North Conway station is a railway station located in

North Conway, New Hampshire North Conway is a census-designated place (CDP) and village in eastern Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,116 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, North Conway is the second-largest village within the town ...

. Built in 1874, the depot was designed by

Nathaniel J. Bradlee Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888) was a Boston architect and a partner in the firm of Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell. Life Bradlee was born in Boston to Elizabeth Davis and Samuel Bradlee. He married Julia Rebec ...

in an eclectic Russian Victorian style. The station is also the terminus for the

Conway Scenic Railroad The Conway Scenic Railroad is a heritage railroad in North Conway, New Hampshire, United States, owned by Profile Mountain Holdings Corp. The railroad operates over two historic railway routes: a line from North Conway to Conway that was for ...

. Northwest of the station stands a roundhouse, which now houses the Scenic Railroad's rolling stock; it was built around the same time as the station. The yard and depot were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1979 as North Conway Depot and Railroad Yard.

Architecture

As the northern terminal, North Conway Depot was built to be the most impressive station on the

Conway Branch The Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad (PGF&C) (later known as the Conway Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad) is a former rail line between Rollinsford and Intervale, New Hampshire, in the United States. At Rollinsford, the line co ...

. Architect

used a unique, Russian-inspired Victorian design. The station's floor plan includes a ticket office, a baggage room, and two waiting rooms (one for men and one for women). One of the waiting rooms now serves as a gift shop. Two curving mahogany staircases lead to offices in metal-sheathed domed towers on the second level. An eight-day E. Howard & Co. clock faces the town. The area immediately in front of the station is an open park. In addition to the station, the yard also includes a freight station, some maintenance of way sheds, and a four-stall roundhouse with an air-powered

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, all of which are contemporary with the passenger depot. The roundhouse and turntable are still used by the Conway Scenic Railroad for maintenance and operations of their equipment, and the freight station houses a

model railroad Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

. There is also a

baggage car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passen ...

that was converted by the Boston & Maine into a crew bunkhouse in 1949, and it too is still used for this purpose by the heritage railroad.

History

The station was built by the Portsmouth, Great Falls & Conway Railroad in 1874, two years after the

was completed. The Portsmouth, Great Falls & Conway was absorbed by the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

in 1890. The station served the village of North Conway for 87 years. The Conway Branch continued slightly north to Intervale just to the north, where it met the

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to w ...

Mountain Division The Mountain Division (later the Mountain Subdivision) is a railroad line that was once owned and operated by the Maine Central Railroad (MEC). It stretches from Portland, Maine on the Atlantic Ocean, through the Western Maine Mountains and Whi ...

. The station saw heavy use in the summer, North Conway being a popular resort destination. Beginning in 1932, downhill

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

made North Conway an increasingly popular destination, and dedicated skier trains unloaded their passengers at the depot. In the mid-20th century, passenger rail travel declined due to competition with automobile transport. In the later years of passenger service, the Boston & Maine stopped operating traditional locomotive-and-coaches trains, and switched to

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adop ...

s. Finally, on December 3, 1961 passenger service to North Conway was abandoned. Just over 10 years later, on 30 October 1972, freight service was also discontinued, and the station, yard, and rail line were abandoned. The station building had been reused as a firehouse and post office by 1968. Abandonment did not last long. In 1974, three local businessmen and a host of volunteers restored the abandoned terminal and founded a new

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

called the

. More restoration work was done in 1996.

References

External links

{{NRHP in Carroll County, New Hampshire Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Carroll County, New Hampshire North Conway, New Hampshire Railroad museums in New Hampshire Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Railway depots on the National Register of Historic Places Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Carroll County, New Hampshire Transportation buildings and structures in Carroll County, New Hampshire Former railway stations in New Hampshire

Architecture

History

See also

References

External links