4 PM Perfection
Continuing with the series of from the HOBO Railroad / Winnepesauke Scenic Railroad's Pumpkin Express trains which ran out of the historic downtown Laconia depot for the first time since 2016. They were scheduled to run five short 5 mile and 45 minute round trips south among the scenic and almost never used (except by the rail bikes!) trackage along the shore of Lake Winnisquam as part of the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival which hadn't been held since 2019. This of course is the another section of the famed former Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad later the Boston and Maine's White Mountain mainline to Wells River that is now owned by the state.
By any measure they were wildly successful and according to Jay they carried 1100 riders in total on the six trains, which is quite remarkable since the train only consisted of three demotored Budd RDCs pulled by the road's little SW1001, PLRR1590 blt. Nov. 1973 for the Reading as number 2618. After the RDG folded into Conrail she remained with that road for the entirety of its existence and then passed Norfolk Southern in 1999 before being sold in 2011 having never received black paint. She spent another decade and a half as a lease unit until coming to the Granite State in 2016. She remained in her CIT blue paint until finally receiving PLRR maroon in 2021.
The 3 PM train I shot here was supposed to be the final run of the day but just before I left some local folks told me that since every train was sold to capacity and more people wanted a ride they decided to do a 6th run af 4 Pam. Since this is arguably THE signature shot in town and the one extra hour dramatically improved the light I decided on a second take of this classic broadside from the Fair Street bridge.
Here is 1590 leading the three car train south across the 240 ft long deck girder bridge over Jewett Brook at MP 27.2 (from Concord) just south the Laconia Depot and north of the Fair Street crossing. Jewett Brooks curls through the center of own and connects Opechee Bay and Lake Winnisquam. If you care to see this same unit at this same spot two years prior in her blue paint check out this shot if you missed it: flic.kr/p/2k46CcT
As for the history of the train itself, the three Budd RDCs are named Winisquam, Winona, and Winnepesauke in honor of three of the lakes the railroad passes alongside and are numbered 6921, 6105, and 9159 respectively.
6921 was built in 1956 as a 94-seat RDC-9 which was a powered trailer only with no control cab on either end. 6105 was built in 1953 as a 90-seat RDC-1. Both are original Boston and Maine cars (out of a fleet of 109 the road acquired) and they may very well have run here prior to 1965. 9159 was built in 1962 for the Reading (which had a small fleet of only 12 cars) as an RDC-1. All three cars ended their revenue lives as non powered trailers on the MBTA commuter rail system.
Laconia, New Hampshire
Saturday October 29, 2022
4 PM Perfection
Continuing with the series of from the HOBO Railroad / Winnepesauke Scenic Railroad's Pumpkin Express trains which ran out of the historic downtown Laconia depot for the first time since 2016. They were scheduled to run five short 5 mile and 45 minute round trips south among the scenic and almost never used (except by the rail bikes!) trackage along the shore of Lake Winnisquam as part of the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival which hadn't been held since 2019. This of course is the another section of the famed former Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad later the Boston and Maine's White Mountain mainline to Wells River that is now owned by the state.
By any measure they were wildly successful and according to Jay they carried 1100 riders in total on the six trains, which is quite remarkable since the train only consisted of three demotored Budd RDCs pulled by the road's little SW1001, PLRR1590 blt. Nov. 1973 for the Reading as number 2618. After the RDG folded into Conrail she remained with that road for the entirety of its existence and then passed Norfolk Southern in 1999 before being sold in 2011 having never received black paint. She spent another decade and a half as a lease unit until coming to the Granite State in 2016. She remained in her CIT blue paint until finally receiving PLRR maroon in 2021.
The 3 PM train I shot here was supposed to be the final run of the day but just before I left some local folks told me that since every train was sold to capacity and more people wanted a ride they decided to do a 6th run af 4 Pam. Since this is arguably THE signature shot in town and the one extra hour dramatically improved the light I decided on a second take of this classic broadside from the Fair Street bridge.
Here is 1590 leading the three car train south across the 240 ft long deck girder bridge over Jewett Brook at MP 27.2 (from Concord) just south the Laconia Depot and north of the Fair Street crossing. Jewett Brooks curls through the center of own and connects Opechee Bay and Lake Winnisquam. If you care to see this same unit at this same spot two years prior in her blue paint check out this shot if you missed it: flic.kr/p/2k46CcT
As for the history of the train itself, the three Budd RDCs are named Winisquam, Winona, and Winnepesauke in honor of three of the lakes the railroad passes alongside and are numbered 6921, 6105, and 9159 respectively.
6921 was built in 1956 as a 94-seat RDC-9 which was a powered trailer only with no control cab on either end. 6105 was built in 1953 as a 90-seat RDC-1. Both are original Boston and Maine cars (out of a fleet of 109 the road acquired) and they may very well have run here prior to 1965. 9159 was built in 1962 for the Reading (which had a small fleet of only 12 cars) as an RDC-1. All three cars ended their revenue lives as non powered trailers on the MBTA commuter rail system.
Laconia, New Hampshire
Saturday October 29, 2022