now. Met the train again at Newfields, beat it up to Newmarket where I was taking pictures of the Newmarket station and freight house as the train was going by.

Gates up at the New Boston Road crossing.

That's about it, was a good day.
 
 
 
 

2/13/00 Lazy day today, didn't feel like going anywhere, but I did go out and take a look at a few things. Followed the Western Route up to Exeter. New crossing signals and gates have been installed at the following locations.... Crane's Crossing, Newton Jct crossing, Russ's crossing, didn't check New Boston Rd, and Sanborn road. These crossings previously had lights, they are now getting gates. The upgrades are because of the Boston/Portland service.

Went up to Rockingham Jct, and Newfields, nothing new at either location. The station at the jct is still there. No worse looking than a few months ago.

Headed back to Plaistow via Epping, Fremont, and Sandown. Nothing new at any of those places. The station in Sandown still in fine shape.

Decided to take in "Plaistow's secret spur." I had looked for remains of it a couple of years ago.

2/9/00  Had a few extra minutes today, decided to take a close look at the situation in Atkinson. The Western Route goes through a tiny part of Atkinson on it's way from Haverhill, MA to Plaistow. Route 121 crosses the tracks on a bridge. There used to be a grade crossing here. There is a road right under the bridge that leads to a store. The road doesn't quite go up to the tracks. There used to be a station there, it burned a couple of years ago, the rubble is still there. The old freight house still stands but it's leaning over, not going to last much longer. Atkinson is one of the few places that still has a siding. Used to be some lumber company here. Now Guilford uses it to store a couple of cars. Been a couple of gondolas and occasionally a crane parked there since they started working in earnest on the Boston to Portland track upgrades for the new passenger service. There were also big piles of spikes and other pieces of metal used to hold the old jointed rail together with. There is a dirt road that will take you right down to the tracks so fortunately getting in to look without having to get out of the car wasn't a problem.

2/7/00 Nice day today, temps in the 40's. Was down in Rowley, decided to take route 1 North and take another look at the Eastern and the Amesbury branches.

Got a good view of the RR bridge over the Merrimac River, there are no ties or iron on the bridge, just the deck of the bridge. It looks to be in good shape. The drawspan of course is in the open position.

After I crossed over the river I took an immediate left and headed in to the marina, I parked on the East side of the embankment carrying the Eastern. Above the small tunnel that allows a road to go under the line there was a mile post in good shape. 37 over 84 is what it read. 37.84 miles from Boston.

On the East side of the ROW there is a snow covered road that goes down to the water, I drove down and was able to get a nice view of the bridge, a rather impressive structure. I took a picture, but because of the sun I don't think it's going to come out all that well. At this point the ROW is a good 25 to 30 feet up the embankment. You can see a couple of signal bases before the bridge, apparently to indicate the status of the bridge, also visible were a line of small poles that carried a cable down to the bridge. I didn't see a similar cable on the other side so I suspect that this cable carried the power to open and close the bridge.

I could not tell where the control box for the bridge was.

I then headed back up route 1 to route 110 and headed towards Amesbury to have another look at the Amesbury Branch.

The area between Rocky Hill Rd and Elm St is where the encroachment is. The iron is still in the crossing at Elm St, you can see a piece of iron over on Rocky Hill. Between those two streets a Super Shop and Save is going in. They've brought in quite a bit of fill and appeared to have totally obliterated the ROW for a short distance. Otherwise it appears that the ROW is intact from where it breaks off from the Eastern to the center of Amesbury. When the better weather comes I'll start riding it on the mountain bike and get a close up look at the line.

Forgot to mention that on my trip yesterday I crossed the Eastern on Route 286. The bridge carrying the road over the line is still there and there is iron under the bridge, the iron appears in good shape.

I'll know more as time goes on but it appears as though there are several miles of iron down that appear to be in reasonably good shape. The ROW is used for recreational purposes now. Wonder if it's good enough to use a railbike or similar recreational rail vehichle?
 
 

2/6/00 Not a bad day to go out, temps around 30, some wind, don't want to be out of the car too long but a good day to go out and look around. Decided to continue with the Amesbury Branch and the Eastern Route.

Headed down 110 towards Salisbury. At the Mobil station on route 110 just before you get into Salisbury I took a left. The ROW crosses the road a very short distance from route 110. There is iron in the crossing and there is a granite post on the West side of the crossing. The right of way just East of the crossing is coming around a slight curve to the South. The ROW is intact and the pole line is right next to the ROW.

Unfortunately the ROW is heavily encroached upon behind Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. This is West of that crossing. A lot of fill has been brought in and has obliterated the ROW.  Fortunately this stretch of obliterated ROW is failrly short.

Went to downtown Amesbury and took a look at the old station. It's in the center of town, it has a little park in front of it, doesn't look much like a station. It's hard to tell how the tracks came up to the station. There must have been an embankment or bridge. There is a municipal lot behind the station which has obliterated some of the evidence of how the rails made it up to the station.

It was tough to follow the line back. Only found it at one location in Amesbury, there is a bridge that carries a road over the old ROW and into an old factory. When the good weather gets here this area will be very interesting to explore.

Followed along the Eastern from the Merrimac River up to route 27 in Hampton, didn't see anything that wasn't reported last week.
 
 

1/30/00 Weather is getting better, heck it can't get much worse. We're getting to the point where 30 degrees sounds warm. Anyway, today was a good day to go out, temps around 30 and it was nice and sunny. Decided to take on the Eastern Route beginning on the North side of the Merrimack river and continuing up for a ways.

Got in the car, headed out towards Salisbury, crossed over the freight main at the end of my street, crossed over the former Georgetown Branch on route 125 heading into Haverhill, passed near the end of the Merrimac Branch in Merrimac and rode along the Amesbury Branch for a bit near the Amesbury/Salisbury border.

When I got into Salisbury I took a right on to route 1 and headed South towards Newburyport. I took a right off of Route 1 just before the bridge crossing the river. This took me towards some marina and also took me right under the Eastern Route. The RR approaches the river on an embankment. There is a small tunnel that allows the street to go under the tracks. From both sides of the RR it is possible to see the bridge that carries the RR over the river. The bridge is swung into the open position.

I got out of the car, took a walk up to the top of the embankment, there was no iron. Because of the snow I didn't do any walking in either direction.

Headed back to the car, back out to Route 1 and headed North. The ROW was visible in places on my left and looked to be in good condition. Crossed thru the traffic at the route 110 intersection and continued my journey North.

Next stop was where the Eastern crosses route 1 on a bridge near a Vet. There is iron down, there is a granite post near the bridge and the bridge is in good shape. Just to the North of the bridge is a granite arch that allows a small stream to go under the embankment.

Continued North on Route 1, took right onto 286, crossed over the Eastern, you can't easily see it but you cross on a bridge .The iron is still down.(Thanks Jeff for that correction)  According to Street Atlas 6.0, this crossing appears to be right on the NH/MA border, continued down, took a couple of lefts, ended up crossing under the ROW which is carried over the road via a bridge. I took a walk up the embankment, there was iron down, here it is quite plain that the line was double tracked. Only the South bound track is still there. In fact, half the bridge is gone, the side of the bridge carrying the North bound track has been removed. There was a milepost, mile 41 and some change. One of those posts that you see before a bridge and it gives you the mileage out to two places past the decimal point.

Crossed under the ROW, heading West, turned around headed back under it again, this time heading East, a few more lefts and I was crossing the RoW again, this time at grade on RR Ave. I'm sure exactly where as the snow and new construction covered things up, I'm usually pretty good at finding hidden crossings but will need to look again for this one.

Continued back to Route 1 North, up to Hampton Falls, took a right onto Depot Rd and folled the road down to the marshes. The ROW is at the end, there is iron down and the line continues North and South pretty much as straight as an arrow. I ran into Jeff Decaprio here, he is a reader of this page and one who sent me a nice email of what to look for along this line. He pointed out an embankment just to the south that encroached upon the ROW, this was someones driveway.

Next stop was just before route 27 in Hampton. Here we are back on active iron. It's not often that I'm out exploring active rail lines but with the Eastern I'm making an exception. First stop was Foss. A small tunnel led us under the RR ROW. Visible were a couple of coverd hoppers being unloaded. The track is quite a bit higher than the parking lot of the company, the cars were unloaded on the iron, and the contents appeared to be piped in to the plant. The line is double tracked at this point so the engine can run around the train.

Headed North again and stopped in behind Lemays on the North side of 27. Here there is a lumber company that still gets shipments. There were a couple of boxcars there and there was also an old freight house that appears to still  be in use. There are two main tracks as well as at least one siding here.

Heading North again this time up to North Hampton. Took a right on route 111, crossed over the ROW, the station is owned by some advertising agency and is in great shape, it's really sharp looking. On the North side of route 111 an old freight house is still there.

I'm just scouting out the Eastern for now, will be back after the snow is gone, with my bike and will be doing a more thorough job of exploring the unused portions of the line.
 

In interest to those interested in the Eastern is this article.

                               Friday, January 28, 2000

                               N.H. task force to study rail
                               feasibility

                               By GARRY RAYNO

                               N.H. Statehouse Writer

                               CONCORD — The House approved Tuesday
                               a bill establishing a task force to study the
                               feasibility of passenger rail service between
                               Newburyport, Mass., and Kittery, Maine.

                               The bill passed without debate and will now
                              go to the Senate for action.

                               The rail service task force is an outgrowth of
                               a legislative committee that studied the
                               issue last year.

                               According to a member of the committee
                               and the prime sponsor of the bill, Rep.
                               George Katsakiores, R-Derry, the rail service
                               would provide an economic benefit to the
                               Seacoast.

                               He said the service would benefit the tourism
                               industry as well as the New Hampshire Port
                               Authority and companies at Pease
                               International Tradeport.

                               The task force will be comprised of two
                               members each from the House and the
                               Senate; a representative of the governor; and
                               representatives from Portsmouth, Hampton,
                               Seabrook, the New Hampshire Railroad
                               Revitalization Association, the Portsmouth
                               Area Chamber of Commerce and the
                               Rockingham County Planning Association.

                               The task force will issue a report to the
                               speaker of the house, the senate president
                               and the governor and council on Dec. 1, and
                               then every six months.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

                                       © 2000 Geo. J. Foster Co.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1/23/00 Hey, it finally warmed up, we're back up to 20 degrees. It's been really cold the last couple weeks. Temps around zero and we now have some snow. Today's trip was along the old Amesbury branch. I drove down route 110 through Merrimac Amesbury and then into Salisbury. It's very clear where the Eastern RR crossed under 110. The bridge has long since been removed and replaced by fill. I took the left immediately after the crossing. This road takes you almost up to where the Amesbury Branch broke off from the Eastern and began it's journey West to Amesbury. Because of the snow and the cold I didn't feel like getting out of the car. I had been down here a few years ago, you can get out, walk up the ROW and see the Amesbury branch diverge. Both lines are in a cut at this point.

From there I turned around headed back to 110, took a right, crossed over the Eastern and then immediately took my next left. I was on the telephone with Jeff Decaprio who had spent quite a bit of time on the Eastern and had followed the Amesbury branch recently as well. He recommended heading down that way because there was a crossing of the Eastern route. Where I took the left was right next to a live steam layout in someones side yard, right along route 110. Very nicely done. Anyway, I followed this road south, and found the crossing without any difficulty. As in the situation with route 110, the bridge has been removed and the road crosses Eastern on fill. Interestingly enough there are telltales on each side of where the bridge was. I parked "on the bridge" and was able to see quite a distance to the South. The line was visible on it's way to the Merrimack River and the Newburyport water tower was plainly visible as well.

The station that was just south of the bridge at route 110 on the Eastern is gone. There is a building on the site but it's made out of cement blocks and doesn't appear railroad related in the least.

Headed back to route 110, took a left going back towards Amesbury looking for the first right hand turn so that I could hopefully cross the Amesbury Branch at grade. There were a couple of roads that went North from Route 110, each one crossed the Amesbury branch and the line looked in good shape both ways. In places it had been in use by snowmobilers. One of the roads I went up ended up taking me out to route 1 where I crossed under the Eastern. There was a pretty much standard iron bridge and at that point there was iron down.

Going up a couple of other side roads the points where the Amesbury Branch crossed under routes 95 and 495 were visible and appeard in good shape.

The only place where the line had been encroached upon severly was a mile or so stretch behind the Mobil station, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts.

From here I headed into Amesbury center. The ROW is hard to find down there. I had been down a few years ago and was able to find it in a few places. Didn't see too much today.

This line is definately worth a mountain bike ride when the weather allows for it.
 

1/2/00 Another reasonably nice day, considering it's the beginning of January, temps in the high 40's, some light rain. Went up to Salem and took another look at the M&L. First stop was the old station at 97 and 28. In reasonable shape. I peaked in thru the window, looks like some original wood work may still be there. The track south of the station has been mangled by whatever machinery the power company used to put those poles in, the track is out of guage, sometimes thin, sometimes, wide. I did find a milepost, just south of the station M20 L6. There used to be a siding next to the station as is evidenced by wide ties. Down by Circuit City I saw the new runaround track that was put in as well as the spur that goes off to the railroads customer. There was a covered hopper at the end of the spur. Got several pics, other than that, not much to report in Salem. Oh Yeah, the reason for the new poles along the ROW is a new substation just south of the Station.

1/1/00  Nice weather today, temps in the 40's. Great way to start the new year. I didn't feel like going too far today so I took in the former Essex RR where it broke off from the freight main in North Andover and began it's journey to Salem Mass via North Andover, Middleton, and Danvers.

The line of telephone poles marking the right of way was plainly visible on the North Andover / Lawrence border where the lines diverged. The North Andover station is located on a curve, the freight main goes by the front of the station while the Essex passed by behind the station. The station building has been heavily modified, it's in the same place but it doesn't look anything like what it did when it was in use. There is still some iron behind the station. I also noticed a fairly good sized granite post. Bigger than what is used for mileposts. There were no markings so I'm not sure what it was used for. It was right next to the station. Evidence of sidings can be seen behind the station. You can see remains of the switches that lead to the sidings.

Crossing over main street there was a building that stood right by the tracks and looks like a freight house. Behind that building the tracks go to the edge of a pond, the line used to cross this pond on a trestle. The pilings have been cut and you can see the remains of the pilings still in the pond. Abutments are still there on both sides of the pond. On the East side there is still iron down leading up to the abutments.

From there to route 125 the only thing remaining was the telephone poles marking where the ROW was.

At work yesterday I received a call from a customer who after talking to him it turns out that he owns the farm that is adjacent to the Georgetown branch from the Groveland border to the wastewater treatment plant. I had wanted to get in there for quite some time but couldn't find a way to do it without going past a big gate with a blatant no trespassing sign. He gave me permission to use the road that goes through his property.

I went down there and drove along a mile or so of ROW there was a milepost,  G4/B2, it was bent over but at least it was still there. The guy told me about the MP and even knew the numbers on it. The ROW was in reasonably good condition, a little washboardy, and tough to drive on in places. Glad to finally be able to get down to that last section of the Georgetown branch.

There used to be a station down there somewhere called Island Park, no signs of it. There was supposedly a maonaise company down there too. No sign of that either. The wastewater treatment plant stunk pretty badly.

