They Were Working On The Railroad

by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer

In the mid-1800’s, when some fortune-seeking New Hampshire people were leaving New Hampshire to search for gold in California or better farm land not so far to the west, others were busy building railroads that provided transportation that improved commerce within the state. Multiple railroad companies were working with each other and the stagecoach companies to reduce the time it took people to travel from one place to another.
In May of 1849 the Northern Railroad advertised having connections with the Lowell, Nashua, Concord, Vermont Central, and Passumpsic Railroads. One train travelled from Concord to Bristol and Lebanon and on into Vermont with a connection to Littleton, N.H.
Numerous stages were said to connect with the railroads to transport people to places like New London, Newport, Croydon, New Hampton, Rumney, Woodstock, and the White Mountains. Passengers could leave Lebanon on the morning train and arrive in New York City by night. One could take a Boston, Concord, and Montreal train from Boston or Concord to Lake Village or Meredith Village. Stages from Meredith Village went to Plymouth, Haverhill, and Franconia as well as to Center Harbor and Conway and other points to the east. One could start a journey on the Concord Railroad to Boston and on to New York or to other locations in Massachusetts and southeast and southwest New Hampshire. Remember, too, that the railroads were expanding to places where the stage had previously been the main mode of travel.

One of the smaller railroads being built in 1849 was the Contoocook Valley Railroad. It was to connect with the Concord and Claremont Railroad at Contoocookville in Hopkinton and go to Peterborough, but in 1849 only 14 or 15 miles of the line was being built to the Hillsborough Bridge. The directors expected the railroad, when completed and operating to Hillsborough , would produce as much as a 10% dividend for stockholders.
They had contracted for 1300 tons of iron to be shipped from England at a cost, including duties and freight, of $46 a ton. This was said to about be half of the cost per ton that the Northern Railroad had paid for iron, though another report seemed to reveal that the Northern Railroad was at that time paying about the same price for their iron. The Northern Railroad stockholders had, at their annual meeting,sought to make some reforms to correct some abuses. They passed a resolution “forbidding the Directors to issue free tickets in any case.”
They furthermore passed another resolution to require the Directors to discharge any conductor who allowed anyone to ride the train free of charge or at a less amount than the established fare. Later in the day the stockholders apparently decided that their resolutions were “too stringent” and referred the matter to the newly elected set of Directors.
Their annual report stated that the number of passengers carried in their cars was 128,544 and 1/2. There was no explanation as to how they managed to provide a ride for half a person. The Directors Report also declared “…we have built, completed for use, and equipped with suitable furniture, eighty-two miles of Railroad, through the rugged soil of New Hampshire, by the outlay of about $ 2,766,500. In September, 1847, we commenced running to the town of Grafton.” The Cochecho Railroad advertised that they were running daily passenger trains (except Sunday) in connection with the Boston and Maine Railroad.
The New Hampshire Central Railroad, also in the process of being built, had its Annual Meeting in October of 1849 at Henniker, “and the best feeling prevailed throughout.” The work was progressing on the line from Manchester to Henniker with 16 miles expected to be open for service by the Fall of 1849 and the rest of the line to Henniker to be opened the next year. “The road is constructed for a first class road…and its cost from Manchester to Henniker, including the rails, and the bridge across the Merrimack, comes within $15,000 per mile.- This Bridge is, in every respect, a model bridge, and costs less than $26,000. The importance of this central road through New Hampshire cannot be overestimated.”
Another railroad, the Manchester and Lawrence, covering a distance of about 16 miles, was ready for rails to be installed, and was expected to be ready for use by November of 1849.
At the Annual Meeting of the Wilton Railroad “some gentlemen from Amherst tendered a subscription of $40,000 to construct the road from Danforth’s Corner to Amherst Plain,” but action on the proposal was postponed. The Concord and Claremont Railroad boasted that its line from Concord to Warner would be one of the best paying roads in New Hampshire and that their freight and passenger business had increased since opening the line. The Portsmouth and Concord Railroad had contracts in place for building a railroad of 17 miles from Concord to Candia. They planned to have their road from Portsmouth to Epping running by December of 1849 while work went on to extend the line six more miles to Raymond with plans to go another six miles to Candia.

A card of thanks printed in a newspaper illustrates the cooperation of rail trains and stagecoaches in transporting people. Some people from Hillsborough thanked an agent of the Concord and Claremont Railroad for running “ an extra train of cars over his road from Concord to Contoocookville at an unusually late hour on the night of 3d. inst. At about half past 9 o’clock we found the cars gently moving from the Concord depot. By the skillful management of their engineer, Russell T. Noyes, and others, we found ourselves safely landed at Contoocookville in 25 minutes, where we found our worthy friend, Robert Moore, with his fine teams, ready to rush us over the road up the valley of the Contoocook to Hillsborough, all safe, right side up, with care.”
The history of small railroads in New Hampshire was followed by consolidation into bigger railroad lines with the Boston and Maine becoming the dominant one. The quotes in this article are primarily from the New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette newspaper.