[SketchyBalkan]

Messing with named trains on the route. With CSX in Branford and the New England Central Railroad in Thurmont, there's a decent amount of through freight that the Thurmont and Branford carries over the line.

While most trains run on as as-needed basis on the line, there are some exceptions. Every Friday, at 7:45 PM, the railroad runs "BT1" from Branford to Thurmont. The railroad acquired an RS1 from the Green Mountain railroad to haul the heavier cars that have been appearing on the line.

At 7:45 sharp, the train starts pulling out of the Branford yard...
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...and past the layover yard used by the MBTA.

Past Branford we enter Snowfield Mills, where the railroad shares its right-of-way with a paved trail.
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[SketchyBalkan]

Continuing on, we pass through Wasonebi, on the shores of Lake Wasonebi. The Warden County Historical Society has a museum in the former railroad facilities here.
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Prepare for a few of these: there's a lot of route images and info to share. Guess that's what I get for never posting!

[SketchyBalkan]

Past the lake is the small town of Blueberry, nestled between mountains and surrounded by marshes.
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The Clifford Truss bridge crosses the Flour River past this point. In the foreground are the remains of the Clifford Covered Bridge, with remains of the deadly derailment that caused its replacement still noticeable.

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On the other side of the bridge is the small town of Leeland, home to a Ruger Firearms Factory and a Feed Store.

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Finally, we end up in Thurmont, and the small yard owned by the T&B. BT1 will place its train on the yard tracks, then tie down for the night. At 8:00 AM the next morning, the railroad will head back to Branford, labelled as TB1, with cars from the NECR bound for CSX.
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[conductorchris]

Glad to see you've got the MBTA running up there!
Christopher

[SketchyBalkan]

Sadly, just for one town. Branford is heavily inspired by Concord which would be the hypothetical end point for the MBTA Capitol Corridor.

The route is set slightly in the future so I get to play around with my idealized version of New Hampshire railroading.

[SketchyBalkan]

The route features four "branches" of varying length: The Wilcott Branch, the Hilton Valley Branch, the Hinsdale Branch, and the Thurmont City Branch.

Let's start with my favorite: the Thurmont City Branch, served by the T&B's two 44-tonners, 116 and 117. Usually, the city job only needs one locomotive and one car, but today's special: two customers have requested drop offs, so we'll be using both locos today.

And here they rest, at the engine facilities in southwestern Thurmont.
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There's our cars, an empty gondola for M&L Scrappers and an empty boxcar for Macdonald Packaging. Let's get to it!
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116 grabs its car...
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...followed by 117 shortly after. 116 has already started to head up to the branch.
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A little ways down the line is a steep gradient on Wilkes Street. The city council demands that the locomotive be the first part of the train to hit the road, whether it be ascending or descending. The exception is when serving Northland Wood products, who has its spur on the street itself.

116 heads up the road and parks itself at the yard, near the former Thurmont Shoe Factory as it waits for its brother.
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117 follows suit to join its sibling at the yard.
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[SketchyBalkan]

Now for the customers to get their cars.

Thurmont itself is a decently active city, with some modern shops and restaurants dwarfed by former mills. Enough industry is left in and around the city to support the continued use of the branch.
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After crossing the Flour River, 116 pulls into a "switchback" of sorts, then heads down to the scrap yard.
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After dropping off the gondola, 116 parks itself on a stub track, and will be coupled with 117 for their trip back to the yard.

Speaking of, 117 has pulled onto the street trackage and sat itself on the Flour River bridge, awaiting the switch to be thrown for the northern leg of the branch. Once done, the train plies down Sugar Street.
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Hopkins Paper is the largest customer on the line, with a steep, curved spur leading to an outbound track and a track to the left bringing in recycled paper. 117 strolls by at the breakneck speed of 10 miles an hour, and goes through the rural areas of northern Thurmont.
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Finally arriving at Macdonald Packaging, TB 117 will drop off its boxcar and link back up with 116. Both will head back to the yard and tie down for the day.
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I implore anyone who hasn't searched up the Claremont and Concord's street running operations to do so at your next convenience. It was a major inspiration and is (better said, was) one of the cooler freight operations I've seen photos of.

[SketchyBalkan]

Next up, the Hinsdale Branch. This was inspired directly by the Wolfeboro Railroad, of which its tracks exist today as a unique rail trail that allows speeders to use the line.

The T&B owns 3 Alco S2s, ex-Portland Terminal units. TB 121 gets ready to carry its train up the branch from the Wasonebi yard, two hoppers and a flatcar of steel.
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Further up the line, our train steps onto the causeway separating Big Nolka Lake and Little Nolka Lake.
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[SketchyBalkan]

We're pulling into Hinsdale, past Rigby Lumber. No loads for them today.
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Just past the waterfront are the remains of a larger yard and turntable. All that's left is a runaround track, which we'll use to put the two hoppers of plastic pellets for Lakeside Plastics in front of the train.
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While here, we're picking up a car from Pratt Rigging as well.
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So who's our mystery steel load for? Why, the semi-dry dock of Wasonebi's Lake Cruiser. It's almost the beginning of a new season on the lake, and the ship needed some repairs. The railroad will occasionally bring in materials needed for the job.
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The Hinsdale station is inspired by the Wolfeboro Railroad's former dockside station. I found the concept to be neat.
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Stay tuned: Posts about the Hilton Valley Railroad are soon to follow.

[SketchyBalkan]

There's a bridge over the Merrimack River in Manchester. It's now part of a trail, but it used to be a majestic railroad trestle. Even more interesting is what one would see going over it: A train with one or two cars going over it, hardly fitting for such a big bridge.

I decided to give my route something similar, with inspiration from the Goffstown Branch and the Suncook Valley Railroad.

The branch starts south of Branford, so the T&B starts their run in the Branford yard. The hopper is filled with cow bones for Montgomery Gelatin, while the caboose is for a railfan who paid to tag along with the legally required caboose.
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Past the Branford Union Station, TB 122 begins going up grade so the tracks can cross over I-93.
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Here's the massive trestle over the Merrimack River.
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