Bradford G. Blodget Livres

Today, the sounds of steam whistles and trains are no longer heard among the mountains and valleys in most of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, though to the west and south in the Connecticut Valley and in north-central Massachusetts, steel rails are still very much alive. The two volumes of Iron Roads of the Monadnock Region bring to life the story of now largely forgotten railroads that once operated in the area, shining new light on the roads’ stories from their beginnings to the present, tracing high and low points, glory days, times of struggles, disasters, and wrecks. This little-known history of the roads is loaded with hard-to-find historical information, indexed, and copiously illustrated and enriched by rare and unpublished photos—over 700 images, maps, and tables—it’s all here, an essential reference for the serious rail fan.Volume I presents the story of the formation and operational history of the railroad network in the rugged mountains and valleys of the Monadnock Region. An introductory overview encapsulates the Region’s railroad its beginnings, glory years, and end. Chapters 1–9 follow, detailing four roads built before the Civil the Vermont and Massachusetts, Cheshire, Sullivan, and Ashuelot.

The last passenger train departed Keene, New Hampshire nearly sixty-five years ago and all of the railroad branch lines that once threaded their way through the river valleys and rugged hill country of the Monadnock Region felt their last trains almost forty years ago. Today, the old roadbeds that were once busy arteries of daily life and commerce, resonant with the sounds of trains, are quiet places but for the wind and the calls of birds. While a fascination with the region’s railroad past is almost tangible, the importance of railroads to the region from the 1840’s through the mid-twentieth century is just unimaginable to most people today.Iron Roads Volumes I-III are the complete set of the stunning and meticulous work that Brad Blodget and Dick Richards have done, chronicling the mostly by-gone railroads of the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. These three volumes contain more than 1000 images as well as detailed information about every town from Worcester, MA to Concord, NH to Bellows Falls, VT.