I was able to get some pictures of the abutments of a small bridge that was right near the Graveland/Bradford border. This bridge was allegedly weakened in the 1936 floods which stopped service on the line from Bradford. I think it was just an excuse to abandon the line.

I did notice that behind the waste water treatment plant there were signs of a causeway that went out to an island in the river, maybe a hundred feet long or so. It's mostly under water now. I understand that there used to be an amusement park out there called Island Park

That's it for now. Will be going out more now that the busy holiday season is over.
 
 
 
 

12/4/99 Great day today, too bad I had to work, temps in the low 60's. I got out at 2:30, drove over to Newton Jct to take a ride on the Merrimac Branch. Todays mission was to see if milepost NJ1/M4 was still around. I had ridden past it several times and had never seen it. I missed it on the first pass but on the way back I saw it, it was laying on the ground, broken, and not in great shape, the letters were visible and so was the rebar that ran down the middle of the post. That explains why I never saw it before. It was about a mile out of Newton Jct as would be expected. The whistle post for the Whittier St crossing was missing. The ROW was in excellent shape and was a pleasure to ride on. I rode from Whittier St to route 108, not too far, maybe a mile, a little less. Then I rode from Whittier St towards the freight main. I rode the East Wye out to the Western Route. The East Wye still has it's iron down. See my page on the Merrimac branch for more details.

From there I drove down to Bradford and rode along the old Georgetown Branch as best as I could. I went from the Yacht Club over to behind the Roma restaurant. I found another telltale, this one on the West side of the route 125 bridge carrying 125 over the G-town branch and over the Merrimac River. Never noticed that one before. Got some pics of the tracks, the coal pockets, the tell-tale, and some other stuff.

Hope we have some more days like today.

11/25/99 Rain, temps in the 50s, not a good day to be out on the bike but that didn't stop me. Drove down to Topsfield, followed 97 to 35 in Danvers. Stopped on 97 in Topsfield to take a picture of an iron bridge over the river there. In Danvers I took 62 over to Middleton. Took some pictures of abutments on the old Essex RR. Got the bike off the car and rode for a bit, the ROW was in pretty good shape. Found the asphalt remains of what I think is the boardwalk to a station, right off of East St and 62 in Middleton.

Headed back via Middleton and North Andover. Rode a little bit more of the Essex RR, just south of Sharpners Pond Rd on the North Andover / Middleton line. Row was passable on the bike but it was a tough ride. Bumpy, constand bump, bump, bump, as though you were riding on ties. I scraped back some of the dirt and it appeared as though the remains of times were visible in places. Other times the bumps were roots.

11/24/99  Been a really good week. Had some extra time today so I decided to finish up with the Merrimac Branch. Drove over to Merrimac and parked on Harriman Rd where the bridge abutments are. Rode north up to the next crossing. Very short distance. Milepost NJ3 was clearly visible. ROW was in pretty good condition although it was clear that because of the noticable downhill grade water had been eroding the center of the ROW.

Parked the car at the end of RR St near the end of the ROW. Rode north until I got up to Harriman Rd, found another milepost, this one was NJ4/M1. Row was in good shape, a nice easy ride. Found one cow underpass. There was one cut and several embankments, one that was fairly high. The grade is a consistent downhill as your heading towards the river. At some points its quite noticable, other times it isn't.

There was no trace of where the station was, where the turntable, or where the enginehouse was. Basically not much left at all of the RR in Merrimac except for the ROW which is known as the McLaren Trail.

I suspect that the milepost NJ1 may still be around, I'm hoping to get up that way tomorrow and reride the section of the line in Newton NH and see if it's there. It's quite possible that I missed it.
 
 

11/22/99 Nice day, temps about the same as yesterday, had the day off but had some stuff to do so I only had a little time for a bike ride. I ended up riding the Merrimac Branch from route 108 to the state line. Great ride, except for the first hundred feet which were very sandy, I was riding on cinders, the grade was a noticeable downhill one. I rode over an interesting cow underpass. At first I though the abutments and bridge were for a stream or brook, nope, this one was to let cows go under. From there I continued until I got to the gate indicating that you were going on the trail in Merrimac Mass and that no motorized vehicles were permitted. I had ridden up to the point from the next crossing down so there was no reason to go any further. Rode back towards the car, after passing the cow pass I noticed a milepost, it was in bad condition, bent over, looked like it had been vandalized but I could make out NJ 2 on it, indicating two miles to Newton Jct. A little further up the line was a whistle post. Interesting and easy ride.
 
 

11/21/99 Nice day, temps in the 50's. Went for a ride down to Topsfield and Boxford. Drove out through Boxford, past the old Depot and freight houses, then took Bare Hill Rd down to where the Newburyport RR crossed. This is right next to the Topsfield landfill. Parked the car, got on the bike and rode towards the center of topsfield for about a mile. The ROW was in reasonable condition. Did find a milepost, n15 if my memory serves me correctly, indicating 15 miles to Newburyport. Can't remember the mileage to Boston. A short distance after the milepost the Row got very wet and there was too much growth to continue on.

Rode back to the car. The RR must have crossed Bare Hill Rd on a bridge as there is a considerable difference in grade. Old maps indicate that this road was in when the RR was. I headed on the bike East towards route 95. The embankment at Bare Hill Rd is very high so I rode in the entrance to the landfill and got up to the top of the embankment at a more convenient location. The condition of this section of ROW was excellent. Very easy to ride on, all the way up to route 95. I did pass another milepost. N14. I didn't notice any other granite along the way. The ride was about a mile and a half up to route 95 and was a good one.

Instead of riding the ROW back to the car I decided to explore the area and found my way back via the roads. Interesting area, this is definitely not the low rent part of town. Huge houses. Only drawback was their proximity to 95 and having to hear the highway noise.

Needed to go up to Epping at some point in the day so that was my next stop.I parked the car at the gas company right where the WN&P and Portsmouth branches diverge. One goes on one side of the gas company, the other goes on the other. Todays bike ride was along the Portsmouth branch. There were a couple of grade crossings in succession. I noticed at least one flanger post still there. Further on down the line there were a couple of whistle posts. The ROW was in great condition and was an excellent ride. I rode down to the Jenness Rd crossing and turned around. I had ridden from Jenness road up to West Epping before so there was no need to go any further. I did find an interesting granite post, it was labeled
1
7
-
8
4

I check with some friends and they said that this meant 17.84 miles from somewhere. That somewhere would be Portsmouth. I guess that these markings are usually next to a bridge or culvert or something like that. The 17/84 was written on both sides of the post.

Rode back to the car and headed home.
 

11/14/99 Overcast day, but it was in the 50's so warm enough to go out on the bike. Todays plan was to take in some more of the Newburyport RR. Drove out through Boxford, took a left onto Georgetown Road and parked the car at the crossing. Rode towards Topsfield for 4/10 of a mile or so, found a granite milepost indicating mileage to Newburyport and to Boston. N12/B28 or something like that . The ROW was in reasonably good shape, no soft sand. A lot of brush but not enough to be a problem. Rode back to the crossing then rode towards Georgetown for about half a mile, ROW on this section also in good shape. Rode more than far enough to find the next milepost but didn't see one. Turned around and went back to the car.

Next crossing I went to was the next one in the direction of Georgetown. Nelson Road. Road towards Topsfield a thousand feet or so until I got to where I ended my previous ride. Turned around, went back to the car, rode towards Georgetown for a very short distance. The ROW was right in peoples back yards, it wasn't easily passable so I turned around and went back to the car.

Drove 97 East, running parallel to the ROW until I got to the police station which is just before route 133. The ROW goes right behind the station and is in pretty good shape behind there. Fenced in, and in good shape. It looks like the ROW is pretty much in-tact from route 133 down to the East Boxford Depot.

