The Wilton Scenic Railroad was a
heritage railroad
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 ...
which operated seasonally in southern
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 ...
from spring 2003 through fall 2006. It closed after the death of its owner.
The railroad ran from
Wilton to
Greenfield, New Hampshire
Greenfield is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,716 at the 2020 census. Greenfield is home to the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, to Greenfield State Park, and to part of the Wapack Trail ...
, using a state-owned rail line that was once part of the
Boston and Maine Railroad's Hillsboro Branch. The line is still in limited commercial use, but has not been used for regular passenger service since the 1930s.
History
The railroad opened May 17, 2003, running from Wilton to the former Boston & Maine Railroad railyard in Greenfield, covering the entire route of the Peterboro Railroad which built the line from Wilton to Greenfield in the 1860s. Passengers were allowed to get off and stretch their legs in Greenfield before getting back on the train and heading back to Wilton. On August 23, 2003, the railroad began running almost a mile north of Greenfield to
Greenfield State Park.
The Wilton Scenic Railroad had many plans before it ended service in 2006. One was to use the former B&M freight depot in Wilton, built in 1860, as the Wilton Scenic Railroad's depot. Stuart Draper owned the building as a storage unit for his company Draper Energy. It was his dream to renovate the freight depot. The depot never became part of the railroad.
Service was provided by a pair of 800
horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...
(600 kW), diesel engine
Budd Rail Diesel Cars, previously used by
BC Rail
BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...
in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. Stuart Draper, the railroad's founder, died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
on January 31, 2006. In October 2006, the railroad's two
RDCs were sold to the
Newport Dinner Train in
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
.
In March 2018 it was announced that the owner of the
Milford-Bennington Railroad (the current freight operator of the rail line), in cooperation with the towns of Wilton and Greenfield, was looking at bringing back the scenic railroad. In October 2018 it was reported that the owner of the railroad had entered into a tentative agreement with an owner of passenger equipment. Pan Am Railways, a regional class II freight carrier, has also expressed interest in bringing back the Wilton Scenic in its first ever attempt at a heritage operation.
As of 2021, no further announcement have been announced about reinstating the service.
Locomotives
See also
*
List of heritage railroads in the United States
This is a list of heritage railroads in the United States. There are currently no such railroads in the states of Mississippi or North Dakota.
Heritage railroads by state
Alabama
* Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum, Shelby & Southern Railroad a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilton Scenic Railroad
Heritage railroads in New Hampshire
Railway services discontinued in 2006