New Hampshire Central Railroad (NHCR) Discussion

First off I'm not a lawyer so take what I say with a grain of salt, this is how I've interpreted abandonments and railbanking. Abandonment removes the railroad from common carrier obligations to the line in question. If the ROW is an easement, that easement disappears and the land is returned to the previous land owners. However, if the railroad owns the property out right, it stays with the railroad until they sell it. In this case I think the MEC owned the property and the state just purchased everything including the tracks. So, the Conway Scenic not being a common carrier can operate on the tracks but New Hampshire Central/VTR being a common carrier cannot.

Railbanking is something that the government concocted in 1983, to protect ROW easements after abandonment. It's led to many lawsuits over the years, but that another story. So long story short, ROW easements don't just disappear after abandonments anymore, there's a grace period where a 3rd party (typically a government body), will petition the STB to rail bank the ROW, which keeps the easement in place.

b&m 1566 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2024 3:59 pm ...In this case I think the MEC owned the property and the state just purchased everything including the tracks. So, the Conway Scenic not being a common carrier can operate on the tracks but New Hampshire Central/VTR being a common carrier cannot.

Thats incorrect. Common Carrier is a status of the railroad operator and its obligations not the physical plant. We could operate to North Conway if we want and bid the NHDOT freight side of the contract, it comes down to FRA insularity status of "protecting" and "rules qualifications" and "jurisdiction over" of CSRR that muddies the waters and requires extra measures of running down there.

I'm confused by abandoned and railbanking. b&m 1566 shared the abandonment notice, did the state have to unabandon the line to allow the Conway Scenic to operate it or did they already do that through railbanking? How does railbanking play into this? I'm not trying to be a pest; I'm just trying to learn and get a better understanding of abandonment vs railbanking.

There is abandonment of service and abandoment of physical plant. Different processes, but same term and one is sometimes confused as the other.

The quick and dirty, formal abandonment of the ROW resorts the ROW back to abutting landowners. Railbanking puts it in a status where it can be reactivated for rail service, with or without track in place.
Theres a lot to it and requires a good read.

Sounds like GMTX 318 (MP15AC) may be headed this way from the other side of the VTR system.

The term "abandonment" should not be (and rarely is) used simply referring to service on the line.

If an entity is intending to just give up their common carrier status of a line (obligation to serve), either owned or leased, then they file a Discontinuance of Service Exemption.

If someone is intending to abandon (as in expunge the line, return to abutters, etc), then they file an Abandonment Petition. The one linked to above for the Mountain Division is definitely this type. There must have been a petition by the State following this to purchase the property because at face value the line would not be as it is today if this filing was allowed to be executed as written.

Working near Whitefield for a couple days again, and spotted a VRS hyrail coming off of Parker Road at about 14:45 on my way home; they turned left onto 116 back towards town. Have a few hours before I can paint in the morning, so will try and poke around on my way back over.

Ended up poking around later in the afternoon. Same timeframe (14:45) I rode by Hazens; a couple of vehicles and some guys chatting over on the dirt by where the Mountain Division splits off from the B&M. Couldn't really tell if the tie pile had shrunk, maybe it has.

Upon turning around I saw some guys and a hyrail or track equipment down on the B&M track a couple hundred feet west of the crossing, couldn't tell what they were up to.

No signs of recent activity near the diamond or Parker Road over on the former B&M, other than brush being cut near the crossing, likely for visibility reasons.

I rode out on 142 to see the crossings that had been removed due to drainage work.

I don't remember if it had been mentioned before, but the crossing signals were pulled at the western most route 142 crossing near Scott Jct.; the signal box is still there.

At least a couple hundred feet of track pulled at the eastern side of the second crossing near Hall Road.

Some brush was cut near the first Route 142 crossing signals on both sides, but no other noticeable cutting between there and Scott Jct.

I had read on Facebook back in August that VTR only got so far with the brush-cutting before the washouts across the VTR system, including the Groveton Branch, required their more immediate attention. Seems like they haven’t gotten back to it yet.

We're talking about an hour or so worth of work, for a couple of saplings on both sides of the road. Nothing between Route 142 and Route 3, the yard, or the long overgrown MEC track east of the diamond have been touched.

Then there's the big washout just west of the first crossing, just over the Dalton town line.

And here are some shots of the removed crossings:

Yikes, looking a bit jungly there. If VRS is serious about rehabbing, they’ve definitely got some work to do.

I should have taken a picture of the MEC side east of the diamond lol, the trees/brush are at least 15-20 feet tall...

Funnily enough, I actually have a photo taken back in June of the tracks you mention, I’ll post it here. When you just have one railroad instead of two in the area though, I think having both the eastbound Berlin Branch and Mt. Division would be superfluous regardless. If only there was some way to connect the rails on the north end of the diamond, that’d erase a whole lot of headaches...

No headaches there. The MEC track operationally is the "main" and the BM track is a "siding". So in big picture stuff, there's no headache at the diamond as you are only making moves on the BM track to run around cars or make moves down towards Wing Road.

NHV 669 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 6:19 pm ... Nothing between Route 142 and Route 3, the yard, or the long overgrown MEC track east of the diamond have been touched....

Might want to check that again...