Next stop was Kelsey Road. The crossing is near a historic house, someone put a wooden post in the ground that identified the railroad and the house. Rode towards Georgetown only a few hundred feet, came to the milepost that I saw on my first ride today.

That was the end of bike riding for the day, from there I rode down to Topsfield, Wenham, and Beverly. Took some pictures in downtown Topsfield, there was still iron, a milepost, a flanger sign, and a few switch stands. Headed south on 97. Stopped at the first crossing. There were a few lengths of rail but that was about it. Ties still in the ground. If you ride the ROW south you come to two bridges, one really small, and another 75 feet or so. The first one still had the railroad ties, the second, an iron bridge, still had ties, guard rails, and iron.

Headed further south on 97. After 97 takes a sharp left, and you cross from Topsfield into Wenham there is a crossing. Towards topsfield it looked like it had been cleared and the iron was gone. Towards Danvers the iron was in really good shape. I was surprised, there was a rather long tangent track that went on for as far as I could see.
 
 
 
 
 
 

11/10/99 Nice day today, temps in the mid 60's. Fortunately I had time to go out on the bike. I'm not expecting too many more days of good riding weather. Went back to Newburyport. First stop was off of Low Street. I parked on the side of the ice skating rink. The ROW was right there. I rode East towards the river, I went through the "tunnel." May have been more of a tunnel in it's day. It's a fairly deep cut with a bridge that carries 1A over the RR. The iron was mostly gone. Old telegraph poles were still in existence on the Southbound side of the track. Continued riding until I got to the bridge that carried the line over Water St. At that point you're only a few hundred feet from the Merrimac River swing draw bridge.

Rode back where I started then headed South, the bridge that once carried the RR over Low Street is gone. The abutments are gone so I suspect it was taken out to widen the street. Rode down one side, crossed Low Street then rode up the other side. The end of track was just beyond that point. There was a bumper post. When I say end of track, I mean end of recent service to Newburyport. Owens Illinois among others had rail service. Rode a bit further, took some pictures, then headed back to the car. One the Northbound side of the ROW there was a granite post with an R engraved in it. Anyone know what that means?

That finished this section of the Eastern Route. Much further south and you hit the MBTA. From there I headed back towards Byfield on the way back to Georgetown. I took the first left after passing all of the industrial parks, this took me to a crossing of the old Newburyport line that came in via Byfield and Georgetown. Road North for half a mile, did find a milepost. N2/B38 the ROW was in super shape, I couldn't believe all the cinders that were still left. It looked like the line had only recently been torn up. . Rode back to the crossing and South towards route 95 for a little over half a mile, didn't see any more posts. The ride was good.

Next stop was the center of Byfield, parked at the Post Office and rode North till I hit route 95, maybe  a mile, then rode back. Crossed over the main street, rode for a short distance, saw another milepost, N6/B33 or something like that. Rode a little further but came to a bridge that was out and couldn't go any further.

Next stop was the end of Wells St. in Georgetown. Went down to the very end, rode a half mile or so in each direction. ROW not in too bad of shape. No posts or much else of interest. The ROW was pretty much straight with no detectable grade.

Last stop was the center of Georgetown, parked at the electric company parking lot and rode the ROW towards Bradford for a short distance, was stopped by a fence. At that point the ROW is pretty much someone's yard. The pole line continues but you'd be going through peoples yards if you continued. Rode back, crossed over the main street, passed by the lumber company, and was surprised to find the ROW of a spur that served an ice house by the lake, I had seen the spur on maps but didn't think it still existed. Rode a quarter mile further and had to stop due to another bridge out.
 
 

11/9/99  Was in Newburyport today, after my appointment was finished I decided to take a look around. Followed the Newburyport City RR as well as the Eastern Route. Got a good view of the bridge going across the river. I found a milepost a short distance East of the new train station. It gave the mileage N1/B39 which is for the Newburyport RR, not the Eastern, I don't quite understand what's going on. I didn't think the lines ran parallel there. The Newburyport RR ran to Newburyport via Danvers, Topsfield, Georgetown, and Byfield. Took quite a few pics today.

11/7/99 Been a busy week, been working every day, today was the first day I could get out and do any railroad research. Went over to Nashua this afternoon, the mission was to see if there was any ROW left of the WN&P between Hollis and Route 3 in Nashua. You can see the ROW plain as day as it comes up from Mass. The crossing on 111A by the gas loading company is fairly plain. As I found last week you could follow the ROW up to the next crossing East and then it disappears under new construction.

I rode up and down several streets that should have crossed the ROW and found nothing. The area along 111 is so built up that I don't think I am going to find much left. I was looking at an old topo of that area and noticed that the ROW ran behind a cemetery, right behind it, next time I'm out there I'll have to check, I suspect that right behind the cemetery it's still going to be there. We shall see.

Cold day today, didn't take the bike, only got out of the car a couple of times for a closer look at a few things. Hopefully this week will bring better temps and more chances to get out and look things over.

11/1/99  Wow it's November already, but it was a super day. I had some extra time so I headed down to North Andover to take in the Essex Railroad. I ended up in Middleton instead, parked the car on the corner of Debush St. and Essex St., not too far from route 114. I followed the line South for a couple of miles, the riding was superb, the ROW was in great shape, was hard packed and a joy to ride on. The line went parallel to 114 for a bit then turned and ran parallel to 62. I stopped when I came to a street that had been put in across the ROW blocking it. Went back to the car and rode North for about 2 miles, this was a superb ride, the best I have taken yet. The line goes through a rather deep cut with some stone work, it then comes out on Essex St. again, and is Essex St. for a short distance. It then heads in the woods for about a mile and a half. Beautiful ride, there was a makeshift bridge that someone put in  carrying the line over a brook. At the end of the two miles  you come to a fence where they don't want you to go any further, your only option is to go to the left and back onto Essex St. I got a lot of pictures of this section of the line. Watch for them to be put online soon.

Later in the day I had to go to Rowley, on the way I decided to take in part of the former Georgetown Branch on the Groveland/Georgetown line. I parked off of King St. right on the border, rode towards Georgetown for half a mile or less until the line went into what is now a some sort of housing development. The line passed over a brook and the power company put in a fairly decent wooded bridge. The riding was short but good. Got pics.

Went back to the car and rode North towards Bradford for about a mile, the power company owns this whole stretch. The riding was ok, except when riding on the crushed stone that the power company put down. Nothing incredibly interesting to see, rode up to the route 97 crossing and turned around and went back.
 

10/31/99 Great day, in the 70's. Couldn't have asked for a better day to be outside. Fortunately I had the whole day to myself.
Decided I was going to head West today. I drove out to Hollis, NH. On the way I stopped by the burned out Anderson Station and took another pic, from there I headed out 111 to Hudson, stopped by the river and took another pic of the piers and abutments of the bridge that used to carry the WN&P over the Merrimack River to Nashua. I then crossed over into Nashua and went over to the yard. I found the abutments on the West side of the river, snapped a pic. The abutments come up several feet above ground level, so the line came in on an embankment. There is no trace of this embankment on either side of the river.

From there I headed out to Hollis. Went down to where the station was and where the last customer on the Hollis branch was. From there I rode the ROW West for a quarter mile, stopped when I came to several trees down across the line, wasn't motivated enough to get around them. Turned around and headed back. Crossed over Depot Rd. and headed West, was able to go half a mile or so up to the next crossing. From there the line was obliterated due to new construction.

