The New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation is a

Class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

owned by Boston Sand & Gravel and offering freight service in parts of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a 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 to the nor ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in the United States. The company owns of the former Boston and Maine Corporation's

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 c ...

between Rollinsford and

Ossipee, New Hampshire Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,372 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County. Ossipee, which includes several villages, is a resort area and home to part of Pine River S ...

. The railroad's primary traffic is quarried sand. It interchanges cars with

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Dover, New Hampshire Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the New Hampshire Seacoast region and the fifth largest municipality in the state. It is the county se ...

; the cars are then taken to the Boston Sand & Gravel plant in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Other than the Boston gravel train, NHN also serves its own satellite gravel facility in

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 census. In addition to the downtown area, the city contains the villages of East Rochester, Gonic, and North Rochester. Rochester is ...

, as well as Eastern Propane at the same location and a few other freight customers. The company was founded in 1986 when the abandoned tracks were purchased. It has been proposed that the tracks be upgraded for passenger service between Boston and

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 to ...

. NHN runs an average of two trains approximately five days a week: one southbound, and one northbound. The trains generally arrive at the pit in Ossipee around 11:00 AM and depart for the CSX interchange around 2:00 PM. "Shuttle" trains are run as needed to bring sand and gravel to the facility in Rochester. Once the train arrives in Dover, it assumes the CSX symbol DOBO (Dover to Boston) for the run to Boston. It returns as BODO (Boston to Dover) in the early morning. Until recently when they were replaced with a pair of

EMD GP38-2 The EMD GP38-2 is an American four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP38-2 was an upgraded version of the earlier GP38. Power is provided by an EMD 645E 16-cyl ...

s, the trains ran with several

EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen- cylin ...

Roster

The railroad also has an FURX GP38-2(5509) on lease and is not owned by the NHN.

References

Sources

*New Hampshire Railroad Revitalization Association
"Preserving the Railroad System - An overview of New Hampshire's Activity: 1975 - 2000"

External links

NH Northcoast homepage
New Hampshire railroads Maine railroads Spin-offs of Pan Am Railways {{US-rail-company-stub