Wheel Report Archives

By Brian Solomon Photos by Mike Lacey First 2025-season Shore Excursion Extra Since autumn 2023, Conway Scenic Railroad has been accommodating cruise ship shore excursionists. These guests are collected from Portland, Maine in motor coaches operated by Conway Scenic sister company VIP Tour and Charter Bus and brought to North Conway or Crawford to board trains for the journey through Crawford Notch. Shore excursionists organize their bus-train trip through the cruise provider, and these excursions typically include extras, such as a North Conway shopping trips. Depending on the nature of the shore excursion and the day and time of year of the individual cruise, shore excursionists have been accommodated either on regularly scheduled trains or extra moves specially scheduled for the shore excursion. On Friday May 30th, Conway Scenic operated the first shore excursion extra of the 2025 season. A…

By Brian Solomon Photos by Mike Lacey Shoulder Season April and May are quiet months for the excursion business at Conway Scenic Railroad. However, this spring the railroad has been running weekends with four Valley trains to Conway on Saturdays and Sundays, plus a weekly Mountaineer to Crawford Notch. Operations will ramp up from Memorial Day weekend. This will mark the beginning of daily Spring-Summer operations for the 2025 season. Valley excursions to Conway will be on the same basic operating schedule that has been in place since excursions resumed after Easter, with trains departing at North Conway at 10:45am, and 12, 1:15 and 2:30pm, while operating 7-days per week. The Mountaineer  will make at least two round trips weekly, normally operating on Saturdays and Tuesday; departing North Conway at 11:30 for the four-hour run over Crawford Notch. On Memorial…

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…

By Brian Solomon Photos by Mike Lacey Marching Forward Historically, March was the quietest month for Conway Scenic’s train operations. Until this Winter season, the railroad routinely turned over significant portions of both Conway Branch and the state-owned Mountain Division to various 3rd parties for winter recreation. Over the last few years, the railroad has moved toward expanding its winter excursion and track maintenance operations. This has resulted in necessary changes to 3rd party arrangements to enable continued railroad operation on many portions of the track through the winter. Initially, Conway Scenic planned to run its popular Snow Train excursions through the end of February, however owing to robust demand, the railroad decided to extend its excursion season twice. The first extension saw trains running through the first weekend in March, and then it was further extended for weekend operation…

By Brian Solomon Photos by Mike Lacey Plow Extras Keeping the railroad open over Crawford in the winter has required numerous plow extras. Since Saturday Winter at Crawford excursions have been schedule throughout January and February, plow extras have typically operated from North Conway on the Mountain Division over Crawford Notch on Fridays. Former Maine Central 255 has been assigned to these trains with the former Central Vermont Railway Russell plow facing westbound. In situations where the base level of snow has only been a few inches, the snow and ice accumulation in the rock cuts has still required special attention and can take hours to be cleared effectively. In addition to Friday extras, plow trains have also run mid-week, both to clear portions of the Mountain Division and the Conway Branch. On Tuesday, February 11th, a plow extra worked…

  By Brian Solomon Construction and Repair Projects The week of May 22th saw several important repair projects underway simultaneously. This included the long anticipated repair to the River Road trestle on the Conway Branch. The work required the road below the bridge to be closed with detours in place from May 23 to May 25, while contractors replaced major structural members that had been damaged during 2022 bridge strikes. During this same period, several grade crossings were repaired including the private crossing on the Mountain Division at Sugarwood (near the twin span Saco River bridge in Glen), which allow for the removal a temporary speed restriction on the line. Another set of contractors repaired the station tower roofs on the North Conway Station. Also in late May and early June, two track geometry vehicles inspected the railroad to help…

By Brian Solomon Busy Spring April 2023 proved to be unusually robust in terms of ridership and work on the railroad. We had several very busy weekend on our Conway and Sawyer River excursions. During April and early May we have had Work Extras out on the line most weekdays. During this period, most trains were assigned either GP38 252 or GP9 1751, with GP35 216 held in reserve. Mid-month April, GP38 255 was taken out of service for its mandatory 92-inspection. Our roundhouse crew also continued making improvements and repairs to equipment. Coach/ Snack bar Car 1133 Mount Washington received significant renovation and improvement. This included restoration and re-installation of vintage luggage racks in seating areas, new window sashes and new counter spaces at the snack bar. Materials have been arriving for upcoming track and bridge work. In the…

By Brian Solomon Easter Bunny Express The railroad opened its Spring 2023 Season with the annual Easter Bunny Express. Three trains operated to Conway each day on Saturday April 8 and Sunday, with departures at 11am, 12:30 and 3pm. The Easter Bunny was on hand to greet guests in front of the station and on the trains. Former GP38 255 did the honors hauling a six-car train consisting of; Hattie Evans, CP Reed, Dorthea Mae, Mount Webster, George B. Small, and Mount Bemis. The weather was very fine and we enjoyed robust ridership. Working on the Railroad During weekdays the railroad has been under a system-wide Work Authority to enable our track and operating department to coordinate their activities to open the railroad and make the necessary repairs to operate our Spring excursions. In addition to operation of On-track maintenance…

By Brian Solomon Conclusion of Snow Train 2023 Snow Train 2023 concluded with a stint of daily operations from February 18 through President’s Week until Sunday February 26. One of the highlights of the final weeks of Snow Train was a visit from the television crew of New England Traveler on February 21st. They spent time interviewing railroad staff and filming on board the train, which included recording performances by Eastwood Station, who sang their Snow Train—written about the North Conway to Attitash Winter run. The success of winter operations boosted business by dramatically increasing ridership and revenue during the previously quiet January and February periods, while offering some season employees opportunities to work during the winter. The railroad expects to continue with Snow Train operations in the coming years. More Plow Trains The railroad has continued to keep the…

By Brian Solomon Plow Extras The early weeks of winter were exceptionally mild, but this didn’t paint an accurate picture of the whole 2023 winter season. By late January, several storms had dumped blankets of heavy wet snow in the Mount Washington Valley. Unlike the light fluffy powder that can be easily plowed from the…

By Brian Solomon Spring Season Debut April 2, 2021 dawned beautiful and clear. It was an auspicious start to our Spring season that began with our annual Easter Bunny Express. We scheduled three trains a day for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, boarding at 11 am, 12:30 and 2:30pm, all operating using a foreshortened streamlined train…

By Brian Solomon 2020 Finale In late December, the big news at Conway Scenic was firing steam locomotive 7470 for excursion service. We made the decision to focus steam operations during the week between Christmas and New Years to get the locomotive ready for its 2021 debut on Winter Steam that was held January 2nd….