Gateway Sunshine
Instead of running all the way to Fabyans as in prior fall seasons, this year the Conway Scenic ran two daily round trips between North Conway and Crawfords with the addition of a third 'bus train' for passengers arriving by motor coach from Portland off a cruise ship as a day shore excursion. That meant that one some days there were six trains running through the Notch with a scheduled meet at Bartlett and Sawyers River....truly an astonishing sight and a joy to see this line so busy!
The 9 AM Mountaineer is coming off the siding in the process of running around their train which is parked beside Crawford Depot at MP 85 on the old Mountain Sub as they pass the old section men's shanty at Gateway, the east end of the 1800 ft long siding. I couldn't help but wonder where the old drawbar laying in the foreground came from? How many years has it been laying here? Was it ripped out as an RY-2 crested the summit on its way to St. J. from Rigby? What is the story and how was it resolved? Are any of the railroaders who had to deal with that event still with us and do they recall that day? Or has the memory been lost to time leaving those of us in the present to ponder?
Crawford's is the summit of the line at 1900 ft, and they will descend some 1400 ft in the 25 miles back to North Conway on grades as steep as 2.2% through the Notch. Crawford Notch station existed was to serve the Crawford House Hotel which had been built nearby in 1859 (for the second time) and was the largest of all the great 19th century New Hampshire resort hotels at the time it was erected. The Crawford House outlasted most of the other grand White Mountain hotels of that era, but it ultimately closed in 1975, nearly 120 years after the building was constructed. It was destroyed by a fire two years later, on November 20, 1977, and the property was subsequently acquired by the Appalachian Mountain Club, which constructed the Highland Center on the site in 2003 in a style that pays homage to the grand inns that once dotted the White Mountains.
Leading the train are GP38s 255 and 252 which are right at home here having been built in November 1966 for the Maine Central Railroad as part of an order of 13 of the model which were the first batch of second generation diesel locomotives purchased by the road. They both regularly operated here for the first 17 years of their lives until the last thru freight ran in 1983 after Guilford purchased the MEC and shuttered the Mountain Sub. In fact 252 had the ignominious duty of leading the final YR-1 from Saint Johnsbury on September 2, 1983.
255 came to Conway Scenic in 2022 and wore her Vermont Rail System red paint until just this past June when she received this new 'old' dress. The VTR red was from her nearly two decade second career as Clarendon & Pittsford 203 after having being sold by MEC successor Guilford Transportation in the early 1990s. 252 meanwhile was the last of her class in service on Guilford, lasting more than three decades, and having seen her other dozen siblings retired and scrapped or sold. She came to Conway Scenic in March 2010 along with GP35 216 in a trade with Pan Am Railways for FP9s 6505 and 6516 that would become Pan Am's OCS power.
Crawford Notch State Park
Hart's Location, New Hampshire
Saturday October 11, 2025
Gateway Sunshine
Instead of running all the way to Fabyans as in prior fall seasons, this year the Conway Scenic ran two daily round trips between North Conway and Crawfords with the addition of a third 'bus train' for passengers arriving by motor coach from Portland off a cruise ship as a day shore excursion. That meant that one some days there were six trains running through the Notch with a scheduled meet at Bartlett and Sawyers River....truly an astonishing sight and a joy to see this line so busy!
The 9 AM Mountaineer is coming off the siding in the process of running around their train which is parked beside Crawford Depot at MP 85 on the old Mountain Sub as they pass the old section men's shanty at Gateway, the east end of the 1800 ft long siding. I couldn't help but wonder where the old drawbar laying in the foreground came from? How many years has it been laying here? Was it ripped out as an RY-2 crested the summit on its way to St. J. from Rigby? What is the story and how was it resolved? Are any of the railroaders who had to deal with that event still with us and do they recall that day? Or has the memory been lost to time leaving those of us in the present to ponder?
Crawford's is the summit of the line at 1900 ft, and they will descend some 1400 ft in the 25 miles back to North Conway on grades as steep as 2.2% through the Notch. Crawford Notch station existed was to serve the Crawford House Hotel which had been built nearby in 1859 (for the second time) and was the largest of all the great 19th century New Hampshire resort hotels at the time it was erected. The Crawford House outlasted most of the other grand White Mountain hotels of that era, but it ultimately closed in 1975, nearly 120 years after the building was constructed. It was destroyed by a fire two years later, on November 20, 1977, and the property was subsequently acquired by the Appalachian Mountain Club, which constructed the Highland Center on the site in 2003 in a style that pays homage to the grand inns that once dotted the White Mountains.
Leading the train are GP38s 255 and 252 which are right at home here having been built in November 1966 for the Maine Central Railroad as part of an order of 13 of the model which were the first batch of second generation diesel locomotives purchased by the road. They both regularly operated here for the first 17 years of their lives until the last thru freight ran in 1983 after Guilford purchased the MEC and shuttered the Mountain Sub. In fact 252 had the ignominious duty of leading the final YR-1 from Saint Johnsbury on September 2, 1983.
255 came to Conway Scenic in 2022 and wore her Vermont Rail System red paint until just this past June when she received this new 'old' dress. The VTR red was from her nearly two decade second career as Clarendon & Pittsford 203 after having being sold by MEC successor Guilford Transportation in the early 1990s. 252 meanwhile was the last of her class in service on Guilford, lasting more than three decades, and having seen her other dozen siblings retired and scrapped or sold. She came to Conway Scenic in March 2010 along with GP35 216 in a trade with Pan Am Railways for FP9s 6505 and 6516 that would become Pan Am's OCS power.
Crawford Notch State Park
Hart's Location, New Hampshire
Saturday October 11, 2025