523:. On July 31, 2019, NEGS ownership announced that the deal with United Rail had not been finalized, as was supposed to happen by June 30, and that operations were returning to pre-sale conditions. Then on May 10, 2020, it was reported that the Vermont Rail System (VRS) was to acquire New England Southern Railroad. In June 2020, the sale was finalized and VRS became immediate operator of NEGS. Its sole engine (2555) was patched with GMTX logos and renumbered to 1505.
416:. NEGS also performed various maintenance-of-way contracts around New England, in MA, ME, NH and VT. Less fortunate, was a proposed significant aggregate move from Columbia Falls-Centerville, Maine area, west to deep water near Bucksport, over the former Maine Central's Calais Branch of Maine DOT, which fell through. A 1988 bid on the ex-Grand Trunk line in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, went instead to the
435:, and the New England Southern was contracted to re-lay ballast along the right-of-way. Dearness had intended to run all the way to Lebanon, but at the time the Northern was not being used for regular freight service beyond Penacook, and years of poor track maintenance and neglect under B&M ownership meant that the New England Southern ballast trains could only venture a bit further than the
22:
479:. The last freight customer on the old Northern above Concord, Rivco in Penacook, received its last shipments in 1992. In 1989 the railroad had started a passenger operation, the Granite State Railroad, which ran until 1993. The railroad also began to run trains of privately owned cabooses between Northfield and Concord with more occasional cooperating runs with the
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shortline had been more or less relegated to its original form, operating solely on the White
Mountain Branch. Since 2010 the railroad has operated on an as-needed basis, serving the 3M plant and delivering the odd equipment move to the Hobo Railroad. Occasional special moves, including 2014 and 2018 contracts with the
276:, which operated the line as their "Central Division" in 1976, but soon thereafter ended operations. The Goodwin Railroad, an extension of Weaver Bros. Construction, was created in 1977 to operate the trackage, and did so until it too ended operations in 1980. Following the demise of the Goodwin contract, the
353:(an exception being the Merrimack Station Coal Plant, which would continue to be served by the late B&M President Alan Dustin to assume switching rights in Concord. An agreement was worked out not only for switching rights in the capital but freight rights on the B&M's Northern Mainline between
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Originally built for the US Army
Railroad, this switcher was sold to the State of NH in 1976 and was used by the Wolfeboro, Goodwin and North Stratford Railroads before New England Southern. The locomotive ran freight service until 1985, when it too was transferred to the Winnipesaukee Railroad. Sold
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in 1949, 1008 was purchased by the State of New
Hampshire in 1980 and was used by the North Stratford Railroad on the White Mountain branch until the New England Southern assumed operations in 1981. From 1985 1008 was used almost exclusively on the original Winnipesaukee Railroad operation, which the
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In 2002, the railroad began serving a new customer, Ciment Quebec, in Bow. This profitable growth business caught the eye of
Guilford, which had been watching New England Southern build up business in the area. Guilford, which had inherited ownership of the tracks from the B&M in 1983, rebranded
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for adverse discontinuance of the lease in 2008, and despite a lengthy legal battle and the protests of every freight customer, the filing was approved on April 29, 2010, and ultimately, Pan Am assumed control of the
Manchester to Boscawen trackage. Switching services then went from at least three,
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Peter
Dearness, a businessman, educator, and shortline railroader, who had a hand in founding the Massachusetts Central Railroad in 1975, approached the State of New Hampshire with a bid to operate the trackage with his newly formed New England Southern Railroad. The railroad was incorporated first
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The New
England Southern made its final run to Manchester on October 16, 2010, after 25 years of reliable service. Following that run, the railroad set up a new headquarters on an expanded yard trackage on state-owned property, off Exit 18 of I-93 in Canterbury. In an ironic twist of fate, the
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Originally built for the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad as 438, the locomotive was sold to New England Southern in 1985. In 1998 it was sold to the Hobo Railroad, which converted it into a low-nose locomotive and repainted it. It serves as a backup unit for the Winnipesaukee Scenic
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Originally built in 1955 as New York
Central GP9 5911, the unit later became Penn Central / Conrail 7311. It was rebuilt into a GP10 for Conrail at the Paducah Shops in 1978 and was sold to New England Southern in December 1997. In 2007 it was sold to the
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by Ch. 32, Acts of 1981 on April 12, 1982. Dearness had originally imagined this new railroad as a shortline system with operations only in
Western Massachusetts, before learning of the NH White Mountain Branch situation, for which he submitted a bid.
