January 2026 Wheel Report
By Brian Solomon
Photos by Mike Lacey and Jeff Daniel
Great End to 2025!
Conway Scenic had a robust 2025 followed by a very intense final week of the year. After Christmas, the railroad began its annual Snow Train operations with up to four round trips daily on the Conway Branch. The railroad offered a limited operation on New Year’s Eve and this included the one-night only New Year’s Eve Late Special. This one-of-kind train proved very popular and sold out. As planned, it made a nocturnal trip up the Mountain Division and returned to North Conway just after midnight. This gave passengers the rare opportunity to experience a trip over the line that began in one year and concluded in the next!
Winter Excursion Operations
During the Winter, Conway Scenic primarily runs excursions on weekends, with both the 55-minute Snow Train to Conway and the four-hour Winter Mountaineer over Crawford Notch running Saturdays and Sundays. During the Winter, most Crawford Notch trips run all the way to Fabyan, four miles west of the Crawford station. These trains have typically operated with locomotives at both ends of the passenger consist to simplify changing ends while obviating the need for the engine to run around the train at Fabyan. In addition to weekend excursions, the railroad is also planning to run its Snow Train excursions on Monday January 19th, for the MLK Day holiday, and during the full week of President’s Week in February. Extra Winter Mountaineer trips are scheduled during President’s Week on Tuesday February 17th and Thursday February 19th. Weekend Winter excursions are planned to continue into March this year.
Work Extras
Since there are no scheduled excursions on most weekdays, this presents ample opportunity for the track department to get work done along the line with the operating department supporting maintenance with work extras (unscheduled moves). On Wednesday January 7, GP38 255 took work extra to Bartlett where it dropped ties, and conducted tree trimming as worked west on the Mountain Division to near milepost 76. The following day, the same locomotive ran a snow plow extra to clear the line from North Conway all the way to the end of track at Hazen. This included plowing of trackage at Quebec Junction. January 9, GP9 1751 ran as a light engine between North Conway and Conway, to clear snow and ice from the former Boston & Maine branch. Later the same day, engine 255 brought flatcars from North Conway to Bartlett.
Turntable Repair
During the week of January 12th, crews were busy at work renewing and upgrading the turntable at the North Conway roundhouse. This vital piece of equipment is necessary to get equipment in and out of the roundhouse for storage and maintenance, as well as moving equipment from most of the radial tracks. It is also the primary means for turning locomotives and cars as well as rail-based maintenance equipment.