Concord and Montreal Railroad Company

Product Details

$25 to $75

Historical Context

The Concord & Montreal Railroad system was made by a union of the Concord Railroad with the original Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad and White Mountains Railroad. This system existed entirely within the State of New Hampshire, and its various parts were among the oldest railroad foundations in the country.

The main line of the Concord Railroad was laid between the cities of Nashua and Concord, including the manufacturing centers, Manchester and Hooksett, and following closely the direction of the Merrimac River for its route. For branches it had the Nashua, Acton & Boston Railroad, connecting Nashua with Acton, in Massachusetts (the only instance of any line of the system-extending outside the borders of New Hampshire); the Suncook Valley Railroad, connecting Hooksett with the rural centre of Barnstead by a line through a beautiful section of farms and fells; the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad, leaving the main line at Manchester and running direct to Portsmouth, on the seacoast, forty-one miles away; and the Manchester & North Weare Railroad, connecting Manchester and North Weare.

North of Concord the lines were of the old Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, known as the White Mountains Division of the Concord & Montreal system. The main line of this division was from Concord northward through Tilton, Laconia, Weirs, Plymouth, Woodsville, Littleton, and a host of towns and villages interspersed, to Wing Road, from which point the Trunk Line was said to be divided, one section continuing northward to Groveton Junction, on the Grand Trunk Railway, and the other running directly eastward to Fabyan’s, almost under the very shadow of Mount Washington. The branches of the White Mountains Division were a short spur from Tilton to Belmont near Gilmanton, which will probably be extended to the Iast named point; a line connecting Lake Village (Laconia) with Alton Bay, traversing the entire length of the southern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee; the Pemigewasset Valley Railroad, leaving the main line at Plymouth and running through a semi-mountainous country to North Woodstock, and connecting directly with the Franconia section; the Profile & Franconia Notch Railroad, leading from Bethlehem Junction to Maplewood, Bethlehem, and the Profile House; and the Whitefield & Jefferson Railroad, connecting, the two points indicated in this title by a line running eastward about half-way between the two spurs of the main line, as above set forth. The Concord & Montreal also ran a short line from Fabyan’s across the valley to the base of Mount Washington connecting directly with the famous Mount Washington Railroad.

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