b&m 1566 wrote:I would love to know more about the western MA operations that fell through. I always wondered why the name of New England Southern was chosen for an operation in New Hampshire and now I know.
An excerpt from my recent book on the subject,
The New England Southern Railroad, Volume 1:
"In the early 1980s Congress mandated the Federal Railroad Administration to seek new operators for several Conrail "light density" freight lines in Conn. and Mass. Among these were two branches in Western Mass., the Holyoke & Westfield and Easthampton branch lines - what is now the Pioneer Valley Railroad. Initially, only the New England Southern and Massachusetts Central submitted competing bids, and New England Southern was awarded the bid based on its negotiated purchase price with Conrail, as well as other financial and operational considerations. However a dispute occurred between the two bidders, and the award was challenged by the Mass Central. As a result the FRA re-awarded the bid to the Pinsly group, which had submitted a later bid, and one that FRA deemed "a more sound financial package". Regardless of this loss, NES' name was never changed, even though the New England Southern would make its mark in south-central New Hampshire - and not southern New England!"
Peter also operated the Chicopee Falls line using ex-GMRC Alco S4 #303, doing about 900 carloads of plywood a year to a Georgia Pacific reload facility. Despite their New Hampshire based operations, NEGS has participated in various maintenance-of-way and operational endeavors in VT, MA, ME and of course, NH, which are all outlined in the book.
Volume 1 (1981-1995) can be found here, and I'm happy to say work on Volume 2 (1995-2017) is coming along nicely.
http://www.blurb.com/b/8141358-the-new- ... d-volume-1
Dick H wrote:I attended the Anniversary event at Canterbury on 10/15.
Anniversary cake. 4 speeders for rides, but room for riders
was quite limited. Some speeder trips ran all the way to
"Northfield Station". Loco #2555 was open for in cab viewing.
My guess on the crowd around 1PM would be around 60.
Thanks to the NEGS and Dearness family for hosting the event..
Thanks very much for coming out to the book signing and anniversary event! We had a great turnout and interest was fantastic! Pete was a very happy camper.