Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad (HOBO, Winnipesaukee Scenic)

Footage of the RDC group leaving the Hobo by Mountain Division Railfan, no idea where this location is:

https://youtu.be/dc8A9xWbcDU?si=6DQCgR5s30JvkKZx

The location is North Station Rd in Woodstock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWeJzHzyFEA

Awesome to see one of the MEC ALCOs rolling again! They had it running again today, and it looked and sounded as great as always. S3 1186 (technically an S1 now?) was also parked at lincoln in line with the MBTA GP and the Amtrak high levels. Never noticed that 1186 has a MEC-type logo. Mountain View "Cab car" now has LED headlamp and ditch lights.

Looks like the Maine Coast lettering is starting to bleed through

Now we'll see if we get any activity from the 1186! Or even the 1008 and 959... unlikely though.

Both 959 and 1008 are owned by the State of NH, stored out-of-service, and have been for almost a decade. 1186 does run, the question is would it be used.. There's video, out there in the internets of 1186 running, as recently as this past August.. Great to see 958 pull a passenger train again !

In case you haven’t heard, the railroad will again be an active participant in the Laconia Pumpkin Festival this weekend. Friday (10/26) will see an evening Turkey Dinner train operate from Laconia station to Lochmere, leaving at 4:30 (16:30). Saturday will see hourly rides offered from Laconia station running south along lake Winnisquam. In years past, these runs have reversed direction in the vicinity of Sun Lake drive, so it will likely be the same this year. 3 levels of seating are being offered this year: Regular coach (likely the RDCs), Caboose seating in Leo’s party caboose, and first class seating in the “Determination” Pullman car. Great to see they’re expanding operations this year, after last year’s wild success!

Hobo railroad now operates under G-COR (general operation rules). 9158 wicwas car has been complete and needs lettering. New engines are rumored to come soon and look to be of larger sizes, patriot has no interest in the alcos. Time will tell what will happen but its not looking good for the old hobo

While that does make me sad (any chance you could share where you got that info?), if it’s true then I’m curious to see what kind of new locomotives they’d be bringing up to the P&L. Exciting, in a sense.

ConwayScenic252 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 8:55 pm Hobo railroad now operates under G-COR (general operation rules). 9158 wicwas car has been complete and needs lettering. New engines are rumored to come soon and look to be of larger sizes, patriot has no interest in the alcos. Time will tell what will happen but its not looking good for the old hobo

Your post is a bit of a contradiction, wouldn't you say ? On one hand you're posting rumors of new engines, the 9158 being almost completed, etc? What's not looking good ? The railroad is a business, I would think the new owners did not make the investment to maintain the status quo, though the old owners did many things well.

When you say new engines are coming, do you mean propullsion engines for 9158? Or other locomotives?

If the latter, wonder If they have any interest in the old PAR FP9s?

Definitely new motive power, given the reference to the Alcos. Sounds odd if they've worked fine for now and folks are qualified to work on them... if the other RDCs are unpowered units, it doesn't logically seem like they'd repower one that sat untouched for quite some time.

I highly doubt CSXT plans to part with the F units without getting a king's ransom for them. Plenty of other used power out there they can slap paint on.

The new owners appear to be investor types. They also operate other railroads, though only one of which is a tourist operation. Should look to those operations for clues to what will happen. They shouldn't just replace locomotives for the heck of it, and their NH railroad is pretty separate geographically, so they aren't going to be swapping equipment on a weekly basis, lol, but I assume the ALCOs are old and high mileage. I assume these railroads are more tourist than museum, so if I was an operator I would be looking at reliability, fuel efficiency, total cost of ownership.

Ex-MEC 958 was built in 1949 with Maine Central being one of the last railroads ( other than shortlines, switching operations and tourist roads ) to operate locos with Alco 539 engines. When the railroad started replacing them with rebuilt Geeps in the late 70's the reason given was 539 parts were getting hard to come by. 40+ plus years later they must close to non-existant to acquire, a consideration when you're discussing a piece of machinery you need to operate every day in season.