Lake Shore Railroad
The Lake Shore Railroad, which ran from Alton Bay to Lakeport, opened on June 17, 1890, and closed on May 25, 1935. Soon after closure, the tracks from Alton Bay to Lily Pond were ripped up; however, the tracks from Lily Pond to Lakeport remained in place as a freight spur to service an ice harvesting operation on Lily Pond. After the ice operation ceased, circa 1940, the remaining section of the freight spur continued to be used until 1973 by the lumberyard on Blaisdell Ave (first the Laconia Milling Corporation, then Grossman’s Lumber Co.). The spur was not formally abandoned until 2006.
The detail below, from a 1921 Rand McNally map of New Hampshire shows the named stops on the Lake Shore Railroad. There were 20 stops in all. The stops in italics were flag stops and lacked a station building.
- Alton Bay
- Keewaydin
- Loon Cove
- Buckley
- Brookhurst
- Mount Major
- Woodlands
- W. Alton
- Smith’s Point
- Spring Haven
- Ames
- Terrace Hill
- Lake Shore Park
- Greystone
- Belknap Pt
- Glendale
- Gilford
- Meadowbrook
- Lily Pond
- Lakeport
The Laconia Tavern map below shows 15 of the named stops on the Lake Shore Railroad. There is extensive information on the Lake Shore Railroad, including pictures of many of the stations, on the winnipesaukee.com website. Click here for Part 1, here for Part 11, and here for Part III of the story of the Lake Shore Railroad.
