The Conway Scenic Railroad was formed by Dwight Smith, who was an employee of the Boston and Maine Railroad in the late 1960s.[4] After years of negotiations, Smith was able to convince his employer to sell a portion of the Conway Branch, which it planned to abandon, to him and two local businessmen in 1974, and the Conway Scenic Railroad began that year.[4][5] In 1999, the original owners were bought out by husband and wife Russ and Dot Seybold and on January 30, 2018, the railroad was sold again to Profile Mountain Holdings Corp.[6][7]
The railroad operates passenger trains out of its station in North Conway Village from April to December each year.[8] The railroad also operates the Mountaineer train from North Conway, through Crawford Notch up to Fabyan Station from May through November each year.[4][9][10]
Special freight operation
On June 20, 2009, a 20-axle Schnabel car was brought down through Crawford Notch carrying a 227-ton transformer for Public Service of New Hampshire, an electrical utility company. The train was led by locomotives No. 573, No. 6505 and No. 6516. It was the first scheduled freight train through Crawford Notch since September 3, 1983, and the first freight train of any kind since October 1984. The empty cars were shipped out nine days later, led by No. 6505 and No. 4266. This shipment completed the first and only revenue freight move for the Conway Scenic to date.[11]
Future
In recent years, the Conway scenic has been looking to restore the rest of the Mountain Division, specifically the stretch in Maine that runs from Fryeburg to Portland. The primary goal is to establish a new freight service to serve local businesses, though tourist operations are a secondary possibility.[2]
On the morning of January 3, 2022 at 4:44 AM, a radio inside No. 7470's cab caught fire, and it caused the inside of the locomotive's cab to burn up as well. The fire also damaged the spring in the whistle valve, causing the whistle to continuously blow, which alerted the nearby steam locomotive mechanic, who called 9-1-1.[28] The nearby fire department arrived shortly afterward to put the fire out. Had it not been for the whistle valve blowing itself, the 1874-built roundhouse it was stored in would have received critical fire damage and collapsed onto No. 7470. The cab has since been repaired and the engine returned to service in June 2022.[29]
Appearances in film
In the 2005 Christmas tv movie, The 12 Dogs of Christmas, starring Jordan-Claire Green, the museum's depot was filmed in several scenes during the beginning of the movie, and the Conway Scenic's passenger cars were also used in the movie.[30]
↑"Site Map". Site Map. Conway, NH: Conway Scenic Railroad, Inc. 2016. Archived from the original on January 11, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
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