Today, the sounds of steam whistles and trains are no longer heard among the mountains and valleys in most of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, though to the west and south in the Connecticut Valley and in north-central Massachusetts, steel rails are still very much alive. The two volumes of Iron Roads of the Monadnock Region bring to life the story of now largely forgotten railroads that once operated in the area, shining new light on the roads’ stories from their beginnings to the present, tracing high and low points, glory days, times of struggles, disasters, and wrecks.

This little-known history of the roads is loaded with hard-to-find historical information, indexed, and copiously illustrated and enriched by rare and unpublished photos-over 700 images, maps, and tables-it’s all here, an essential reference for the serious rail fan. Following on the first volume, Volume II describes the construction and operational histories of railroads built after the Civil War, when railroad building euphoria swept the Region as communities, left behind by the earliest roads, desperately sought connection to the rail network. Chapters 10-16 cover the Worcester and Hillsborough, Manchester and Keene, Ashburnham, and Ware River roads, as well as street railways and little-known quarry roads.