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The Worcester, Nashua, & Portland Division main line of the Boston & Maine Railroad passed though twelve New Hampshire towns and cities. They were Nashua, Hudson, Windham, Derry, Hampstead, Sandown, Danville, Fremont, Epping, Lee, Barrington, and Rochester. In October of 1908, sixteen train stops were located along this line in New Hampshire, as can be seen on this section of timetable.
This division originated as three separate railroads. The first of those was the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, which linked the two cities it was named after and opened in December of 1848. The next component of this division was the York & Cumberland Railroad. Construction of a line from Portland to Bar Mills was finished in 1853. After the Civil War had ended, the Y&C was reorganized into the Portland & Rochester Railroad. By 1871, the original Y&C line that once ended at Bar Mills, ME had been built all the way to Rochester, NH. The railroad barely managed to scrape by though as there were now three parallel routes to Portland. The last part of this division was the Nashua & Rochester Railroad. Construction of the line was completed in 1874, extending the W&N to Rochester where it connected to the newly built P&R. The railroad struggled from the start, and in 1883 the W&N and N&R were merged into the Worcester, Nashua, & Rochester Railroad. Only three years later though in 1886, the Boston & Maine Railroad leased the WN&R. As far as the P&R went, the B&M owned an eighty percent share in the line by 1890, but it did not actually to take over operations until 1900.
Every mile of the Worcester, Nashua, & Portland Division which went through New Hampshire has been abandoned. The first section to go was from Epping to West Rochester, and this happened in 1935. That same year the stretch from Hudson to Fremont was also abandoned. In 1942, the sections from Hollis to Nashua and from Nashua to Hudson were let go. Ten years later in 1952, the length of track from Rochester, NH to Springvale, ME was abandoned. The remaining pieces of the line lasted into the eighties, until in 1981 when the tracks from West Rochester to Rochester were let go. That next year in 1982, the stretch from Ayer, MA to Hollis, NH was abandoned, along with the section from Fremont to Epping. The little track remaining around Nashua was finally deemed abandoned in 1993.
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