October 2025 Wheel Report
By Brian Solomon
Photos by Mike Lacey
Conway Scenic Wins the Silver!
This year Conway Scenic Railroad came in second place—the Silver Award— in the Family Attractions category for Conway Daily Sun’s Best of the Mount Washington Valley contest. A The Best of Mount Washington Valley awards Big Reveal ceremony was held on October 8th at the Black Mountain Main Lodge.
Rolling Along with Autumn
It’s been a great autumn season at Conway Scenic Railroad. Last year the operating department identified missed opportunities in the Autumn schedule, noting that between the end of September and Columbus Day many trains had completely sold out. To remedy this shortfall, this year the railroad added a lot more peak season trains, especially on the run to Crawford Notch. On most days from September 27th, the railroad had scheduled Mountaineer excursions to Crawford departing at 9am and 1:30pm, plus extra trains to Crawford departing at 11:30am largely for the benefit of bus tour and cruise ship shore excursion customers. In addition, the railroad added an extra Valley train on Saturdays. Despite all the additional trains the railroad was still sold-out during the peak foliage season! Guests continued to fill up our trains as fast as we could open them to the public. It is wonderful that Conway Scenic can provide excursions to so many people and we hope that many new guests enjoyed their trips over Crawford Notch this season. Historically, the railroad wound down operations after Columbus Day weekend, but this year it remained busy. Although by the second week in October foliage was past its peak at Crawford, peak color remained in North Conway, and the trains were still very well patronized. It is expected that after Halloween, the railroad will scale back operations, although the Mountaineer will continue to operate on the 11:30am schedule on Tuesdays and Saturdays through mid-November. After Thanksgiving the railroad will switch to its Winter Holidays Schedule with the Winter Mountaineer scheduled through the New Year and beyond!
F-units Make a Surprise Appearance.
On the weekend of October 11 & 12th, the 470 Club’s former Boston & Maine F7A diesels worked the west end of the Valley train to Conway, with former Maine Central GP7 573 on the Eastend. All three locomotives wear the classic Electro-Motive Division-designed maroon and harvest gold paint scheme created in the 1940s to mimic the colors of New England autumn foliage. At that time, B&M and Maine Central were under common management, which is among the reasons why the two railroads shared the same diesel paint schemes. The success of running the F7As on the Valley may lead to further opportunities for these streamlined diesels in Valley service over the coming months.
Murder on the Rails this November!
Last summer the re-introduction of a Murder Mystery style on-board experience titled Murder on the Rails proved very popular and several performances were completely sold out. The railroad will be offering this event again in November with performances scheduled for select 3pm Saturday trains. Details can be found at: conwayscenic.com