Whitefield/Hazen action

I ran into a very pleasant employee of New Hampshire Central RR today in his HiRail pickup. He informed me that there will probably be a move next week to store more cars on the siding just west of Hazen. And sometime next spring they're expecting a large transformer to be shipped to the power plant also at Hazen.
I asked him if they had trackage rights between Stratford and Groveton and he said, no, StL&A grabs the whole train engine and all and sets it off in Groveton where the NHC takes over. Same thing for the return trip.
Somebody get some pictures......I can't be there.

Greg

Heard on the VRS&Rutland Yahoo list that 500+ boxcars are going to be stored at Gilman being routed from Groveton down to Whitefield first.

Anybody heard about this??

^I hope it's true.

The brushcutter did go west of Whitefield this year so the tracks should be clear.

xcnoah wrote:Heard on the VRS&Rutland Yahoo list that 500+ boxcars are going to be stored at Gilman being routed from Groveton down to Whitefield first.

Anybody heard about this??

Not true, unfortunately.

From "the" source:

What was really seen was no more than an extra large slug of regular paper
traffic heading south to NECR.

Lots of activity in Lancaster,NH Thursday , Friday And Saturday Feb 12 & 13th and 14th 2009 . Wednesday and Thursday they came thru clearing the crossings. Friday 10am a GP7 painted CNW colors came down with 7 cars cleared Page Hill Road crossing and stopped and had breakfast at GoGo Gas. About 5 hours later engine came back thru headed North. Friday 500pm engine GP7 returned with 16 cars went north at 900pm returned again at 1030pm with 18 cars and returned north at 330am Saturday. I was headed out of town at 1030am Saturday heard them blowing for a crossing on US 3 unsure how many cars they brought down Saturday. All cars were tanks cars and Hoppers

^Thanks for the news.

The cars must be for storage.

It was the New Hampshire Central that brought them down . They are storing quite few cars down towards Whitefield,NH

up in Groveton today a few flat cars and covered hoppers on sidings at the papermill.NHCR must be staging them on the siding before coming south towards Whitefield.

Are they being stored near Hazens by the long string of TOFC's?

Yes there is a line of flat cars parked next to the shed where the mill used to keep their crane. There was a covered hopper hooked to the flat cars and another one sitting by itself on another track today.

The lone covered hopper is still in Hazens. Waiting for pickup? I could see the string of stored cars at the end of the yard in Whitefield. (from route 3)

Up in Groveton on Saturday 25 cars on the SLA siding and 3 more on the siding at the papermill. All were tanks cars and covered hoppers. I would assume that the NHCR will be bringing them south at some point.

Is there still talks/interest about operating a scenic train in the area? I know two years ago something was mentioned but I haven't heard anything since.

As much as I'd like to see a Scenic Railroad use some of those tracks, I don't see a line that far north being particularly profitable. You'd have competition from the Conway Scenic and the Hobo Railroad, both of which are further south, and located around lots of other area attractions. What would the route of this train be?

At about 1100am a Bobcat tractor came thru clearing the crossings in Lancaster headed south towards Whitefield.