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Winnipesaukee Railroad — Started by New England Southern in 1985, NEGS pulled out shortly afterwards. The railroad was operated independently by Paul Cronin until 1992 when it lost its DOT rights, then picked up by the Clark family's
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Throughout the 1990s, the New England Southern continued to profit from multi-day-a-week service on the Manchester to Concord segment. Freight service on the White Mountain Branch had dried up except for one customer,
858:. This train included three private passenger cars and, at differing times, 15-18 cabooses. The Merrimack Valley Railroad contracted with NEGS to pull the consist between Tilton and Concord. Substantial increases in
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objected. Access to trackage between Manchester and Boscawen had bolstered the railroad's yearly carloads from 250 to nearly 2,750, much of which was due to Blue Seal Feeds at Bow Junction, and International Salt in
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on December 22, 1981. (Dearness had been out of state working with Kenneth Coombs on the Cadillac & Lake City Rwy. (CLK) harvest season's grain operations, between the UP and BN in CO and KS.) --and then in
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Currently, the New England Southern operates under Vermont Rail Systems and regularly only on the state-owned White Mountain Branch in central New Hampshire. The railroad's sole interchange point is with
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Dearness' railroad won the contract, and in 1982 the operating contract was awarded to the New England Southern, which began freight operations on September 3, 1982, using State of New Hampshire-owned
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Originally ran for Conrail, 20 was purchased from the Quincy Bay Terminal (QBT) in 2003 and was sold to PSNH in 2007. It is currently the switcher at the Merrimack Station coal plant in
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activity. The unit was repaired at the Hobo Railroad shops in Lincoln and later sold to the Michigan Ann Arbor Railroad (AA), and renumbered 3927. The Ann Arbor is now owned by WATCO.
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New England Southern 566 and 503 at the tower in Concord in 2004, the railroad's headquarters until their eviction by Pan Am in 2010. Alan Thomas photo, Rick Kfoury collection.
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as 1341, the locomotive was sold to New England Southern in 1985. In 2007 it was sold to the New Hampshire Northcoast Railroad, which repainted it and renumbered it 1801.
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816:. In 2011, 2370 was seriously damaged in a derailment in E. Concord, where she tumbled down an embankment onto her side due to ice build-up on rails caused by illegal
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In February 2019, an unauthorized press release was published stating the railroad was going to be acquired by United Rail, a corporate conglomerate based out of
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including the former Laconia Car Co. foundry, Allen-Rogers Mill, [[NESSIE, a combination of the railroad's early reporting marks, NES, and the nickname of the
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Granite State Railroad — Operated over the White Mountain Branch as tourist trains from 1989 until 1993 between Concord and Tilton using two leased coaches.
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in 2006 and announced its intention to discontinue the New England Southern's lease, so that they might assume operations themselves. Pan Am filed with the
391:. The locomotives were painted in a green and yellow scheme and went to work immediately. 302 was originally slated to work on the B&M trackage near
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in 1984 as #371, she later became Union Pacific #2370. She was sold to the New England Southern in 2004 and ran until she was sold to 2011 to the
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862:(required by the State of New Hampshire) resulted in the end of caboose train service in 2012, after about 15 years of annual excursions.
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purchased the branch and sought a shortline railroad to carry out operations. The first to assume this responsibility was the
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coal trains. The New England Southern made its inaugural freight run to Manchester on July 14, 1985, using leased
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Railroad and is also the backup for the New England Southern on the occasion that 2555 has a mechanical issue.
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for Georgia Pacific, and provided rail-plant maintenance and on-site switching at the SD Warren Paper Mill in
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stepped in as an interim operator until the state could find a dependable and permanent long-term operator.
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in 1987 with freight bound for Rochester Shoe Tree in Ashland. Alan Thomas photo, Rick Kfoury collection.
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to ship military equipment to and from training exercises, have supplemented the railroad's income.
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581, on loan from Guilford (which had purchased the Maine Central in 1981 and the B&M in 1983).
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State Historic Site. The right of way north of that location has been transformed into the
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408:. In the late 1980s the railroad was also operating a Reload on former B&M branch in
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to the Hobo Railroad in 1992, the engine has been out of service since the late 1990s.
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filed to abandon its 73-mile (117 km) "White Mountain Branch" stretching between
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New England Southern started. In 1987 the locomotive was transferred to the
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passenger service over its White Mountain Branch. These included:
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945:"Rail News - United Rail acquires New England Southern Railroad"
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329:. The railroad made regular trips to Rochester Shoe Tree in
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in eastern Tilton, and occasional equipment moves to the
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New England Southern Railroad #503 heads north through
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and became the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad of today.
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List of United States railroads by political division
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1181:Companies based in Merrimack County, New Hampshire
221:The New England Southern Railroad's corporate logo
321:, a boxcar for Blue Seal Feeds (H.K. Webster) in
387:, #503, and an EMD GP7, #302, from the bankrupt
333:, Quin-T Corp. in E. Tilton, Blue Seal Feeds in
977:New England Southern Railroad official website
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762:, which renumbered it 1856 and repainted it.
