North Stratford Boxcars in Ho and N

摘要

As a New England railfan and modeler, I have a lot of favorite Northeastern cars but one of my favorites is the North Stratford Railway's boxcar. The NSRC, an off-the-beaten-path short line in northern New Hampshire, had a fleet of 100 standard 40-foot boxcars used to service an Ethan Allen furniture plant in Beecher Falls. With an attractive green paint scheme and an eye-catching logo featuring an outline of the Granite State, the cars are the perfect subject for a modeling project in either HO or N scale. The State of New Hampshire purchased the 25-mile Beecher Falls Branch from Maine Central in 1977 after the railroad considered abandoning it due to a drop in traffic. At the time, the state wanted to maintain rail service to the Ethan Allen furniture plant. When the North Stratford began operations, it brought boxcars full of furniture south toward its namesake town and an interchange with the Grand Trunk. By the 1980s, the railroad was moving about 10 to 15 loads a month to the interchange and using only a General Electric 44-ton diesel switcher, which provided plenty of power for the mostly downgrade run along the Connecticut River to North Stratford. The loaded cars were picked up by a Grand Trunk local based in Portland, Maine.