November 1, 2008
Conway Scenic has just concluded the 2008 Fall Foliage Season, and it was a good one. Despite the bad economic news, people came out in droves (and buses) to ride the Notch Train and the Valley Train. Notch service ended with our annual 470 Railroad Club trip on October 18. Again this year as last steam locomotive #7470 provided the power on the west end of the train from North Conway to Bartlett. The trip included a run down the line to Redstone and a stop at the White Mountain Cider Company in Glen before continuing on to points west. Turnout for this trip was excellent.
The day before, on Friday, CSRR hosted a train for the local Kiwanis Club to benefit Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine. That trip ran to Crawford Depot and included a couple of runbys along the line. An enjoyable time was had by all aboard.
At the annual end of season CSRR employee party on October 25 the following accomplishments for the last 12 months were reported on:
• Open car ex-B&M 1557 “BLACK MOUNTAIN” received a new coat of paint and new lettering.
• Coach #6749 had 2 wheel sets turned at Boothbay Railway Village in Maine for one truck and had 2 brand new wheel sets installed in the other end. Car had been sitting on blocking outside the North Conway Freight House for a number of years. It was reunited with it trucks and moved into the Round House for transformation into the fourth Notch Coach. CSRR still has a long way to go on this project but will get there eventually!
• Steam Locomotive #7470’s tender tank was substantially rebuilt at Boothbay Railway Village. The tank received all new sides and a new bottom as well as new interior baffles. The old tank top was reused as that had very little corrosion and it allowed the easy reuse of all the hardware and fittings located on the tank top. Even though the new tank is of all welded construction over 1000 rivets were installed to give the tank its 1921 as built appearance.
• Pullman Parlor car GERTRUDE EMMA went into the shop in January. All of her windows were removed for sanding and restaining. Each window was sanded, stained and then received 3 coats of high quality polyurethane. Window sills were sanded and repainted as was some of the other trim and generally the car was put in good shape for the 2008 season. The car also received a new rug and all new seat coverings.
• Dining Car Chocorua received a new rug and had increased air conditioning capacity installed in the kitchen end of the car.
• CSRR purchased an RDC car, now numbered CSRX 23. The car was built in 1954 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and worked for them for 14 years before it passed through the hands of the Penn Central Corporation, Amtrak, Metro North then Susquehanna Railway Corporation and now Conway Scenic. The railroad has run half a dozen trips with it with great success and looks forward to using it a lot next season.
• The track crew completed the tie replacement project on the Conway line (about 1600 ties installed over the last two seasons) and is now working on the Quarry branch.
• The track department received a new Hy-Rail truck, #204. This truck has a rail greasing set up on it. It applies a small bead of grease to the inside of the railheads in order to help reduce wheel flange and rail head wear. This is the railroads newest piece of track equipment being a 2000 Chevy.
• A contract has been let for Frankenstein Trestle to receive all new deck ties and that work should begin any time now and be complete before Notch trains start running again in June of '09.
• Conway Scenic has leased an all steel Russell snow plow. The plow was originally Central Vermont #4211 and then went to the Lamoille Valley RR in Vermont. This plow had been stored at Whitefield, NH yard for many years.
• CSRR also received two ballast cars that had been in Whitefield. These cars are currently stored in Bartlett and will be used to run stone when CSRR surfaces the line hopefully sometime in 2009.
• CSRR shop crews have been working on B23-7 #1943, (still numbered #23 at this time). A new air compressor was installed in it over the summer. The work continues to make this a reliable unit for use on the Crawford Notch line.
• CSRR is currently working on getting its new Dining Car to North Conway. The car is scheduled to move from Newcastle ME to North Conway in the very near future. The new Dining Car is an authentic Norfolk and Western Railroad Dining car that was built in 1948 by Pullman Standard. CSRR plans to use it on both the Notch and Valley Trains after refitting.
CSRR is now providing weekend service only and will continue to do so through December 21. The Railroad is teaming up again with Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts to offer a “STEAM IN THE SNOW” excursion on January 3 of 2009. Info is available on the Mass Bay Website and at www.conwayscenic.com.
Also in January, we are partnering with Mount Cranmore to recreate a "SNOW TRAIN WEEKEND" January 10 & 11 and celebrate the 70th anniversary of Hannes Schneider's arrival in North Conway. He is considered to be the father of modern-day skiing and a major influence on the development of Mt. Washington Valley as a winter destination resort.
As always thank you for your interest in and support of Conway Scenic Railroad, Inc. THINK SAFETY at all TIMES.
Paul Hallett
