New England Southern Railroad
Encyclopedia
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
, and serves industries in Concord and central New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
.
Operations
The NEGS operates on several sections of track in central New Hampshire. The railroad initially started operations on a route, owned by the state, between Concord and Lincoln, New HampshireLincoln, New Hampshire
Lincoln is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the second-largest town by area in New Hampshire. The population was 1,662 at the 2010 census. The town is home to the New Hampshire Highland Games and to a portion of Franconia Notch State Park. Set in the White Mountains,...
. In 1985, it began operations from Concord south to Manchester
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
and north to Penacook
Penacook, New Hampshire
Penacook, originally called "Fisherville", is a village within the city of Concord in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, USA. It lies along Concord's northern border with Boscawen. The name comes from the Pennacook tribe that lived in the area...
.
The railroad's traffic consists largely of construction materials, grain, salt and LP gas. Most traffic is on the trackage south of Concord, but occasional trains run northward towards the Lakes Region
Lakes Region (New Hampshire)
The Lakes Region of New Hampshire is the mid-state region surrounding Lake Winnipesaukee, Winnisquam Lake, Squam Lake, and Newfound Lake.The area is a popular tourist destination in the summer time, with the activity peaking during the annual Motorcycle Week and races at Loudon's New Hampshire...
to serve a single customer. The railroad's sole interchange point is with Pan Am Railways
Pan Am Railways
Pan Am Railways, Inc. , known as Guilford Rail System before March 2006, is a holding company that owns and operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine to Rotterdam Junction, New York...
at Manchester, from which loaded cars generally come inbound, with empties leaving the NEGS.
Fleet
The NEGS operates a single locomotive, an EMD GP39-2EMD GP39-2
An EMD GP39-2 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1974 and 1984. 239 examples of this locomotive were built for American railroads. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP39-2 was an upgraded GP39...
numbered 2370 and acquired from the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
. In the winter of 2011, 2370 derailed outside of Concord and sat inoperable underneath the I-393 bridge in Concord for some time. On July 20 2011, 2370 was under repair at the Hobo Railroad engine shop in Lincoln, NH and was just days away from being started for the first time since the accident according to Hobo staff.
In the past, an EMD GP18
EMD GP18
An EMD GP18 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between December 1959 and November 1963. Power was provided by an EMD 567D1 16-cylinder engine which generated...
had been operated, but it was sold to the New Hampshire Northcoast
New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation
The New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation operates part of the former Boston and Maine Corporation's Conway Branch between Rollinsford and Ossipee, New Hampshire. The railroad's primary traffic is quarried sand...
.
Passenger train service
New England Southern operated tourist train passenger service over its White Mountain Branch between Concord and TiltonTilton, New Hampshire
Tilton is a town located on the Winnipesaukee River in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,567 at the 2010 census. It includes the village of Lochmere. Tilton is home to the Tilton School, a private preparatory school.-History:...
in the 1990s under its "Granite State Railroad" name. NEGS at various times operated the following passenger trains
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
:
- Granite State Railroad — operated over the White Mountain Branch as tourist trains until the late 1990s.
- Caboose Train — operated jointly the cabooseCabooseA caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
owners at Caboose Village in Tilton. This train includes about 25 private passenger cars and cabooses that travel as part of a group between Concord and Lincoln.
Current challenges
While NEGS has served customers on the leased line from Pan Am Railways for the last 22 years, the railroad was informed on April 27, 2007 that Pan Am Railways would be terminating their operating lease and would begin serving customers currently under NEGS control on August 1, 2007. At this point NEGS refused to file the adverse discontinuance paperwork with the STB, and PAR responded by filing a Petition for Waiver on August 7, 2007. While the initial filing does not state the reason for PAR ending the contract with NEGS, an adverse discontinuance is generally done by the parent railroad because shippers are not happy with the service provided by a railroad. However, in this situation Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports reported that shippers are actually siding with NEGS and the service the railroad provides.Around August 8, 2007, PAR began to refuse payment to NEGS for cars hauled, retaining the 23% commission on cars owed to PAR under the NEGS/PAR contract, and the 77% owed per car to NEGS. NEGS continued to operate on a small base of customers whose contracts had been worked out where payment for service was paid directly to NEGS. At this time NEGS continued trying to work out receiving payments from PAR. On December 14, 2007, NEGS filed a federal lawsuit stating that PAR had owed the company more than $430,000 in back payment. NEGS based their sum on monthly billing statements received from PAR, stating, "Moreover, the defendants' conduct has been oppressive, vexatious, arbitrary, capricious, or in bad faith because New England Southern has been forced to institute this suit in response to the defendants' decision not to make payments due in amounts acknowledged by the defendants' own monthly accounting statements." As a result of the lawsuit, PAR notified NEGS that PAR crews would begin serving customers on January 2, 2008. However PAR crews and equipment have yet to begin service.
While PAR still refused to issue payments to NEGS, on February 12, 2008 the STB issued their ruling on PAR's request on several adverse discontinuance procedures in order to terminate their contract with NEGS.
The basis of the majority of the STB's rulings were that service was not being discontinued but transferred from one company to another and did not show a major effect on industry in the area and service provided. While several of PAR's requests were granted, PAR was ordered to serve notice to shippers of the change of service and also clarify the statement that PAR owned a section of the White Mountain Branch, which the New Hampshire Department of Transportation
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
The State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The NHDOT is under the executive direction of Commissioner of Transportation George Campbell. The main office of the NHDOT is located in the J.O...
contests.
PAR had 30 days from date of service to respond to the federal lawsuit from NEGS, and did not respond until February 19, 2008, stating that the suit should be dismissed because it should have been filed state court.