A "Two-Year" Demonstration Project

In 1978, Governor Hugh Gallen proposed a solution to the traffic jams of commuters heading across the border into Massachusetts. The idea was to bring commuter rail up to Concord, extending the service that already existed from Boston to Lowell. Also planned by the governor was train service possibilities to Dover via Haverhill and Portsmouth via Ipswich. Of those planned routes, only the train to Concord was pushed forward, and federal funding was granted for track rebuilding, new equipment, and operating costs. Funding from the federal government was a curiosity of the feds to study the feasibility of interstate mass transportation. The start date of March 1980 was a governmental influence to limit the criticism of Gallen trying to start the line before the February presidential primary election. Operation of the train was shared between the MBTA and the New Hampshire Transportation Authority.

Schedule & Fares (January-February 1981) Commuter train from Concord Concord 5:49 a.m. ... ... Boston 7:46 a.m. Boston 5:00 p.m. ... ... Concord 6:56 p.m.   Concord to Lowell $3.50   Concord to Boston $6.00   Manchester to Boston $5.00   Merrimack to Boston $4.50   Nashua to Boston $4.00

A change in service was instituted on December 1, 1980 when two railbuses were used on weekdays for off-peak trains. The vehicles were owned by the Federal Railroad Administration, which was the agency that was paying 100% of the Concord to Lowell service. The service was operated by the Boston & Maine Railroad, which was the MBTA contractor for commuter rail service. A railbus would run from Concord, making all stops, ending its run in Lowell. Once in Lowell, passengers would then transfer to an MBTA commuter train for the ride into Boston. During this time, if it was a commuter train from Concord it ran straight into Boston without passengers having to make any transfers at Lowell.

Another railcar that the FRA brought in to use during the project was the Budd Company's new SPV-2000. Just having been built in 1978, the Budd Company's demonstrator found its way to New Hampshire during the project. It's uncertain how often it was used, but overall the SPV-2000 was a failure compared to its predassesor the RDC, with only a few built they were all taken out of service in 1986.

Originally trains leaving Concord would be with standing room only by the time they reached Nashua. Sadly, service cutbacks from two trains to one put a slump in ridership numbers and the end of the funding from the federal government marked the end of commuter rail service late February of 1981. The project plan was two years, but it only lasted one.

As for the railbuses, the LEV 1 eventually made it back to England and into the collection of the National Railway Museum, and the LEV 2 has since returned to New England.

Leyland Experimental Vehicle 2

Built in 1980 by Leyland, this railbus was owned by the Federal Transportation Administration. It was used on the Concord, N.H. to Lowell, Mass. commuter service for off-peak weekday service. After only ten trips on the commuter run, LEV 2 was involved in an accident in Manchester, N.H. The railbus sat in the Boston & Maine Railroad's Billerica shop until parts for the railbus could be found.

Weekday Off-Peak Schedule (Jan.-Feb. 1981) Railbus & Commuter Train Inbound read down Outbound read up Concord Manchester Merrimack Nashua Lowell Lowell Boston 8:45 a.m. 9:23 a.m. 9:39 a.m. 9:49 a.m. 10:12 a.m. 10:25 a.m. 11:05 a.m. 7:27 p.m. 6:53 p.m. 6:39 p.m. 6:30 p.m. when loaded 6:10 p.m. 5:30 p.m.

The FRA later sold the LEV 2 to Amtrak, which used the railbus on the Northeast Corridor until it was involved in an accident at a crossing. It was not taken into consideration that the LEV 2 was too light to activate some signals on the track. After a few years in storage, Amtrak then donated the railbus to Steamtown National Historic Site, where it served well as a shuttle until a mechanic tried rebuilding the torque converter. Problems with the torque converter prompted Steamtown to sell the LEV 2 to a scrap dealer in Pennsylvania. From the scrap dealer, the LEV 2 was saved and saw life again on the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, a tourist railroad in West Virginia.

In 2001, the LEV 2 returned to New England in an equipment exchange and was moved to its current home, the Connecticut Trolley Museum.

The Future of Commuter Rail in New Hampshire

Commuter trains are on their way to Nashua and Manchester. The Nashua Regional Planning Commission and the City of Nashua are taking on the task of getting trains running from Boston to Nashua as an extension of the MBTA's Lowell commuter rail line. The City of Manchester is on board, supporting commuter train service up to the Queen City. With this added support, progress has been made with bringing back the service.

In early 2007, the State of New Hampshire approved the creation of a commuter rail authority. The New Hampshire Railroad Revitalization Association (NHRRA) is running a campaign to send commuter trains farther north to Concord. To support commuter rail to Nashua, Manchester and Concord, please visit any of the following websites.