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Originally Posted by Excalibur
I am glad to see the trains are being pushed again instead of a 14 billion dollar highway system..
A Boston to Lincoln train would be a great accomplishment again, even though they had it 100 years ago. A high speed rail would be nice. I would take it up skiing in the winter and to the lake in the summer.
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Funny you should mention high speed rail. The former Northern RR (Concord to Lebanon via Franklin) is one of the Fed's designated high speed rail corridors. It was in use for freight until 10 or 20 years ago. When Guilford Transportation abandoned it, they tore up the tracks for re-use and the State of NH (smartly) bought the corridor. There are groups out there that are trying to push for the installation of high speed rail on the corridor, which would run between Boston and Montreal.
In Maine there is currently a study underway to determine how many people would use a train between Portland and Fryeburg (right near N. Conway.) The line is the same one that extends through Crawford Notch and is owned by the States of Maine and NH. People are guessing that IF Maine decides to start train service on their part of the line, it would quickly be extended to North Conway by demand. On a recent visit to Whitefield I found many people up there are pushing for at least a return to freight service on the line so that all the big trucks will stop clogging/tearing up their roads.
For anyone interested, there's a great book that gives the basics of the rail system in Northern New England... which lines are still in place, which ones are abaondoned, still in use, etc... Look for "The Rail Lines of Northern New England." It's got historic and current photos... pretty fascinating for everyone including history buffs.