The Contoocook River Railroad, or CRR, is a former railway company in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. The CRR was first established on June 24, 1848, as ''Contoocook Valley Railroad'' founded and built on a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

railway line from Contoocook to Hillsboro which was opened in December 1849. The 14.7 mile long route branched in Contoocook with the

Concord and Claremont Railroad The Concord and Claremont Railroad was an American railroad company during the mid-nineteenth century in New Hampshire spanning from Concord to Claremont. History Chartered on June 24, 1848, the Concord and Claremont Railroad was established ...

. The southern continuation of this path toward

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

was subsequently amended to include the Peterborough and Hillsborough Railroad. On October 1, 1857, the reorganization was carried out and the line was renamed to Contoocook River Railroad. The railway company merged on October 31, 1873, with the Merrimac and Connecticut Rivers Railroad, the old Concord & Claremont had taken over, and the Sugar River Railroad was assumed by the Concord and Claremont Railroad. In 1884, the

Boston and Lowell Railroad The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine R ...

leased the rail line and eventually was purchased by the

Boston and Maine Corporation The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

in 1890. The track is no longer in operation today.

References

External links

Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society
Boston and Maine Railroad Defunct New Hampshire railroads Rail trails in New Hampshire Railway companies established in 1848 Railway companies disestablished in 1873 American companies established in 1848 American companies disestablished in 1873 {{US-rail-company-stub