Headed back towards Hudson. When I got near the river I headed West again on 111, East Hollis St. Found a bridge that carried the line over Harbor St. Iron still on the bridge and just West of the bridge. Got a few pics. Some neighborhood kids came up and said hello. I let them take a picture of the group of them. I told them I'd post it on my page when it's developed so look for it on the Nashua page in a few days. Headed West down E. Hollis St. Went the wrong way up a one way street. It would be nice if they marked all of the streets that are one way, not just a few. Anyways, no big deal, I was only going one way so no-one should have complained. Each road on my right crossed the ROW, in most crossings was iron. Further down the ROW is paved over and has been made into a walking/bike path.

Headed back East, was thinking of heading up to Maine but didn't feel like it. Stopped by the depot in Sandown, talked to Bertha for a bit. Headed up to Epping, took some pics of the turntable pit. On the way up to Epping I chatted with Richard Sanborn on the phone for a while. Advised him about the fire at Anderson and let him knew about a few other things that I have found. From there I headed West over towards Raymond. Parked the car on Depot St. in West Epping, where the West Epping depot was. No trace of it now. Rode the ROW East for about a half mile to the next crossing. Turned around, came back to where I started and rode another half mile or so to the next crossing in that direction. Good riding. Surface was hard packed. Motorized vehicles not allowed, even though I passed a couple. Was tempted to grab the phone and call the police but I didn't.

From there I headed back to the Depot in Sandown, bought another soda, talked to Bertha for a few more minutes, fixed the microwave, and then headed back up towards Fremont. Stopped at Lyfords Crossing on North Rd. in Fremont, rode East for a mile to Martin Crossing and back, then rode West about the same distance. We turned the clocks back, so it gets dark at 5 now instead of 6. Arrived back at the car at 5pm after a very enjoyable ride.
 

10/29/99 Nice day, in the 60's. Went over to Windham Jct., was able to get into the ROW behind the farm. ROW fence was still visible and the ROW could be picked out if you looked hard enough. See the Windham page for more details and pictures.

From there I went down to Salem to check out the M&L. Parked at Granite State Potato Chip, rode the bike up to the end of track and then rode the tracks down to the old freight house which is now Dodge Grain. There was a path on the West side of the tracks so it was a good ride. Sidings were in place and the iron was in place. Took pictures of some of the sidings and switches. Found a granite milepost.

10/27/99 Cool day, warm enough for ride though, had some extra time, drove over to Windham Depot. Todays mission was to investigate and document the line West of Windham Jct. Station. The line crossed over the M&L and passed West through what is now a paved parking lot just to the West of the station. The level of the lot appears to be raised above what the tracks would have been at. The line then passed behind a row of houses. If you ride down Depot Rd. West to where it joins N. Lowell Rd. (that's what Delorme has it listed as) you can see the ROW come out behind the houses in what appears to be a cut. According to the topo maps that I have looked at, the line crossed N. Lowell Rd. about here and continued straight for a distance. The topo shows a 20 foot rise in the terrain to what would be the right of the tracks if you're heading West. This would place the ROW right through what is now a day care and the fenced in area where the kids play. The rise in terrain on the right of the tracks is plainly visible. I suspect that there is probably some relatively untouched WN&P ROW hidden in there between the day care and route 93. It's not an easy place to get into but I think I can do it.

 Topo Of Windham Jct.

Ran into a nice couple out riding their mountain bikes on the M&L. They spend a lot of time riding different ROW's in New England and beyond. After talking to them we decided to take a ride down to West Windham, AKA Anderson, so I could show them where it was. It was only a few miles away and I was heading that way anyways. When we got there I was surprised to find that the station and two other small buildings were burned to the ground. After talking with the Windham PD and FD I found out that last Saturday and Sunday they had used this building as practice. I'm glad I got those inside and outside pics when I did. I have pictures of the remains and will post them as soon as they're developed.
 
 

10/26/99 Nice day, temp in the high 60's. Went up to Hampstead, took a right onto Depot Rd. and drove down until I found the old dirt road leading to the old station. Parked the car, got on the bike and rode the short distance from Depot Rd. to the ROW. Unfortunately it's still not clear exactly where the station was. I'm still looking for evidence. The station over at Hubbard had a stone foundation which is still visible and easy to find. Rode down to the Route 121 crossing, back, and then to the Depot Rd crossing. Decided to ride Depot Rd back to the crossing. Took a few pictures. Can see much better now that the leaves are gone. Didn't really learn anything new though.

Went over to Derry, parked in John Palmers driveway on Stark Rd. He lives right next to the ROW and was a little kid when they tore the iron up in 34. Got on the bike, rode from the Stark Rd. crossing to Windham Jct. and back again. Due to an absence of gates it's possible to drive quite a bit of the distance, I didn't dare to, instead took the bike. The ride started out with the short section between Stark Rd and Route 28. Only a few hundred feet long, no gates. Crossed 28, the ROW runs parallel to Depot Rd, no gates, a short distance down the ROW crossed Depot Road and runs parallel for a bit on the other side of the street. Depot Road then starts climbing a  hill and goes away from the ROW. There are a couple of gates in this section but I noticed a driveway that crossed the ROW and would allow anyone to bypass the gates and ride all the way to Windham Jct. There was a block signal on the Eastbound side, around the halfway point between 28 and Depot Rd. Went through a rock cut, albeit a short one. John Palmer says there is a rock there called "initial rock" where the trainmen carved their initials into the rock. I couldn't find any initials, I'll ask John for more details as to the whereabouts of this rock. The ride along this section wasn't too bad. It was an uphill grade to Windham Jct. station.
 

10/23/99 Had to work today, got out at four, didn't have much daylight left so decided to stay close in. Went home grabbed the bike and headed down to Groveland. Parked the car near the lumber company, and headed West towards Bradford. You can only go a short distance as the bridge is out. The ROW is on a high embankment as it heads uphill towards where the bridge was. The RR used to own the property that the lumber company is on. There were some RR there and a few sidings. After heading back to where I started I crossed the street and rode for a mile or so to the next crossing, right near route 97. The ROW was in good shape. It's used by the power company who recently plowed the dirt on the ROW like it was snow. They dug down, the result was a mostly good ROW to ride on. A short distance around the corner was a granite whistle post on the Westbound side. The ride was uphill steadily to the end of the ride at the next crossing. No mileposts were seen or other railroad evidence other than the whistle post.

10/22/99 Not a bad day, had some extra time so I rode from Hubbard West to Island Pond Rd. The grade was uphill, very noticeable in some places, maybe approaching a couple percent for a short distance. There were a couple of small cuts, the ROW was very sandy in places and at times tough to ride on. The was a base for a block signal, about 3/4's the way to Island Pond Rd, on the Westbound side. It was a good workout even though it was a relatively short stretch of about a mile and a quarter.

10/21/99 Went for a couple of rides today, good day for them, temp around 60. First ride was in Sandown from Odell Rd East over to North Danville Rd on the Danville/Sandown border. The ride was a mile and a half or so. Found 3 block signal bases. The first was a few hundred feet East of Odell Rd on the Eastbound side. The second and third were very close to each other. They were a tenth of a mile or so West of the North Danville Rd crossing on the Westbound side. The first one was in it's proper place, the second was over in the bushes on it's side. No idea where it came from but someone put it there. The ride was ok, little bit of sand in places, mountain bike territory, would be tough on a ten speed.

Later on I went over to Hampstead, the location of the second station, next to route 121, and rode West over to Hubbard. Probably a couple of miles. There was one block signal base, closer to Hubbard than Hampstead on the Eastbound side. The ride was uphill towards Hubbard. Very slight grade but a grade none-the-less. It was noticeably easier peddling on the ride back. There were a few minor embankments and a couple of small cuts along the way. Not a bad ride, some sandy places. Mountain bike territory though. I tried it on a ten speed a few weeks ago and only got a few hundred feet before saying "forget it."

