Twin State Railroad

That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. NHCR hasn't moved freight in years to Hazens, so its not like it will impact freight operations. If anything, it eliminates an additional runaround movement to ferry equipment in and out. If NHCR were smart, they would sign the lease over to Conway and let them operate/maintain the line.

In that situation, best case scenario would be to rebuild the tracks via Quebec Junction, leave the wye track to the transload (always found it weird that the transload was located on the mainline), and let the trail folks build their path in Whitefield. Maybe they should leave the tracks in place at the ball signal?

I believe there are still two tracks running up there from the diamond, they could leave one in place I suppose, since a double tracked trail seems redundant. As for the transload, I don't think they have received cars since the pandemic when Presby sold out. Everything moves by truck now, which given the volume of cars moved per year, makes sense. I always had a feeling when Wayne Presby owned the plant, the rail moves were more or less done to keep the line alive.

I probably should add, I don't see any more customers appearing on this line. Maybe if someone put in an LPG transload it could bring some business. Either that, or if they transloaded steel a few times per year for Rotobec manufacturing in Littleton. (For clarification the latter manufacturers log grapples and center-mount log loaders for trucks and trailers.)

It would be a long shot for new customers appearing, but on the off shot it does happen I think it would be wise for them to at least keep the transload track, rather than having to rebuild it from scratch.

This September would make 5 years since the last car was delivered to Presby, they are/were sending them to the Issacson Steel siding in Berlin on the SLR again post sale to Infiltrator Water Technologies.

If Rotobec really wanted to transload, it would be faster/easier to send it via VRS to St. Johnsbury yard and have a trip straight over I-93 to make up for the added mileage. I don't really think they do enough volume to warrant rail service.

Rail trail supporters are going to push to have NHCR relocated over to Quebec Junction, which would preserve the CSRX's connection. Rehabbing between Waumbek and Quebec junctions can be done relatively quickly and fairly cheap, since the state would likely just have the rail and ties moved from one branch to the other.

That seems reasonable. It keeps CSRR's connection open, doesn't necessarily make it impossible to still serve Presby if that business ever came back for some reason, and if Gilman also came back, it'd make more sense to serve it from St. Johnsbury, anyway.

Also puts the tracks right up against the biomass power station in Whitefield.

Which means little, given the place isn't operating, and sourced its material locally when it did, negating any need for rail service.

Depending on the future of the site (whether as a biomass plant or something else entirely), having "direct on-site rail access" is a huge selling point, regardless of whether or not seeks to use it.

Biomass is a low paying commodity. Which any type of raw forestry produce i/e logs/chips are. In fact, I think they are the lowest paying freight a railroad can haul, which is why almost every railroad stopped moving those products 20+ years ago. Unless you own the chipper, the railroad, and the plant which uses the chips, you wont be making much profit. Although railroads might be able to charge more per carload as the trucking shortage grows, but I don't see them taking cars. If its like most of the biomass plants in Maine, its probably going to sit idle more than its going to be used.

Let's face it, NHCR had their sights set on the mill reopening in Gilman, VT but I think it's safe to say that's not going to happen and while the line may not be legally abandoned yet and with NHCR still holding the operating lease, NHDOT went ahead and obliterated the ROW a alongside Route 142 in Dalton last summer. The writing is on the wall, the end is coming.

According to the “Railfanning and Modeling the Conway Scenic Railroad” group, New Hampshire Central Railroad just got bought by Vermont Rail System, pending approval by state and federal governments. Will attempt to verify.

Edit: it’s true. How timely, given all that we have been discussing the last few days.

So this purchase would include operations between St J and Whitefield? Thus creating a direct VTR-SLR interchange at Groveton...

Not completely, they'd need to do a track rebuild before then considering the rails have been OOS for decades now. I would be lying if I said I didn't notice that either, though.

Not sure what they'd get out of it however, considering traffic levels on the Groveton Branch and the Washington County Railroad. We’ll just have to wait and see.