Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club, Inc.

LEGAL NOTICE: Operation of railway equipment, including motorcars, is governed by Federal, State and Railroad authorities. All rail property is owned by someone.  Operation of any equipment on or around railroad property is only permitted with permission of the property owner or leasor.  CVRTC will assist local, State, and Federal authorities in prosecuting illegal operators of railway equipment.  Railway motorcar organizations now exist in most parts of the world.  Please contact one of your local organizations.  They have access to rail property, equipment information and SAFETY information.  They are always looking to promote the hobby/sport and would love to have your help.

(August 30, 2008) For the past two weekends, Club members have been working with the New England Southern Railroad to restore service to a local customer.  The first phase of the project was to remove trees and brush from the right-of-way, and open sightlines.  The next phase will be to replace ties and ballast. Frank, Ian, Jessie, Bob (not pictured), and Jon (behind the camera) spent the morning cutting.  Frank and Ian ended the day by patrolling the White Mountain Branch. (JWM)

(August 10, 2008) This month CVRTC members gathered in Madison , NH and rode the Silver Lake Railroad, operating on the former Conway Branch.  The Silver Lake Railroad operates from the former Madison, NH depot, giving short rides through the woods and fields. The depot houses a small museum, and the property also includes the freight house, and other railroad equipment.

After setting on, and a safety meeting at Boulder Road, the group proceeded south on the first of three round trips. (JWM)

(August 3, 2008) For the second year in a row, CVRTC members volunteered their time to support the Andover Historical Society.  Frank, Bruce and Jon gave rides for three hours on Sunday morning during their Old Home Day... introducing about 150 people to the hobby. To the left, the guys pose before giving rides... further to the left is the Society's pumpcar and caboose.  The restored Potter Place depot contains a small museum. (JWM)

(July 26, 2008) A freak storm swept through New Hampshire, including a tornato which cut a swath of damage across southern towns.  CVRTC members inspected the Wolfeboro Railroad and the adjacent Cotton Valley Rail-Trail, finding several sections with major damage.  Trees had been uprooted, or simply snapped off.  Ian found a 2x8 plank on Friday, with no explaination where it might have come from.  On Saturday, several more members seton at Fernald, heading east toward Cotton Valley and the Frost Brook area, to complete the cleanup. To the right, members clean up the right of way and adjacent trail after limbing out a fallen tree. As a Club, we're uniquely equiped to bring in our tools and get the job done.  (JWM)

(June 28, 2008) Jon, Tiny, guests and crew met in North Conway, picked up their timetables, and after a brief safety meeting, headed to Bartlett (MP 70.51) to set-on.  Their duties today included performing a track patrol ahead of train #163, clearing sightlines around mileposts, and clearing the foundation of the former Willey Brook section house.  The weather forecast wasn't promising, and the fog, mist, and clouds hung low in the sky as the group headed up though the Gateway and past Crawfords station, now restored and used by the AMC.  They continued west to Fabyan, where they broke for lunch. To the right, Ed and Dave munch on Chex Mix.  The group returned to Crawfords, meeting the train, then drifted downgrade following the train, completing their work.  Although windy through Crawford Notch, the rain held off.  A good day on the rails, and a good day helping one of our host railroads. (JWM)

(June 5, 2008) Dave reports that The Thursday Group got together today and built a new set off at Hobo Junction (Sadie's Pool or Enchanted Forest) While the weather was overcast, it didn't rain and they had good working weather.  They also moved the picnic table so  club members can now enjoy the area.  Bring mosquito spray! Missing from the picture is Ian M who had to go to work at his real job.  Don W is going to make up some markers so you will be able know the set off is coming up. (JWM)

(June 5, 2008) The next membership meeting is June 8^th. Work will continue on staining the enginehouse, and repairs to the base of the north wall.

Hope to see you all on Sunday, it is going to be a nice day. (JWM)

Ron reports that about 20 CVRTC members attended the 20^th Annual Hobo Railroad Trackcar Meet. Dick's photograph shows the cars lined up at Weirs Beach prior to their northbound departure on Saturday. (JWM)

(May 18, 2008) Roy reports that great weather brought a fine turnout of ambitious members to the monthly meeting at Fernald for a planned work day. The front of the engine house was finished with the addition of the white trim boards. The painting crew was busy working on the north side, giving us a nice barn red background for all those sharp looking white trimmed windows that were tediously repaired to replace the old broken ones. Inside, but not shown, members secured a lockable steel cabinet to the wall for storing track and other tools. And outside, the track crew awaited their orders to proceed east to a work site with a consist of "engines", 2 loaded flats, and a caboose for added braking. Hey......when you put all this together, you've got to admit it.........the CVRTC goes first class! (JWM)

(May 15, 2008) Dave K reports that the Thursday Gang had a great day this week.  Seven track cars and great weather. Don W provided new signs, which were put up for "Cotton Valley" and "Hobo Junction", and the usual work to lower the beaver dams, keeping the water low enough so that the tracks don't flood. (JWM)