Today completed my riding from Hubbard to East Lebanon Maine. Now all I have left is a few short sections between Derry and Windham and I would have walked, driven, or ridden the whole stretch from Hudson to East Lebanon Maine. I expect to finish the few remaining sections soon. Doesn't sound like it's going to be great riding weather this weekend but I will have some time tomorrow.

10/19/99 Cool day today, went for a ride anyways, boy was it cold once I got going. Anyway, drove up to Sandown Station, parked the car and rode East for about a mile and a half to Odell Rd. The ROW was in reasonably good condition. Went through some interesting cuts, no big fills, did find one block signal base, about a mile from the station on the Westbound side.

10/17/99 Great day today, temp was in the 70's. Was out all day on the bike in a T-shirt. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Yesterday was good but today was a bit warmer.

Started off today in Hudson, rode out 111 and went into what I think is the first industrial park, it's on the left, where the sign for the police station is. The ROW is at the end of the driveway of the first company on the left. I rode in, parked with the employees in their lot. Rode the short distance to the ROW. I didn't see the keep out signs that were posted so I kept on going. The ROW is in decent shape, there were a couple of trees across but you could go under them. Where they pile up the dirt and rocks to keep people from riding was no problem to get around with the mountain bike. Kept going in an Easterly direction, the ROW was rideable until you got East of the power lines. From there the trees and bushes were very thick. A short distance beyond that it appears as though the ROW disappears. What you see in front of you from a distance looks like a ROW but it's a stream with no water. At the bottom are rocks, lots of them, not something I wanted to ride on or walk the bike. That dry stream goes in the right direction. I don't think it naturally became a stream from the ROW, I think it was made into one for one reason or another. It's not at an overly convenient location to get to to say the least. I'd like to approach this section from the other end but that I tough as there is no place to park the car and I'm not too thrilled about the idea of crossing route 111 on a bike. Maybe, I'll try it, we'll see.

Here is a map that shows the area that I am talking about. The small solid area is the area that I rode, approximately, the dotted area is the area of where the ROW used to be. You can see where it was part of route 111 and where it deviates from it.
 
 
 

Next stop was Hudson again, this time down at the "sacred abutments" behind Burger King. I rode into the parking lot behind the BK lot, went over to the West side, rode into the woods a short distance and there's the ROW. It goes for about 2 or 3 tenths of a mile till you hit route 111 by the cemetery. The ROW was generally in good condition. You can tell it had been used for dumping trash and for parties. Unfortunately there was no sign of any block signal bases or mileposts or anything like that. Only a very small stretch of ROW fence.

Here is a map of the area that I am talking about, the dotted lines show where the ROW used to be, the small dark area shows where I rode.
 

Next stop was Anderson, West Windham, that is. Parked on Anderson St. and rode East for about a mile. The ROW was in the same condition as when I last wrote about it, a week or so ago, I rerode it to see if there was anything that I had missed, there wasn't. It was a good ride on the mountain bike, don't recommend it on a ten-speed. I crossed over Kendall Pond Rd, once, then at the next crossing, since you couldn't go any further, I rode back Kendall Pond Rd, to the first crossing then rode the ROW back to the car.

From there I went up  to the tennis courts on Nashua Rd, parked there and rode West for half a mile or so down to the Mill Rd crossing, couldn't go any further, turned around and headed back to the tennis courts. A short way down I did notice that there was a block signal base, on the Westbound side, but it had been lifted out of the ground and placed on its side. I have no idea why. I would have taken a lot of effort to get the thing out, they're usually off to the side, out of the way, why not just leave it be? The ride was good, any type of bike would have been fine on this stretch.

From there I headed past the tennis courts, this time East, the ride was uphill, ROW generally in good shape up to the next crossing which is Londonderry Rd, kept heading East, the grade gets a little steeper and there were a few washouts. The ROW had also been eroded to the point where there were many rocks and tree roots in this stretch making for a bumpy ride. On the left (Eastbound side) there was another block signal base that had been lifted out of the ground. The next road crossing appears to have been Haskell Rd, crossed over, and was greeted by a flat, hard ROW to ride on. There was a tree down, no problem riding under it without even getting off the bike. This section of the ROW was the most pleasant. The ground was black from cinders, there was a pond/swamp off on the right. Continued the ride up to the last crossing which was Beacon Hill Rd. Crossed over and there is a short stretch of ROW to ride on until you hit route 93. The ROW slowly curves to the right or to the south as you go in. Nothing RR related in this stretch except a bit of ROW fence.

Fortunately there is only one small section between Anderson and Route 93 that is not passable. It's easy  to get around this section by road so there is no problem riding the whole stretch down and back.  Here is a map showing my ride, the approximate location of the ROW in relation to the roads around it, and the small area that is not passable due to the fact that it was built upon. The dotted area is where it's not passable, the dark area shows where I rode and where the line is passable.
 
 

From there I called my friend John Palmer in Derry, told him about my travels and asked him if he minded if I park the car in his driveway while I ride the section of the line near his house. No problem. Stopped in, talked with him for a bit then rode East on the ROW, he lives just East of route 28 so when I started my ride I was maybe a few hundred feet East of 28. The riding here was awful. It stunk, it was so sandy that even riding it with the mountain bike was torture. I did find a base for a block signal, this time about halfway up between 28 and Mill Rd on the Eastbound side. Rode past the Mill Rd crossing and continued for a while longer until I got to the Island Pond Rd crossing. Here I turned around, rode back to Mill Rd, then rode the road back to the starting point. It was longer but a heck of a lot easier. From Mill Rd to Island Pond Rd the ride was a lot better. Saw a bit of ROW fence, that's about it on that stretch. The ROW went through on a rather high embankment.

If you're going to ride this section, wait 'till the ground gets hard or use something with an engine. There were a lot of motorized vehicle on this section of the line today.

10/16/99 Got the mountain bike. Went up to Barrington N.H., rode from Scruton Pond Rd West to Calef's in Barrington. Didn't see anything new. I'd had ridden this stretch before, just double checking it to see if there was anything I had missed. Not a bad ride. The mountain bike handled it well.

I did verify that the piece of concrete and stone that I had seen laying on it's side was indeed a block signal base. For some reason this one was pulled out of the ground. The line runs adjacent to a big sandpit. I thought I saw on a map of sandpits on the B&M one listed in Barrington. If so, this is it.

I also rode the section of the line from Scruton Pond Rd, East this time up to Green Hill Rd. Nothing new in this stretch. It wasn't a bad ride. I was expecting to find a block signal base, it's possible that the foliage is still covering it. This section of the line starts out on a high fill and from there goes through several cuts. There are a lot of tree roots across the ROW, where it runs downhill I'm sure that in heavy rains there is one heck of a stream that gets flowing. The grade from Scruton Pond Rd going both East and West is a slight uphill grade.

Rode from Chapman Rd West to Green Hill Rd, nothing new found on this section of the line. From there I rode from Chapman Rd East  to the Isinglass River. When you get near the river the ROW is about 50 feet or so above the water. There is a place where you can get down to water level through some paths. Last time I was down at the river level there was very little water, could have ridden a bike across it.

Rode from Flagg Rd East to Gear Rd then turned around. I noticed on the valuation survey map of that section that there was a spur that went towards the south, serving a brickyard I believe,  at about the location of where this spur should be there is a clearing and a path beyond that. Didn't look right to be where a spur was so basically it's still under investigation.

With the exception of one small part I rode the whole way, in pieces, from Barrington to West Gonic. The line is contiguous with the exception of the Isinglass River. I do believe that if you followed the path down to the water you'd be able to get across with ease. If you don't mind ignoring a few "keep out signs" you can see a section of historic right of way that has survived 60 years even though it hasn't been set aside for trail use.

