Conway Scenic Railroad
| Conway Scenic Railroad | |
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| Display EMD F7 beside the 1874 North Conway freight depot | |
| Locale | White Mountains region of New Hampshire |
| Connections | New Hampshire Central Railroad |
| Commercial operations | |
| Built by | Portland, Great Falls and Conway Railroad, Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Owned by | Russ Seybold; Mountain Division right-of-way owned by the State of New Hampshire |
| Operated by | Conway Scenic Railroad |
| Reporting mark | CSRX |
| Length | 51 miles (82 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1872 |
| 1875 | Mountain Division is completed and connected. |
| 1890 | Boston and Maine Corporation acquires the Conway Branch. |
| 1972 | Conway Branch abandoned north of Ossipee. |
| 1983 | Mountain Division abandoned. |
| Closed | 1972 |
| Preservation history | |
| August 4, 1974 | Started |
| 1995 | Mountain Division operations begin. |
| Headquarters | North Conway |
| Website | |
| conwayscenic |
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The Conway Scenic Railroad (reporting mark CSRX) is a heritage railway in North Conway, New Hampshire, United States. The railroad operates over two historic railway routes: a line from North Conway to Conway that was formerly part of the Conway Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad, and a line from North Conway through Crawford Notch to Fabyan that was once part of the Mountain Division of the Maine Central Railroad. The Conway line is owned by Conway Scenic, and the Mountain Division is owned by the State of New Hampshire. Russ Seybold is owner and president of the Conway Scenic.
The railroad's main terminal is located in historic downtown North Conway in the Mount Washington valley. The station complex has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
Conway Scenic Railroad was founded by local businessmen Bill Levy and Carroll Reed and a Boston and Maine Railroader named Dwight Smith. They purchased the abandoned station and rail line from Conway to Intervale (7 miles) from the Boston and Maine in 1974. Smith bought Canadian National 7470 and the first train was run on August 4, 1974.
In 1983, the Mountain Division was abandoned, and for twelve years Conway Scenic was insulated without a connection to the wider United States rail network. In 1994, they obtained from the state a lease of the Mountain Division. On December 17, 1994, the first revenue train made it as far as Bartlett, and operations through the scenic Crawford Notch began in September 1995. The first train ran to Fabyans in 1996.
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