Worcester, Nashua & Portland Railroad III Traditional Geocache
Worcester, Nashua & Portland Railroad III
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The last of three caches hidden as a tribute to an ancient New England railroad. I hid one in each state the WN&P had served. Designed to be found separately, or all in the same day (about 40 mi. between hides). The cache is a typical Lock & Lock-style container hidden on The Nashua River Rail Trail. An easy, paved .5 miles west from the River Street trail head. This cache is wheelchair accessible to the GZ, with some assitance on arriving. The cache may not be winter-friendly with enough snow.
From Wikipedia.com:
"The Worcester and Nashua Railroad was organized in 1845 to link Worcester to the growing city of Nashua. The line opened as far as the village of South Groton (the town of Ayer today) in the summer of 1848 and to Nashua just before Christmas. The line opened up New Hampshire to southern and western New England and plans were made to connect the line with southern Maine.
The Nashua and Rochester Railroad was formed in 1847, extending the line to Rochester. The W&N leased the N&R in 1874, and the two companies merged into the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad in 1883. The Boston and Maine Railroad leased the line in 1886. This acquisition also included the continuation from Rochester to Portland, via the York and Cumberland Railroad which was formed in 1846. It opened to Gorham, Maine in 1851 under the direction of Maine railroad pioneer John A. Poor and was extended in 1853. The York and Cumberland was reorganized as the Portland and Rochester Railroad in 1867, with a connection to the Grand Trunk Railway in Portland, and was completed to Rochester in 1871. The three lines were tied together by the B&M as its Worcester, Nashua and Portland Division and covered over 147 miles.
The B&M began the process of abandoning portions of the WN&P division in 1932.
Paper mills along the line between Ayer and Hollis kept the train moving north of Ayer Junction until 1981 when the B&M stopped all service. In 1982, the line north of Ayer Jct. was abandoned and tracks removed two years later. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the right of way; in 2002 it was officially opened as the Nashua River Rail Trail. The one mile of track between Union Station in Nashua and an industrial park was abandoned finally in 1993.
The W&N still survives between Ayer and Worcester, operated by Pan Am Railways. The line sees daily through-freight usage, permitting interchange at Worcester with CSX and Providence & Worcester Railroad."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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