I recommend this ride for people with an interest in rail history. It's a little tough in places even with the mountain bike so if you're just looking for a place to ride, it may make more sense going elsewhere.

One thing that I found interesting is that there is an awful lot of ROW fence still up. The RR used to fence in the ROW to keep animals off the tracks. A typical ROW may be 100 feet wide which is why the fences weren't right up to where the tracks were, they were at the edge of the RR property.

Went over to Rochester, Eastern Ave., part of the ROW is still intact and was rideable. Last week I found a signal base there. I couldn't go much further than I did last week because the trees were so thick that even walking the bike was too difficult, even walking without the bike would have been a chore.

East Rochester, went to the crossing on Autumn St., rode West for a quarter of a mile, maybe a bit more, the ROW was in Ok shape. No block signal bases or anything else RR related. Only a short stretch of this ROW is still intact.

Headed over into Maine, went over to Depot Rd in East Lebanon, about 5 miles down 202. This stretch of 202 is the old WN&P until you get to Depot Rd, from there the ROW goes straight while the highway goes to the South a bit. No sign of anything RR related except for a little bit of ROW fence along 202. Will do more research and make another trip up that way.
 
 
 
 
 
 

10/15/99 Interesting ride today. I mentioned to a friend of mine I was looking for a mountain bike, he had one, I borrowed it today, we're still talking price. Hopefully I'll get it.

Today's ride was prime mountain bike territory. It would have been miserable on the ten-speed. I started my ride on the Danville/Sandown town line. Right at the Sandown/Danville Rd crossing. Lot of sand. Rode in an Easterly direction, crossed over the river on a steel bridge, and continued on my way towards South Rd in Fremont, the next crossing. The ride was mostly sandy but fortunately with the mountain bike I was able to get through it without having to walk the bike. The ROW was in good condition, no washouts or major problems like that. I did find another base for a block signal a ways in on the right hand side, the Eastbound side. Continued up to South Rd, little else of interest except the fact that there were still ties laying around, this section of the line went out in 34 -36 which is quite a while ago. The ride was such that I decided to take the road back to the car, it was a lot longer but a much easier ride.

Drove up to South Rd, parked the car, and rode East up to the Exeter River bridge, and turned around, on my way back I noticed a base for a block signal. This one not far from South Rd and on the Westbound side. This section of ROW was just as bad as the previous. Fortunately it was a very short section.

From there I went up to Martin Crossing in Fremont, right on the Fremont/Epping line. I road West to the wooden bridge, took some more picture of it and the old dam. The riding on the mountain bike was much better. From there I rode East back to the crossing and headed the short stretch to 101. Quarter of a mile, dead straight. You can see the cars on 101 from the crossing. The foliage must have been covering them up because I didn't see them on my last trip up that stretch, I found a granite whistle post and another signal base. This one on the Westbound side. Interestingly enough this one is noticeably less than a mile from the next one going West and also on the other side of the ROW.

All in all, a very good day, lot of good exercise.
 
 
 

10/13/99  Had a great day today, did quite a bit of bike riding along the WN&P in Hampstead and Fremont. The first stretch was from Depot Rd in Hampstead to Hampstead Rd in Sandown. It was an uphill then downhill stretch of the line and ran about a half mile. I did find a concrete base to one of the block signal posts. Just East of Depot Rd on the left side.

From there I headed up to Fremont. Stopped across from the station on Route 107. Rode West for a short distance, wanted to take a couple of pictures of the bridge crossing the Exeter River. From there I went back, crossed route 107 and rode East for a mile and a half. Started off tough as the ROW was a bit sandy but shortly after that it was fine. It was one of the best rides that I've had. I highly recommend this stretch of the WN&P. It wasn't abandoned that long ago. Early 80's. The ties for one of the sidings are still in the ground in  their original place. A few hundred feet in is another concrete base for a block signal. After coming back to where I parked, I put the bike back on the car and drove up to Lyfords Crossing on North Rd in Fremont. Rode West for a mile, found another concrete block signal base, and had another very enjoyable ride. Came back to North Rd, crossed over and rode East for a mile. This section of the line went along a farm. There is a wooden bridge here. A short distance in I found another concrete base for a block signal. They appear to be spaced about every mile. I rode up to the Martin Rd crossing on the Epping/Fremont town line, and rode the road back. This section of the line was miserable on a ten speed. I really got some exercise here. Near the wooden bridge carrying the WN&P over a stream is the remains of an old dam. This dam must be really old because I was look at the valuation surveys of the line from around the turn of the century and they labeled the dam as being "old" back then.

Click here for a map showing the area that I rode in Fremont.
The section on this map from Fremont Station to Lyfords Crossing was a great ride, few sandy areas but no major problem. From Lyfords Crossing to Martin Crossing it was tough on my ten-speed. (Yeah, I know, I need a mountain bike) Recommend a mountain bike for this section. From Martin Crossing to route 101 was a nice ride, straight as an arrow, when I rode it last week or whenever it was. There is a tunnel to take you under 101, didn't bother with it though, I just turned around. From 101 to the center of Epping is a fine ride too, very short though.
 
 
 
 

10/12/99 Nice day, went out to Windham and Hudson to wrap up a couple of questions that I had. My first stop was route 111 just past Lawrence Corner. The ROW deviates from Route 111 at this location. See these three pictures for details.  123.

I've been trying to figure out why this section of the ROW stops dead in the woods. It turns out that the line starts curving towards the south. When route 111 was widened they must have chopped it down. According to the maps, the line curved to the south and went around Butcher Hill, Route 111 blasted right through it. Note that the Route 111 on this map is the old 111, not the present but you can see how the ROW went behind the hill. The other end of this section of ROW comes out in an industrial park on the other side of the hill. Lousy picture, I'll have to get another one when I stop there next time.

I walked in on that stretch of ROW from the West side, in the industrial park, the ROW was in good condition, not a bad walk. May bring the bike in there next time.

From there I went out to the Merrimack river, took some pics of where the line crossed over. The piers are still there. Followed the ROW back for a few streets, it's passable.
 
 
 

10/10/99  Despite the rain, still had a good day. First stop was Barrington N.H. Scruton Pond Rd. The ROW crossed here on a bridge, the embankment is pretty high, about 25 feet or so, walked up and followed the ROW up to the next crossing which is Green Hill  Rd.

That section was about a half mile long. Fortunately the ROW is in pretty good shape, I was wishing I brought along my bike but because of the rain I didn't. Didn't see any mileposts or any block signal posts or anything like that along this stretch. Still a lot of leaves and foliage which could be hiding such things from view.

From there I headed over towards East Rochester, actually was interested in the remains of the ROW along Eastern Avenue in Rochester. There were traces of the line left. About half-way up Eastern Ave., just East of the power lines, I found a place where I could walk in. From there I walked in a Westerly direction for about a quarter of a mile, in this section I found an old block signal base. The ROW was in good condition, didn't look like it was used too much but unfortunately there were several places where it's been encroached upon, including a building out behind the Foss School, that sits right on the ROW.

10/9/99  Visited the Merrimac Branch in Merrimac Mass today, rode from Brushhill Rd North to the state line and back. Round trip of about a mile. The ROW was in very good condition, very wide too most of the way, could almost get two cars to pass each other on it. There is no gate keeping cars out until you get to the state line. North of the state line motorized recreational vehicles are ok, in Merrimac, they're not. The granite post indicating the state line was still there. Got a pic of it, will put it online when this batch of pics is developed. This line was abandoned in 1972 so there are still ties on the side of the ROW and the cinder ballast is still evident the whole way. In places the old ROW fencing was still there and in pretty good shape consider the number of years it's been there.

