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Boston & Maine Railroad

The New Hampshire Mainline

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Welcome!

This model railroad layout is my interpretation of Boston & Maine's mainline through the heart of New Hampshire. Parts of the layout are based on historical research, actual field surveys, and advice gathered from other B&M modelers. Other parts are pure fiction, but borrow heavily from New England railroading in the 1970s. That time was an pivotal time for New Hampshire railroading; the B&M was coming out of bankruptcy, but the creation of Guilford Railroad System was only several years away. The New Hampshire mainline, running from North Chelmsford, MA to White River Junction, VT was a key link between the Boston area and Vermont, and on up to Canada. Local industries were moving away from rail, but the railroad hung on, moving chemicals and bulk products like grain and plastics.

Traffic on the layout reflects this. Frieght service is provided first by COED/EDCO which links Concord, NH and East Deerfield, MA, and then also by WRLA/LAWR, linking White River Junction, VT with Lawrence, MA. White River Junction is the interchange point with Vermont Central, and its parent, the Canadian National. Switchers based in Manchester handle traffic between Manchester and Nashua, hauling bulk chemicals, wood products, grains, and the most precious product of them all... beer. Motive power ranges from aging F7s to the newest GP38-2 and GP40-2. Locomotives from the Maine Central and Canadian National railroads are not uncommon. Unit coal trains, servicing PSNH's power plant at Bow, NH run on occasion.

Unlike the real world, passenger traffic and commuter rail trive. It may not be the newest equipment, but Amtrak runs a daily round-trip between Boston and Montreal. Powered by a pair of F7A locomotives, it leaves Boston's North Station in the early morning. The Granite Stater runs counter to the morning comuter rush, speeding north. After scheduled stops in Lowell and Nashua, it speeds through Merrimack, stopping in Manchester and Concord, and then continuing north through the woods of New Hampshire. It is the highest priority train on the line, and virtually all traffic stands still as it thunders by. B&M Commuter trains are handled by aging Budd Rail Diesel Cars, known as "Budd Cars" or simply "RDCs". Some RDCs are still moving under thier own power, but the winter of 1978 had been harsh, and many RDCs had been de-powered, and now pulled by locomotives. Each car retained a single diesel engine, which provided heat and air conditioning, eliminating the need for head-end power.

Set your calendar back to the fall of 1978, jump in your Chevy Camaro and get ready to railfan the New Hampshire Mainline.

Note: For an alternative view of New England railroading, see Ian MacMillan's Amoskeag Northern which is based on the concept that the B&M and MEC were merged into Conrail in 1981.