corporation was then reorganized upon the basis of $210,000 capital, and the road was leased to the Connecticut River corporation, which pays 6 per cent on the stock for the use of it, and has brought it into most excellent condition, its road-bed, track, roadway, stations, and bridges being superior to those on any other branch road in the State. Two thirds of the track is in steel. Only ordinary repairs were made last year.

SULLIVAN COUNTY RAILROAD.

Line. From Bellows Falls, Vt., to Windsor, Vt., 26 miles.

History and Condition. The Legislature of New Hampshire chartered the Sullivan Railroad July 10, 1846. It was opened February 5, 1849, the cost being represented by $500,000 in stock and $854,796.93 in debts secured by mortgage bonds. After having operated two years it was surrendered to trustees for the benefit of creditors, and in 1863 was leased to the Vermont Central. In 1866, the corporation being hopelessly bankrupt, the property was sold for $500,000 to the bondholders, who formed a new corporation under the name of the Sullivan County Railroad, and, taking possession of the road, re-leased it for ten years to the Vermont Central at $25,000 per year. Of the stock in this new corporation, the Northern road was the principal owner. The Vermont Central continued to operate it until 1880, when the Vermont Valley Corporation purchased the stock, and it became part of the Connecticut River system.

Steel rails, 56 pounds to the yard, sound ties, 3,000 to the mile, and a deep, broad, well-surfaced road-bed, cleancut ditches, good fences, strong bridges, and respectable stations attest the success of the recent purchasers of this road in their efforts to make it worthy of its place in a through line of great importance. Four miles of the

road-bed were raised from one to two feet last year, and the stakes are set for a continuation of this improvement, which, when completed, will relieve it of heavy grades and fit it to do a large business at small cost.

CHESHIRE RAILROAD SYSTEM.

CHESHIRE RAILROAD.

Main Line. From Ashburnham, Mass., to Bellows Falls, Vt., 53.62 miles, of which 42.81 miles are in this State. The Cheshire road uses that part of the Vermont & Massachusetts road which extends from North Ashburnham Junction to Fitchburg, 10.50 miles, for which it pays an annual rental of $51,000, and leases the Monadnock from Peterborough to Winchendon, Mass., 15.8 miles.

History and Condition. Chartered by the New Hampshire Legislature in 1844. The part in Massachusetts was chartered as the Winchendon Railroad Corporation. Construction was begun in 1845; opened to Keene in 1848, and to Bellows Falls in 1849. Capital stock, $2,153,300. Cost of road and equipment, $2,717,535.26. Funded debt $800,000, at 6 per cent.

There are no important changes to report on this road, and few are needed. Its veteran superintendent, who was one of its builders, has put upon it the impress of a steady purpose to make it stable, strong, and permanent. Its road-bed is nearly perfect, and the superstructure is first-class; its masonry is solid and enduring; its bridges sound, safe, and high; its ties in good condition, about 3,000 to the mile, and in line on one side; its track heavy steel; its ballast fourteen feet wide, deep, and of good material; its ditches well cut and unchoked, and its roadway well grassed and clean. It is free from sharp sags, and its few curves are skillfully drawn, while its

stations are commodious and in good repair. The stations south of Keene have been repainted.

MONADNOCK RAILROAD.

Line. From Winchendon, Mass., to Peterborough, N. H., 15.8 miles, of which 13.76 miles are in this State.

History and Condition. The Monadnock Railroad was first chartered in 1848. Eighteen years later the charter was revived, and in 1869 authority was given to lease the road when completed. Construction was commenced in 1870, and the road was completed the next year. It cost $367,701. In 1874 it was leased to the Boston, Barre & Gardner, and six years afterwards, when this company failed to meet its obligations, the Cheshire secured it at an annual rental of $12,500 per year. This arrangement terminated some months ago, but it is still operated by the Cheshire at a reduced rental. The stock, with the exception of a few shares, is owned jointly by the Cheshire and Fitchburg. Uncertainty regarding its future has doubtless prevented costly permanent improvements upon it, and it suffers by comparison with the Cheshire main line, but its road-bed and track are fully up to the average of our branch roads, and its stations are commodious and clean. It is one of the many short roads that cannot be operated to advantage independently, and its importance consists in its being a public convenience rather than in its ability to earn dividends.

FITCHBURG RAILROAD SYSTEM.

Main Line. From Boston, Mass., to Fitchburg, Mass., 50 miles. Branches: From North Cambridge, Mass., to Waltham, Mass., 6.60 miles; from South Acton, Mass., to Marlborough, Mass., 12.42 miles; Peterborough & Shirley, from Ayer, Mass., to Greenville, N. H., 23.62

miles. Leased: Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad, from Fitchburg, Mass., to Greenfield, Mass., 56 miles; Turner's Falls branch, from Greenfield to Turner's Falls, Mass., 2.80 miles. Total, 152.12 miles.

PETERBOROUGH & SHIRLEY RAILROAD.

Main Line. From Ayer, Mass., to Greenville, N. H., 23.62 miles. Single track, iron rails.

History and Condition. Chartered in this State July 8, 1846, the authority being to build a road from the state line in Mason through New Ipswich to Peterborough ; built from the state line to Greenville, a distance of 9.37 miles. Construction began in 1849 and was finished in 1851. The road was greatly embarrassed for ten years, when it was leased to the Fitchburg road for nine hundred and ninety-nine years at 6 per cent, and the New Hampshire section was thrown in as a gratuity, on condition that the road should continue to be operated. By this arrangement the road is given the same rates as the main line.

This road remains in the same condition as a year ago. It continues to give its patrons lower rates and more train service in proportion to its business than any other in the State. With a new station and engine-house at Greenville it would be beyond the reach of reasonable criticism. During the summer of 1886 the engineers of the Fitchburg road made a survey from Greenville via Peterborough to Claremont, a distance of about 70 miles, following a portion of the way the line of the Windsor & Forest charter. Such surveys furnish employment to educated and deserving men, are fruitful subjects of speculation in the towns through which they pass, and sometimes lead to the construction of important railroads.

GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD SYSTEM.

Main Line.

From Portland, Me., to Chicago, Ill., 1,145 miles. Total length of all lines owned and leased 2,358 miles, of which 52.02 miles are in this State.

History. The Grand Trunk Railway was chartered in 1851; opened from Portland to Montreal in 1853; to Quebec in 1854; to Toronto in 1856; from Toronto to Sarnia in 1858; to Chicago in 1880. Consolidated with Great Western Railway Company August 12, 1882. Total capital invested, $45,485,871.

ATLANTIC & ST. LAWRENCE RAILROAD.

Line. From Portland, Me., to Island Pond, Vt., 149.37 miles, of which 52.02 miles are in New Hampshire. History and Condition. Chartered in this State June 30, 1847; in Maine February 10, 1845. Opened to Island Pond January 10, 1853. Leased to the Grand Trunk Railway Company July 1, 1853, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of 6 per cent on funded debt and capital stock, amounting to $5,484,000 of the former and $3,000,000 of the latter.

This road, of which little is known by most of the people of the State, is essentially English in character, solid, substantial, slow, and safe. Its road-bed is one of the best. The ballast is of excellent material and well placed, broad, deep, porous, and elastic. The rails are sixty-fivepound steel, the ties hemlock and tamarack, 2,600 to the mile, lined on one side and sound; the bridges are iron with heavy and well-laid granite supports. The fences are kept in good repair, and the space between them is clean and tidy. The semaphore signal is in use at all stations, and a system of locks prevents the escape of cars left upon sidings and consequent collisions.

We hear no complaint of the train service, which ap