Rode the Merrimac Branch from Route 108 in Newton, North towards the freight main, went for half a mile or so, till I got to the point where I ended my walk from the North side heading South. No mileposts, ROW was in good condition though. It's a nice ride. If you're looking to take a nice bike ride I recommend this line. A mountain bike would be a lot better than my ten-speed but it's passable with the thin tires.

10/9/99  Rode the WN&P in Epping from the center of town down to route 101, a very short distance. The lead to the turntable pit was still visible, will get a picture when the foliage is gone, and the ROW was in good shape. Last time I rode this section of the line, we had started in Sandown about 5 years ago and rode to Epping. At that time the trail ended at 101 and you were on your own crossing. The iron was still in the road. Now there is a fence preventing you from crossing there, you need to follow the trail to the West where there is a tunnel under 101, on the other side you head East for a few hundred feet and you're back on the WN&P.
 
 
 
 
 
 

10/8/99 Went over to West Windham, rode the old WN&P in an Easterly direction from the Anderson Rd crossing, parallel to and then crossing over Kendall Pond Rd, and along a slightly downgrade to the next crossing of Kendall Pond Rd, right near Nashua Rd. The ROW was in pretty sad shape in a lot of places. Washouts, and large washboard type holes from the four wheelers were the main problem. In other places it looked as though the ROW had become a stream during heavy rains and had been washed for long stretches. On my ten-speed the line was passable. I elected to ride back the road though as it would have been most upgrade over some rough terrain going back. The distance was three quarters of a mile.

10/7/99  Today I had some extra time before dark so I went up to Hampstead. Only a little bit of the line went through Hampstead, under 2 miles, anyway, went to the grade crossing on Depot Rd and rode in a Westerly direction. No mileposts or block signal bases. I did find the retaining wall for the team track. Don't know how I missed it. I found the general location of the original station but no evidence showing the exact location. I'll keep looking, as the foliage goes away it gets easier. I had been out there several times, don't know how I missed that stone wall. Got a couple pics, they'll be online in a week or two, I've got to finish this roll of film.

10/3/99 Another nice day, was planning on staying close in but decided instead to hit Barrington and Rochester again. First stop was Scruton Pond road in Barrington, rode in West for about a mile, further than last time. I rode until I met the point that I ended on my ride East from the other end. Very nice section of ROW, about the only thing of interest was a big concrete thing laying on the side of the ROW. It didn't occur to me to check but this may be a signal post concrete base that was pulled out of the ground. Next time I'm up there I'll check the other side of it and see if that's what it looks like.

From there I took back roads up to the condominiums just south of Oak St., the ROW went behind these condos. Looks like a little of the ROW has been encroached upon but not much.

Headed East through Rochester and into East Rochester. A friend said that there may be a milepost at someone's house behind the fire station in East Rochester. Found the house, saw RR related signs in the back yard, no one was home, didn't look like there were any mileposts. Will check next time I'm up there.

Across into S. Lebanon, found an embankment that was the ROW between the river and where route 202 goes onto the old WN&P.

Finished up the day in Sandown, rode a mile West of the station. The ride was on a slight uphill grade, dirt was soft, riding tough, found another signal post concrete base, this time 500 feet or so  West of the station, just before the next grade crossing, can't remember the street, maybe Hampstead Rd?
 

10/2/99 Beautiful day today, had to work but got out at 3 instead of 4 so I had some time to check out some right of ways. Went up to Chapman Road which is on the Barrington/Rochester line. Drove in till I got to the point where the ROW crossed. Rode west for half a mile, ROW was generally in good shape, no railroad evidence, spikes, but the ROW is intact all the way to the next crossing.

Rode back to the same crossing, this time rode East for half a mile or so until I got to the Isinglass river. Several hundred feet West of the river I found a concrete slab with the bolts sticking out of it. This used to be used for a block signal.  The line was signaled around the turn of the century. I found similar block signal slabs between Sandown and Fremont. I snapped a couple of pics of this and will have it online this week. The bridge over the river is out, the West side abutments are still there. The East side ones are gone. From what I saw looking from the East side, there may be a way down the embankment so that one can take a continuous ride over the line from Calef's in Barrington to route 125 just South of the Spaulding Tpke.
 

Rode back to the car, bike on the back again, drove to Gear Road, this is the last road that crosses the WN&P, here you are in Rochester. Went to the crossing, rode west for the usual half mile or so, ROW very washboardy, and there were a lot of  tree roots that made riding tough at times. It is contiguous up to the next crossing West and it's passable. Rode back and crossed Gear road, here it's someone's driveway for a hundred feet, then the ROW continues on a slightly downgrade towards it's meeting with route 125 just South of the Spaulding. I had though that the ROW passed totally around those condominiums up there but from what I saw today, it doesn't. When the foliage clears, I'll get up there and see what the real story is.

When I was done with the WN&P I decided to see what I could see on the Cocheco RR again, this is the line that went to Dover. Behind Brocks,  Cabletron has a building, behind that building you can get right up to the old Cocheco line, it was used up until fairly recently, the iron hasn't been gone for more than a few years. I drove up on the ROW, headed south until I got to a tree that I didn't feel like trying to move. Backing up I spotted an embankment going off in a southwesterly direction. I recognized this as where the old West Gonic spur began. Originally the WN&P came in from West Gonic and ran parallel to the Cocheco into town. In later years they didn't need two tracks so the parallel WN&P was removed and at the point where the line headed out across 16b towards West Gonic they put in a switch. This is where that switch was. I took some pictures, they'll be online this week probably.

A friend showed me a picture of this very spot taken back in 1970, the iron was in place then. Quite a different story today.
 
 

10/1/99   Finally got my old ten speed bike down, pumped up the tires and got out the bike rack. When up to Hampstead where the WN&P used to go under 121. I rode West from route 121 for about a mile and then when back. The ROW was soft in places so the ten speed wasn't the best thing to be riding, in fact I spent part of the time walking, but the exercise is good. Just west of the station was where that head on collision in 1910 took place. No signs of it, I had been trying to pinpoint the location by looking at pictures and seeing if there was anything that would still be around. The only thing of use was that there was water in the front of the picture. That narrows in down to under a thousand feet. No mileposts or other RR evidence other than one measly spike.

10/1/99 After leaving Hampstead I went up to Martin Crossing on the Epping Fremont border, rode in an easterly direction for a quarter mile until reaching the point where the line used to cross over route 101. Last time I was up there was 5 years ago, the iron was still in route 101. Now they have a tunnel for recreational users to safely go under route 101. Along the ROW there was ROW fence for the whole distance. Ties were abundant along the sides of the ROW, and spikes and tie plates were around. Phil Peterson, who owns the farm that the line goes through, his dog was out and followed me for this ride. Friendly dog, good thing because I couldn't have outrun him on the bike. This section of ROW was much much easier to ride on.

10/1/99 From Epping I went up to Barrington, stopped at Scruton Pond road. Here the line crossed on a bridge, the east side abutments are still there. Rode west for half a mile and back. Nothing outstanding. The right of way has been turned into a dirt road, widened. It's got a locked gate so you can't get in with a car without the key. No trouble on the bike. Road appears to go to a sand pit.

10/1/99 From Scruton Pond Rd. in Barrington I went to the parking lot across from Calef's on Route 9. In the woods, the WN&P ROW is in great shape. Wasn't bad to ride on and it looks like a RR ROW. You can see coal on the ground and the occasional spike here and there. The line has a slight downgrade which made the riding a little easier on the way out. No milepost though, I went far enough so that I should have seen one, nope gone. I recommend checking this section of the ROW out, it's good for walking, or riding. No sign against motorized vehicles. By the time I was done with this section it was getting dark and time to head home. This time of year is nice, no bugs, but it gets dark too early.