April 2025 Wheel Report
By Brian Solomon
Photos by Mike Lacey
Rules Class 2025
Conway Scenic’s annual rules class was held at the Gibson Center in North Conway. This event was well attended by the railroad’s employees. Following a general meeting to cover changes and matters relating to safety, a more detailed meeting commenced for the benefit of the operating and track departments.
Spring Season
The railroad will commence Spring operations with its annual Easter Bunny Express trains on April 19th and 20th. This year there are four trains each day. These will work the Conway Branch. In addition to a visit by the Easter Bunny, passengers will be entertained by actors playing classic Easter themed storybook characters. Children will received treats and activity books with Easter themed musical accompaniment. Since Easter kicks off Massachusetts Spring vacation week, the railroad also plans for Monday and Friday (April 21, 25) Valley trains, which will begin regular weekend operation on Saturday April 26. These are scheduled to depart at North Conway at: 10:45am, 12noon, 1:15 and 2:30pm. The railroad is aiming to offer weekend Valley guests the option of buying special tickets for on-board theater production on select afternoon runs, including the popular Murder Mystery performance.
The Mountaineer is scheduled for operation every Saturday from April 19th, which is earlier in the Spring than originally planned. This train will board at North Conway at 11:30am.
Looking toward Summer
August 2025 represents the 150th anniversary of the completion of Portland & Ogdensburg’s route over Crawford Notch. To help celebrate this momentous event, Conway Scenic Railroad has planned an ambitious Summer schedule and several special trains. Beginning in July, the railroad will operate both morning and afternoon Mountaineer schedules Tuesday through Sunday. These will board at North Conway at 9am and 1:30pm for the run over Crawford Notch. Operation of two schedules from North Conway will facilitate the boarding of passengers at Crawford for a ‘reverse’ round trip from Crawford to North Conway. In addition, the railroad is looking to offer combination train-bus trips, where guests with tighter travel schedules will have an option of a shorter journey by traveling one direction by train and the other by bus. This will shorten the round trip by about an hour and fifteen minutes. In addition, it offers additional departures from North Conway, which the railroad hopes may make the trip to Crawford appealing to greater numbers of visitors. Another new option will be a ticket for an extended Crawford layover. This is aimed a hikers visiting North Conway who would like to travel by train and spend approximately five hours enjoying the scenic splendor on the trails around Crawford Notch. This ticket allows for travel to Crawford on the morning Mountaineer and return on the afternoon train. The Summer Valley train schedule has also been expanded with up to six-runs daily between North Conway and Conway.
More Maintenance Equipment
On Tuesday, April 15th, railroad received its latest track maintenance equipment; a pair of Fairmont-Tamper TR-10 Tie-Inserter/Extractors. These were unloaded from a truck at the Post Office crossing adjacent to the North Conway station. These machines will assist with Conway Scenic’s on-going track maintenance and when the time comes, these will be available for work rebuilding the Mountain Division in Maine (see: below).
Looking Toward Portland
Conway Scenic has been in discussions with the Maine DOT in regard to exploring alternatives to reopen the former Maine Central Mountain Division across Maine to Portland as a short line freight carrier.