Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C: 603
ZIP: 03820
Population: 32,741 in the 2020 census
Access by train/transit:
Amtrak
The Scoop:
Not much going on in town railroad wise except for Amtrak coming thru, and a
Pan Am train a few times a day.
I don't have any info on the Pan Am trains :-(
There are five Downeaster trains a day in
each direction, see schedule below.
From the Dover.nh.gov website:
The first chartered railroad in New Hampshire ran from Boston to Lowell in 1830. By late
in 1837, the railroad had been extended to the New Hampshire state line.
In 1838, Dover voters gave permission for the B&M tracks to pass through
Dover. The Dover Gazette lobbied against it, saying the railroad would put
men out of work who rode the stages and coasting vessels. Dover would “be
turned into a town of idlers, under a tyrant’s power.”
The track was completed to Coffin’s Cut in Dover (at the intersection of
Washington and Arch Streets) in August, 1841. On the east side of the track
were the passenger and freight stations. From there, passengers and cargo
were transported to town by horse-pulled omnibus or wagon.
The first train arrived on September 1, 1841, carrying a number of
stockholders of the railroad. Although it was a stormy day, a large crowd of
spectators turned out, both at the station and along the route from
Newmarket. Most had never seen a train before and, according to a newspaper
account of the day, one man was heard to remark, “You can’t fool me. I know
there’s a horse in there somewhere!”
Since the station was unfinished, and further grading operations were
necessary on the tracks, the trains did not run regularly at first.
Over the course of the next year, work continued to get through Coffins Cut,
which meant burrowing through a hill. Finally, the track was extended into
town, so a new railroad station was built on land once used by the Cochecho
Manufacturing Company as a wood yard, extending from Third to Fourth Street
and surrounded by a wood fence. The new station (now the site of the
Municipal Parking Lot) was built of wood, with pillars in front, and was
painted dark gray, then sanded. It stood over the track, and the train cars
went through it via large doors at either end. In the winter, the doors were
open only to let trains pass through; however, this practice was soon
stopped because the smoke from the wood smoke of the engines was stifling.
This station was replaced in 1873 by a brick station constructed on the same
site. It was a two-story building that did not cross the track.
When passenger service was discontinued on June 30, 1967, the downtown station was demolished
and a new smaller station was built in the old Second Street railyards west of Chestnut Street.
That station was demolished when the existing station was built for the renewal of passenger
service in 2001. end Dover.nh.gov
Additional snipets of information from Google.....
Take exit 4 off of NB I-95 (or exit 5 from SB I-95), and go north on
US-4/NH-16 (The Spaulding Turnpike) about 10 miles. Get off at Central
Ave, make a left turn at the end of the off ramp, and then an immediate
right onto Locust St. In about 4/5 of a mile, the street will curve to
your left and turn into Chestnut St, this will take you to the train
station.... GREEN ARROWS
If you're going SB on US-4, take the Knox Marsh Rd exit, and take a left at
the end of the ramp. Take a right onto Silver Spring Rd when you come
up on it, and take that till it connects with Locust St, and take a left.
YELLOW ARROWS