(May 8, 2008) Dave K reports that the Thursday Gang worked on repairs to the Fernald Bridge.  Larry and Dick from the Wolfeboro Skimobile club stripped the 2x6 decking boards off the large timbers Wednesday night.  They showed up this morning to help move the larger timbers and supplied us with coffee and donuts .  The State also came by this morning and loaded the decking boards on the dump truck and took them away.  After removing the large timbers, we moved them to a storage area near Fernald Station.  Next we replaced some of the decking and added a new safety rail.  Later on in the morning some of our members went up to clear some of the culverts at the beaver ponds. (JWM)

(May 2, 2008) Ron Mitchell reports that he attended the TRAC meeting in Wolfeboro last night and discussed the repair work to the Fernald Brook Bridge. It looks like fall before the work is done. In the mean time the snowmobile club constructed a bridge over ours, which needs to be removed before we have access beyond 109. Talking to the President of the snowmobile club, it looks like two weeks. They may need our help in removing the big timbers. If they can do it on a Thursday, we can help with our tractor. They are going to let Ron know what date. More of the banking has washed away, so we will have to extend the temporary bridge to make it safe. Check back on the websites for updates. (JWM)

(May 1, 2008) Ian MacMillan has three members joining him at Wakefield Pride Days. To date, he has three cars signed up to give rides to the public from the old turntable to Rt. 16 and back. He is looking for one or two additional members who can work the booth to talk about the club and help get waivers signed. He has fliers to hand out and Bill made us a nice "flag" with the clubs diamond logo on it. The event should run from 8AM - 5PM. Please contact Ian if you can assist (see Events Page). (SPM)

(April 8, 2008) Ron reports that April's meeting will be held at Fernald Station. He returned the club tractor today and removed about 3 feet of snow from the east end of the engine house, so one set of doors can be opened on Sunday. There was about a foot of snow in the parking lot, but with these temperatures it should be all gone by Sunday. There is bare ground north of the station and out to the coal bins. We should have plenty of room to park. There isn't any clear rail, so don't bring any rail cars.

Hookset Lions Club has their 13th annual model railroad show on Sunday April 20, 2008, 10am - 3pm at the Hookset Middle School on Route 27 (Whitehall Rd) 1 mile off Rte 3. They are looking for several of our members to display their cars. Contact person is Robert Schroeder at (603)485-5021[h] or (603)533-0046[c]. (JWM)

(Mar 20, 2008) It is with much saddness that we mourn the passing of Glenna Newton, who passed away last night losing her battle with cancer. Our prayers are with Myril and her family.

(Mar 6, 2008) Why is Frank in such a hurry? He doesn't want to be late to the Annual Meeting! The meeting is being held at 10am in Belmont at the Corner Meetinghouse this Sunday, and the agenda contains the following:

(Feb 28, 2008) Dave provided pictures of some of the new CVRTC Clothing. You will be able to see the clothing and order anything you want at the March meeting. At present Dave has made up 18 hats. COST: Hats $7.00, Denim Shirt $18.00, Polo Shirt $18.00, Jacket $34.00 (JWM)

(Feb 28, 2008) Ron took these pictures to show how much snow has fallen in Wolfeboro. A lot of the deep snow has slid off of the roof, except for the north east end. As you can se the from the photo, it has started to move, so I think we are safe. All we need is some warm weather. There is 4 to 5' of snow in front of the doors. Inside the engine house looks good. There is 5 to 6' of ice and snow on the tool room roof. In our area we have a lot of roof collapses. (JWM)

(Feb 13, 2008) Ian obtained these pictures showing Fernald in the 1970's. The pictures were taken by Bruce Davison, and used on the CVRTC website with his permission. Compare these pictures with the current condition of the enginehouse, and be proud of the hard work that club members have done to preserve history. (JWM)

(Feb 13, 2008) There's still a bunch of snow covering the railhead, but some members have been hard at work with their winter projects. Ian has been working on newly designed booklet with all the Club rules, State and Federal laws, and trackcharts. This will be published in the same style as the old railroad timetables.

Bill and Harvey, (well, mostly Bill) have been working on the diesel powered MT14s. They have them stripped down, and ready for sandblasting. The frames have been straightened and welded, and the fuel injectors are being rebuilt for top performance. The picture to the left, shows the Kubota motors mounted to the Fairmont transmissions. The second MT14 is owned by Bill and Shelly Catansse.

Jon, on the other hand, was totally caught off guard by the early snow fall in December, and never got the tarps over TC-42. So it sits neglected, buried in snow, awaiting a spring thaw!

The Club's annual meeting is coming up in March. Check back for meeting location and time. We'll be electing Officers and Directors. Membership applications should have been sent out to all current members; contact Roy if you didn't get yours, or click on the "Membership" link and download the forms. (JWM)