HI ED: VERY GLAD to finally HEAR from anyone who remembers the old NH shortline! Was doubly lucky to have moved to Pembroke in '73 and then meeting a member of the SVRR Historical Society, who inspired me to start the SVRR HO modular club and we followed the book on the old line pretty accurately. The Historical Society WAS the sole reason the Blueberry Express History book could be printed, as all their data/ photographs, collected over a long period of years, gave the book it's very factual content, TTFN....papasmurf
Thanks for writing these papasmurf. I've lived in Hooksett, Pembroke and Concord for some time and saw some of the remnants you have described. I did not know about the switchback, but do remember the trace of the line roughly paralleling the hill road between Hooksett and Allenstown.
Ed in Kentucky
More bits of SVRR data: Spur to hardware store in Pittsfield, could only hold single boxcar at loading dock. Owner saw RR's coming demise, so he bought the wood-sided boxcar spotted at his store, as he was using it by then as storage room. It stayed there for years after track was torn up, was repainted a few times, became very swayback, [ like an old horse ] started rotting. Was finally pulled away from structure and Pittsfield Fire Dept. burned it. Suncook Yard had 100'-long car repair shed, located west side of north-south main, opposite station on short south-point spur. Was used for upkeep of old 60' SVRR combine [ used almost daily for mail, baggage, lcl ] and repair of any other ailing equipment inside, out of the weather. The Road owned two 36' wood-sided boxcars [# 100 & 101; one of which was car at hardware store ] and two nifty Russell snowplows. One was stored on short , east-point spur, located behind old Allenstown School on north side of main, about 1/4 mile from top of switchback; other was usually stored in Pittsfield yard. When loco #2 [ GE, 43 ton side-rod diesel ] ran up switchback, it could only take 2 or 3 cars at a time; had to make flying approach, to keep from stalling on the steep upper leg. Street at top of switchback was always flagged but it was even more critical when the small 43- tonner came thundering up-grade and across street! Andy; a good friend I worked with for years, told me how he climbed in a boxcar when he was just a kid. Train had stopped right alongside his back yard in Allenstown. He fell asleep. Boxcar was routed to Manchester, by the time he woke up. He was eventually returned home, several hours later and his very upset, diswrought grandmother, soundly paddled his rump, ROFL! ......papasmurf
Additional Information on the SVRR: Browns Brook Trestle was located on southeast main, just south of Pittsfield town center. T'was curved, well over 100' in length and 50' or more in height. It was, for years, a favorite local swimming/ fishing spot for kids, as Suncook River & Browns Brook joined next to trestle. Epsom yard 's small, rectangular, open top loco-servicing water tank on west side of main, was very unique, as it leaned toward track at top a few degrees [ala Tower of Pisa in Italy]. Suncook Loop Track on east side of river, was about 2 miles in length to Suncook Yard, from river crossing. It connected SVRR yard with B&M main from south by crossing Merrimack River @ Three Bridges; a famous local landmark for decades. T'was a trio of New England Covered RR Bridges. Longest span went from west shore to midstream pier, where it abutted span two. This went to small rocky odd-shaped island [approx. 100' or more in diameter, 2/3 of way toward east bank]. Span three was almost identical length as span two and brought track to the east bank, where it swung north, parallel to riverbank & ran by huge Heads Brickyard, located to east of r-o-w. Loop track was a quick way for B&M to travel north/ south, thru Suncook yard for freight/ passenger business. This ended when B&M stopped using Loop track in early '30s and the infamous 1936 flood totally destroyed all three bridges. The piers, island, all abutments sitll stand today. Three Bridges is a scenic detail begging to be modeled and, be The Good Lord willin', intend to do so on my new HO pike. There was small 50', manually-operated[armstrong]turntable at both Suncook yard [just south of SVRR trestle across China Mills canal in Allenstown] and at Center Barnstead [at end-of-track there]. Center Barnstead TT was later moved to Pittsfield yard on flatcar, when all trackage northeast of there was abandoned near end of road's existence. North section of SVRR Loop Track became only connection to outside world via Concord Yard [and the Large, Magnificent Covered Passenger Terminal, which stood there] when Three Bridges river crossing was gone & loop track became a long spur, w/ no industries left south of Suncook yard, as Heads Brickyard had shut down permanently in 1917, due to a severe drop in the demand for bricks. TTFN.....papasmurf
Additional information: Some industries served: Seasonal corn cannery, located in town of Pittsfield, shipping several loads each Fall; had several IN shipments [cans, lids, boxes, machinery, parts, etc.] Pittsfield was largest yard, w/ several team tracks, designated spur to local hardware store in center of town and spurs to other served industries. Yard did all maint. on locos/cars during B&M era. Small silver mine in Chichester area; petered out, was abandoned. No reference to spur at mine, so deliveries/ pickups might have been made at local station. Suncook Lumber Co. [ aka Bailey's Lumber at one time in it's existence ] in Allenstown, a mile east of switchback. They made millwork [doors, windows, trim] , sold rough cut/ seasoned dimensional lumber. Allenstown granite quarry [ had it's own small steam loco, flatcars; would rendezvous with SVRR at switch on main for shipments]. Several freighthouses/ team tracks, 10 station stops along r-o-w, some w/ spur and some but a small shack. Native-grown Blueberries were THE BIG seasonal shipments to Boston, hence nickname of line as The Blueberry Express. Saltmarsh Coal Co. large, curved, covered coal trestle in Suncook yard, with Emerson Furniture factory along same spur. Large China Mills textile mill in Allenstown, near Suncook yard [made military parachues during WWII]. There was also a large sand & gravel pit along main to Concord, with spur going east into site. Second large textile mill: Donaldsons, was just below loop track, on spur in Hooksett; was destroyed by the 1936 flood. Large Heads Brickyard was located along same track, just a bit north of mill. Suncook yard had Fowler's grain mill on spur to east of main, near freighthouse & station. All yours truly can remember now but a LOT more info in book referenced in main post. TTFN.....papasmurf
The book: The Blueberry Express; A History of The Suncook Valley RR, is still available (both new and used) at Amazon.com. This was very surprising to me, as, to my knowledge, it had been out-of-print since the late -'80s. Our old HO modular club copied this shortline very faithfully, building 26 modules total, which took trackage from Concord & Suncook yards, thru the switchback, past all lineside towns and many interesting industries/ customers, to end-of-track. It was a VERY UNIQUE shortline and the ONLY North American, NON-lumber/ mining RR, which used a main line switchback in it's daily operation for 50+ years. It really was/ is a model railroader's 'dream' spunky, shortline switching RR to copy, if even only in part, as it hung on in business, at a time when many other, larger rr lines went under financially, in the US. TTFN.....Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH