The LW&C’s lines east of Campton, NH were built into a territory with little to offer for itself outside of lumber logged from the Sandwich and White mountains. After logging died down in the late 1940s, the only thing between Parsons Vale and Conway was abandoned farms, and the only thing between Parsons Vale and Campton was 11 miles of twisty track going from about 700ft to 1770ft back down to about 900 ft – in other words, 11 miles of the toughest mountain railroading east of the Rocky Mountains, with 4% grades and 500 ft radius curves being the rule of the day.

The PV&T assigns 3 class A locomotives to Parsons Vale just to provide enough power to get 10-car trains over Sandwich Notch. In 1966, the Parsons Vale is in the middle of negotiations with the Boston and Maine Railroad to get trackage rights from Plymouth to Campton, so they can finally abandon the white elephant that is the old A&ALCo logging railroad through Sandwich Notch.

  • Copyright © 2023 by David Parsons (orc@pell.portland.or.us) unless otherwise noted
    Wed Jun 24 01:20:30 PDT 2009