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Old 08-13-2010, 10:27 PM   #1
Diver1111
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Default Rail road car off the Weirs

While waiting for a buddy I ran a scan along the western shore north towards Meredith and saw something tall in the water column. I did a quick dive and landed on the deck of what looked like a barge maybe 45 feet long.

The jagged white lines with the blue background in the image (blue is the water column) turned out to be the sides of a railroad car. They appear on both sides of the left/right scan image attached, meaning I was right over the object when I scanned it, hence splitting it. None of the wreck itself is apparent in this shot but the sides in the water column were enough for me to want to see what was down there. Once I dove it I realized I was on a box car. Most of the sides (maybe 12 feet high) were gone but enough remain to stand out in the water column on side-scan. I dove around the wreck and found a large rusted, encrusted car-coupler on the southern end of it.

I am familiar with the story of that bad collision way back. And I believe there are a few more RR cars down there.

The images I got (there are more) all-in-all are miserable. Don't know why-it's just that way with this one.

For the fishermen and divers Lat/Lon is: 43 36.997N / 071 27.891W.
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Old 08-14-2010, 07:57 AM   #2
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Default Depth

I think Winnipesaukee Divers has stated that the "rust monster", including rolls of paper that the railcars were hauling, is deeper than what you've found as your scans indicate the depth is around 50 feet. How deep did you actually dive?
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Old 08-14-2010, 09:06 PM   #3
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Default Depth of rail car

Senter- I don't really remember as I was just doing a quick dive to see what it was. Off the top of my head maybe 38 feet. Perhaps 42. Sorry.

I'd be interested in checking out the paper rolls I have read about that should be at about 90 feet or so. That would be a great dive.
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Old 09-21-2010, 09:44 PM   #4
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Default Depth - 38 Feet

Dove this several weeks ago. The railcar was the only thing in sight here. There was an old subsurface marker on the railcar but it is non-functional. After the dive, we drove our dive boat directly away from the shore and it took a long time to reach a depth of 90 feet. I wonder how other railcars and paper rolls could be in 90 feet. I suppose they could have floated out that far and then sunk. Does anyone have any further information?
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Old 09-21-2010, 10:04 PM   #5
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I think this might be what you're looking at:

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...7&postcount=22

And here's the link to the Laconia Historical Society's page about another accident: http://www.lwhs.us/railroads/railroadaccident.htm


Just a guess....
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Old 09-22-2010, 02:48 PM   #6
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You beat me to it. Another good book for lake history!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal View Post
The train wreck just above The Weirs - taken from
Images of America, The Weirs by Warren D. Huse.
First published in 1996.
It is a wonderful book with over 120 pages of excellent historical information and photographs.
There was another wreck on the west side of Lake Paugus, August 19, 1912. The northbound White Mountain Express, en route to The Weirs, left the rails at a curve on the shore of the lake about half way between Lakeport and The Weirs. It was fortunate that it jumped towards the land-side of the track because it would have been a serious disaster as the water is deep at that point and the train would have gone under water. Wrecking crews cleared up the site within a few hours and traffic resumed.

(McDude, if you have more to add regarding this wreck, I can delete mine.)












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Old 09-26-2010, 06:17 PM   #7
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That story is a great read, thanks!

And thanks to AW for the other link.
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Old 08-18-2012, 09:31 PM   #8
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Default Correction to Lat/Lon

I noticed that I posted one wrong # for the Lat of the RR car:

43 36 should read 43 37.
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Old 08-04-2014, 09:57 PM   #9
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Sonar shots from last year. As you can see there is no other RR car in the immediate vicinity although divers have wondered if there was more than one. I've never picked up another on side-scan along this shore and I've scanned it several times.
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Old 08-05-2014, 08:11 AM   #10
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Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi6_X...ature=youtu.be

Not so great clip but it is still interesting.
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Old 08-05-2014, 08:14 AM   #11
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Default RR cars

Seem to me I remember about 40 years ago, more than one car and they were filled with rolls of paper from a paper mill. Either in Paugus Bay North of South Down or in Meredith Bay North of Akwa Marina. I can remember the turbidity was crystal clear down until about 75 feet.

I was told by my Dad and Grandfather there was an accident involving several cars. The cars landed in the water as the rail was so close to the water. Instead of salvaging the cars and the cargo, the railroad drag them deeper into the lake as not to cause a navigation hazard.
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Old 09-24-2015, 07:31 PM   #12
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Default 2 new shots of the RR car

I really wish there was another RR car or 2 down there but another pass at it this summer with the Edgetech produced nothing more.

Still pretty interesting, esp. in light of how it got there.
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