That's the Boston and Maine Conway branch. The section of track you're walking along was abandoned in 1972 between the Ossipee sand pit and Intervale, where the Conway Scenic Railroad begins.
@@northcoast261 Yes. I was looking at an old map , and it shows the line I’m on now intersecting with the Maine Central Railroad in Intervale. I probably won’t finish this year, but that’s ultimately my destination.
Really enjoyed your video, I felt like I was walking along with you. Greeting from north Florida. Our historic society restored a depot along the Apalichola Northern Railroad and turned it into a RR museum.
10:30: Looks like the remains of a derailment. The concrete standoffs of various lengths you show were a common-enough element in building commercial structures, so it was probably a flat-car loaded with these that derailed. The broken pieces and the replaced rails were often just left where they fell on rural spur lines. I've found a derailment site near me where a car on the Lehigh Valley railroad derailed 60+ years ago, and there was still a boxcar door and a coupler there, along with broken rails.
Those concrete structures and rails are not from a derailment. Those concrete structures are rail holders, they were used to hold sections of replacement rail. Back in the day before Hy-rail vehicles it as a lot harder to carry the rail to remote locations where rail might need to be replaced. The reach sections crews would only have to bring the rails a short distance to the repair. You can find these all over the Boston and Maine and Maine Central Railroads, they are not just made out of concrete, there are some that are made out of old rail and welded plate steel to create shelves to hold 35' sections of rail.
@@Kordziel It's right at the curve where the Lehigh Valley turns to go over the NYC Auburn road on that old 2-track truss bridge in Fishers. One went off into the weeds, and the other went down the embankment onto the vacant ROW where the Auburn Road used to run (this was mid-60's). I know some jack@$$ posted about his purloining of the knuckle (hope he hurt his d@mn back moving it....) but last time I poked around in the underbrush, the door was still there. It's right off the wooded bike path, just a bit north of where the old R&ERR concrete overpass piling sits. Probably right behind the RV dealership on NY96.
@@gatblau1 Those few miles on that side of the road do look great for their age. The other side heading north are in much rougher shape, even though they’re not that difficult to walk. You can see them on my previous videos.
The right of way you were walking on is still maintained and the rail head even though rusty are not pitted and are smooth indicating occasional use. Could be a staging track for a local business for loading hoppers or gondolas. Or used to store cars until they are needed. Would be interested to see the rail markings. They will always indicate the rail weight and date of manufacture.
When was this line abandoned considering it’s good condition looks like a beautiful area where in New Hampshire is this you should come down to New Jersey we have so many railroad lines active and abandoned
12:00: I can assure you there was never any structure there. Railroads used the edges of their rural rights-of-way as a dumping ground for all sorts of construction and maintenance debris, rails, ties, bricks, cinders, etc.
@@PlanBProductioninc That would be interesting, no doubt. I know people have explored the area of Polly’s Crossing at night because of the ghost stories associated with it.
I forgot to mention my dad has a cabin in Truckee, California, and about oh maybe 10 years ago we went through the tunnels to go through the mountains above Truckee and Donner Lake and it was incredible that people that built these back in the day and in some cases in those tunnels they were just blasted out I guess with dynamite with manual labor some parts are cemented and more modern, but they literally have taken all the tracks out. And turn them into like a trail that you can hike you can see old machinery, and what look like access doors like that you seen a warehouse possibly to service a train. If it got stuck in the tunnel, I really don’t know and the air was thin , I had to stop several times before I got to the top and I was probably 55 back in those days. I don’t even know if I could do it now. lol
If there were any No Trespassing signs, they probably would have been where the track ran across a civilian access road, or other private property. If you didn't see one back there, you're good.
The concrete Pieces are stands for replacement rail. They're all over the Boston and Maine and Maine Central. There are also ones made out of old rails and plate steel.
The concrete posts with the Y shaped top were for storing spare rails along the right of way. Lots of railroads had them and were made of different materials, according to the standards of the line. Where is this and what railroad was it?
@larryinNH when I was a kid back in the 70s we found an old house decaying in the woods with square nails in it, man I wish I had picked some of that stuff up back then.
@larryinNH This line might just recently have been "abandoned" but is doubtful. Abandonment is a Federal legal process and there several reasons this may not be true here--you would need to see if if the appropriate filings have been made, and approved by the STB, etc. Most likely here this line is "out of service" status but can be reactivated by current or alternate owner/operators. A primary indicator is that the valuable rail and other track materials are still in place; generally if abandonment status has been legally granted the track comes up relatively quickly for the scrap value to be gained. Also, depending on when line was last in service there is little foliage encroachment so there may be some minimal maintenance of right of way still being performed to protect the property. Another consideration in line abandonment is whether the line in question had the right of way owned by the railroad or if it was an easement in which case the adjacent land owners would be wanting/getting their original property rights restored. I am thinking this line currently just dormant with potential reuse by freight rail operator or is held by a government agency for possible passenger transit usage.
This was originally the Boston & Maine Railroad running through Ossipee , NH. I dont know exactly how far north they go yet. I kinda lose them on the satellite map.
@@larryinNH satellite maps were way,way better years ago but they've been highlighting and labelling everything including old railroad grades ( my particular obsession) to the point that they more resemble the old Hagstrom maps.
No logical explanation for those rails to be placed upon those cement pieces in that particular area. My guess is that the train transported many of that cement prototype to a certain area and maybe one of the cars were overloaded with those pieces and they just happened to fall out of the train car at that particular location. As for the railroad beams...sometimes they have to be replaced. As it happened after the incident of the spillage (seeing one of the beams lying across the cement prototype), maybe somehow that was the cause of those cement pieces lying on the ground. I don't know but I try to give answers to the best of my intelligence.
Those concrete piece are replacement rail stands, they also come in the form of old rail and welded plate steel that create shelve to hold the rail sections on, they're all over the Boston and Maine and Maine Central.
Always look for the date on the rails. They are marked with the manufacturer and date, i.e. 1947 IIIII would be May of 47. It might be one or two decades difference but it would get you in the ballpark. BTW, plywood= 1940's. OSB= 1960's.
15:03: MODERN culvert? Wow, you really do not understand how railroad maintenance works, do you? As any primarily ballast structure like this ages, periodically you have to re-ballast the surface and bring the rails back up to level. They do this by using a long device with wheels far apart, a very long beam with winches that pull the ties and rails up, and new ballast is poured under the rails. The rails are laid back down and packed in by a car behind which 'vibrates' then presses them into the ballast. All you are seeing was the most recent layer of ballast on top of every other layer of ballast laid down since the road was first built. They probably used concrete slabs to extend the openings to the drainage tunnel as the extra layers of ballast threatened to close up the water course.
I'd like to see a picture of the "machine" you described with long beams and wheels far apart. Ties should not be supported in the middle, the middle of the tie does not support the loaded rail. If the ballast were tamped or compacted in the middle of the tie, eventually it would snap and you would not have a "tie" at all you would just have two separate pieces of wood spiked to the rail. The area starting at about 13 minutes looks like it was extensively rebuilt. When you see the ties that are all in the same condition (good) and the ballast shoulder well formed with a uniform slope it seems to indicate a major repair. It might have been a wash out from a spring thaw/heavy rain (2010 was nasty) that took out the culvert and left the track hanging in the air.
@@paulcrowshaw4232 Man, you just don't have a CLUE, do you? It's called a RAIL LIFTER,. so guess what it picks up..... Oy, gevalt! I'm being chided by 'keyboard Rambos' who are probably not even 18 yet and don't know $h!t from Shinola!