423:In the summer of 1987, AT&T began laying
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48:introducing citations to additional sources
854:owners of the Merrimack Valley Railroad in
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850:Caboose Train — Operated jointly with the
921:The New England Southern Railroad, Vol. 1
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389:Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
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38:Relevant discussion may be found on the
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508:four times a week, to once, as result.
477:Hobo and Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroads
258:Boston & Maine Railroad Corporation
831:New England Southern operated several
399:, but that deal fell through when the
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760:Belvidere & Delaware Railroad Co.
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1054:New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation
611:in 1970. Formerly numbered as 2555.
539:. August 7, 2016. Rick Kfoury photo.
418:St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad
401:Providence & Worcester Railroad
244:, and serves industries in central
1064:St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
14:
535:The New England Southern yard at
514:New Hampshire Army National Guard
313:1008. The railroad also leased a
1145:Former carriers in New Hampshire
31:relies largely or entirely on a
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1121:White Mountain Central Railroad
972:New England Southern Cyclopedia
842:Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad
481:Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad
455:overpass in Boscawen, near the
59:"New England Southern Railroad"
1049:New Hampshire Central Railroad
810:Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
607:unit built originally for the
210:newenglandsouthernrailroad.com
1:
1131:Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad
1044:New England Southern Railroad
410:Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts
301:New England Southern 1008 at
227:New England Southern Railroad
112:New England Southern Railroad
1111:Mount Washington Cog Railway
1039:New England Central Railroad
505:Surface Transportation Board
238:Class III shortline railroad
347:Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
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1029:Claremont Concord Railroad
1013:Railroads of New Hampshire
1139:
808:Originally built for the
710:Originally built for the
658:Originally built for the
431:mainline from Concord to
242:Canterbury, New Hampshire
126:Canterbury, New Hampshire
278:North Stratford Railroad
248:, in the United States.
1176:New Hampshire railroads
1034:Green Mountain Railroad
949:Progressive Railroading
827:Passenger train service
1171:Concord, New Hampshire
1126:Wilton Scenic Railroad
1101:Conway Scenic Railroad
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270:State of New Hampshire
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919:Kfoury, Rick (2017).
796:Electro-Motive Diesel
771:Electro-Motive Diesel
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723:Electro-Motive Diesel
698:Electro-Motive Diesel
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1116:Silver Lake Railroad
437:Potter Place station
337:, Gerrity Lumber in
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1094:Heritage railroads
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814:Ann Arbor Railroad
681:GE 44-Ton Switcher
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315:GE 44-ton switcher
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155:1982–present
152:Dates of operation
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29:This article
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952:. Retrieved
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600:Operational
557:Active units
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634:Build date
573:Build date
377:Weirs Beach
166:Track gauge
146:New England
1165:Categories
1143:See also:
954:2019-02-26
867:References
856:Northfield
818:snowmobile
801:EMD GP39-2
593:EMD SW1500
527:Operations
427:along the
357:and later
319:Northfield
100:March 2023
70:newspapers
923:. Blurb.
521:Las Vegas
393:Worcester
160:Technical
40:talk page
750:EMD GP10
703:EMD GP18
628:Builder
567:Builder
459:and the
449:Franklin
445:Boscawen
385:EMD GP18
359:Guilford
351:Penacook
339:Meredith
335:Plymouth
323:Lakeport
185: in
117:Overview
852:caboose
776:EMD SW9
728:EMD GP7
651:ALCO S1
625:Number
576:Status
564:Number
499:itself
485:Lincoln
441:Andover
433:Lebanon
397:Gardner
366:EMD GP7
331:Ashland
311:ALCO S1
266:Lincoln
262:Concord
252:History
236:) is a
206:Website
180:⁄
84:scholar
1085:Amtrak
927:
637:Notes
579:Notes
327:Tilton
286:Nevada
142:Locale
86:
79:
72:
65:
57:
805:1984
792:2370
754:1955
732:1950
707:1960
655:1949
642:1008
631:Type
597:1970
584:1505
570:Type
201:Other
91:JSTOR
77:books
925:ISBN
741:566
719:302
694:503
646:ALCO
264:and
234:NEGS
225:The
137:NEGS
63:news
785:Bow
767:20
603:Ex-
588:EMD
483:to
439:in
406:Bow
284:in
46:by
1167::
947:.
875:^
787:.
780:-
685:-
672:2
487:.
473:3M
467:.
447:,
420:.
191:)
1005:e
998:t
991:v
957:.
933:.
229:(
187:(
182:2
178:1
175:+
173:8
102:)
98:(
88:·
81:·
74:·
67:·
50:.
36:.
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