Last Days of the B&M's Conway Branch

Alan MacMillan, Jr. presents a look at the last days of the Conway Branch of the Boston & Maine, showing the last passenger train to operate on the B&M’s Portsmouth Branch, a New Hampshire PUC (Public Utilities Commission) passenger extra on July 15, 1971. The special, a 179-mile inspection tour of northern New Hampshire freight railroad assets, then continued up the Conway Branch and the Maine Central’s Mountain Division to Whitefield and then back on B&M tracks to Littleton, NH. These photos come to us courtesy of the late Jim McGill, a chief train dispatcher on the B&M, and rules examiner for the Green Mountain Railroad, who passed away 20 years ago. Jim, as train dispatcher for the B&M and a consummate railfan, was keenly aware of “last runs” all over the system, and chased both of the trains featured in this program. This program was originally presented on October 16, 2025