Life In Laconia
A rare mileage passenger excursion sits beside the historic Laconia Train Station built in 1892 by Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1892, three years before that road was swallowed up by the expanding Boston and Maine system. This special is about to head sourh to Silver Lake Road in Lochmere while the passengers on this sold out train enjoy a delicious feast catered by Hart's Turkey Farm. This ride coincided with the NH Pumpkin Fest in Downtown Laconia October 27th and 28th.
The four car train consisted of two demotored ex B&M Budd RDCs and two ex Lackawanna MU cars bracketed by SW1000 1012 on the south and GP7 302 on the north. The 1012 was blt. Dec. 1970 as Burlington Northern 438 and was acquired in 2014 thru LTEX and is a regular on all their summer passenger runs. 302 was blt. Aug. 1950 as Rock Island number 438 and came north in 1985 when the start up New England Southern acquired it from the bankrupt ROCK's estate. It hauled freight on all the remaining ex B&M lines north of Manchester as NEGS 302 until 1998 when it was sold to the Plymouth and Lincoln, who promptly chopped the nose and repainted it maroon and silver.
For years this veteran geep saw little use but was kept serviceable and returned to revenue service from October 14th thru the 28th, 2023 for the first time since October 2018! This was my first time seeing her turn a wheel since the late 1990s when my Dad and I rode behind her still in green and yellow on the NEGS's short lived passenger operation operation out of Canterbury. Good news is that she's had a change of fortunes and the new corporate overlords (Patriot Rail) seem to favor her and I've been told by locals that she is the regular power on the foliage trips to and from Plymouth this year. Guess it's time for another trip!
Rising at left is a former Congregational Church originally built in 1836 and heavily altered in 1871. Burned in 1902, the damaged building was purchased by a Baptist congregation and moved to this spot in 1903 and rebuilt. The Evangelical Baptist Church was the last to worship in the building before moving out and selling it in 2013. After spending some time as a restaurant and pub it is now THE CHAOS AND KINDNESS EXPERIENCE, better known as THE CAKE a state-of-the-art performance venue home of the Vegas style Recycled Percussion Show.
Laconia, New Hampshire
Friday October 27, 2023
Life In Laconia
A rare mileage passenger excursion sits beside the historic Laconia Train Station built in 1892 by Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1892, three years before that road was swallowed up by the expanding Boston and Maine system. This special is about to head sourh to Silver Lake Road in Lochmere while the passengers on this sold out train enjoy a delicious feast catered by Hart's Turkey Farm. This ride coincided with the NH Pumpkin Fest in Downtown Laconia October 27th and 28th.
The four car train consisted of two demotored ex B&M Budd RDCs and two ex Lackawanna MU cars bracketed by SW1000 1012 on the south and GP7 302 on the north. The 1012 was blt. Dec. 1970 as Burlington Northern 438 and was acquired in 2014 thru LTEX and is a regular on all their summer passenger runs. 302 was blt. Aug. 1950 as Rock Island number 438 and came north in 1985 when the start up New England Southern acquired it from the bankrupt ROCK's estate. It hauled freight on all the remaining ex B&M lines north of Manchester as NEGS 302 until 1998 when it was sold to the Plymouth and Lincoln, who promptly chopped the nose and repainted it maroon and silver.
For years this veteran geep saw little use but was kept serviceable and returned to revenue service from October 14th thru the 28th, 2023 for the first time since October 2018! This was my first time seeing her turn a wheel since the late 1990s when my Dad and I rode behind her still in green and yellow on the NEGS's short lived passenger operation operation out of Canterbury. Good news is that she's had a change of fortunes and the new corporate overlords (Patriot Rail) seem to favor her and I've been told by locals that she is the regular power on the foliage trips to and from Plymouth this year. Guess it's time for another trip!
Rising at left is a former Congregational Church originally built in 1836 and heavily altered in 1871. Burned in 1902, the damaged building was purchased by a Baptist congregation and moved to this spot in 1903 and rebuilt. The Evangelical Baptist Church was the last to worship in the building before moving out and selling it in 2013. After spending some time as a restaurant and pub it is now THE CHAOS AND KINDNESS EXPERIENCE, better known as THE CAKE a state-of-the-art performance venue home of the Vegas style Recycled Percussion Show.
Laconia, New Hampshire
Friday October 27, 2023