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Worcester, Nashua, & Portland Division - Hudson, NH



Hudson, New Hampshire

- Historic station photograph currently not available -

Hudson Station - Map of Hudson, NH


These maps will help give you a visual idea of what I am talking about below, with the blue line representing the old WN&P main line and the red line representing the old Route 111: Aerial Map, Road Map. Since there is still snow on the ground I have not taken any pictures yet, but this stretch is near the top of my list for when spring rolls around.

The abandoned Worcester, Nashua, & Portland Division enters into Hudson where the line once crossed over the Merrimack River. The bridge is long gone, but the abutments are still remaining. You can get a great view of them if you look south while crossing over the river on the Route 111 bridge. The right of way is still visible from the river bank up until it reaches Lowell Road (Route 3A). Originally the tracks would have crossed over Route 3A and then run parallel to Central Street for roughly 1,000 yards, but the street has grown over the old rail bed. At the end of this stretch the road curves to the right, but the right of way would have continued going straight eventually reaching Burnham Road (Route 111). At this crossing the old rail bed is clearly visible in both directions. From here, if you keep following the right of way heading towards Hudson Center, it will lead you into a parking lot. There is a grey building located here, and from what I can see on Microsoft Visual Earth it looks to have been built directly on the rail bed. At the other end of the parking lot remains a pair of stone abutments where the WN&P would have crossed over a small stream. The old right of way can not be made out from this point until it reaches what is now Windham Road.

Things really start to get interesting at this point. Windham Road was the original Route 111, and the railroad would have crossed over this road and then run parallel to it. Well, Windham Road is now just a side street and what is Route 111 today runs right over the old rail bed in this area. If you are heading west on the new Route 111 towards Hudson Center, you can still see where the rail bed turns out from under the road, about where a 35MPH sign is located. Continuing in the other direction though, the right of way does not come out from under Route 111 until you hit Park Avenue. If you go down this road and turn into the driveway of the building on the left, you can see where the rail bed heads off into the woods. From here the right of way curves until it crosses back over Route 111. The old rail bed runs close to the road in this area and it can be seen coming out of the woods on the left side of Route 111 just before Lawrence Road. Now, Lawrence Road was originally Route 111, and from this crossing the railroad would have run straight to West Windham Station. When Route 111 was rerouted though, they decided to use the right of way as a roadbed in this area just as they did back by Windham Road. From about where Lawrence Road is up until where Route 111 and Route 128 meet, the old rail bed is under the new Route 111. Along this stretch the line crosses into Windham, as does this conversation.

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