The Milford-Bennington Railroad, founded in 1987, is a

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, United States. The company primarily hauls gravel, sand, and aggregates. The railroad operates of track owned by the State of New Hampshire between

Bennington Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...

and Wilton, and has

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

over of connecting

Pan Am Railways Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Pan Am Railways is primarily made up of former Clas ...

trackage to

Milford, New Hampshire Milford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States, on the Souhegan River. The population was 16,131 at the 2020 census, up from 15,115 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Re ...

History

The railroad was founded in 1987, but did not run its first train until 1992 when an agreement with Guilford Transportation for

between Wilton and Milford was reached. In the 2010s, the company had a dispute with

over its trackage rights, with Pan Am attempting in 2018 to forcibly discontinue the Milford-Bennington Railroad's access to Milford when the agreement expired. Pan Am proposed that Milford-Bennington instead transfer traffic to it in Wilton, with Pan Am hauling traffic the remaining distance to Milford. Granite State, the company which ships gravel via the railroad, said that this proposal would impact its operations negatively by delaying shipments. In October 2018, the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

ordered Pan Am to allow Milford-Bennington to continue to use its tracks, which it uses to deliver gravel to a customer in Milford. In 2020, the Nashua Regional Planning Commission proposed adding a trail with rail between Wilton and

Nashua Nashua may refer to: * Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England Places In Australia: * Nashua, New South Wales In the United States: * Nashua, California * Nashua, Iowa * Nashua, Minnesota * Nashua, Kansas City ...

, part of which would be adjacent to the Milford-Bennington Railroad's right of way. The company was cautiously supportive of the proposal at the time.

Tourist train

A tourist train, known as the

Wilton Scenic Railroad The Wilton Scenic Railroad was a heritage railroad which operated seasonally in southern New Hampshire from spring 2003 through fall 2006. It closed after the death of its owner. The railroad ran from Wilton to Greenfield, New Hampshire, using a ...

, operated along the Milford-Bennington Railroad between 2003 and 2006, but ceased operations when its owner died. Peter Leishman, owner of the Milford-Bennington Railroad, expressed interest in reviving the tourist train in 2018, but as of 2021 nothing has been announced.

References

{{Reflist New Hampshire railroads Railway companies established in 1987