In 1985, local interests purchased the Claremont & Concord Railway from the Pinsly organization (renaming it to the Claremont-Concord Railroad) and started running it with the small pile of GE 44 ton diesels that came with the system. The 44 ton diesels were not the greatest thing to come down the pike; they were small and the Cat diesels were not the most reliable thing in the world.
Initially, the new owners wanted to replace the 44 ton diesels, but before they could do much shopping a switch failed at the runaround siding at the end of the line in West Claremont, and replacing it took priority over getting new power.
And then, two years later, the problems with the 44 ton diesels got much worse when the C-C had a carbarn fire that destroyed all of their motive power.
One of the fairly local railroads (that would be the Parsons Vale Lines) was undergoing a slow process of extending their electrification, so the C-C made inquiries about an emergency purchase of one or two of their used Alcos. But the Parsons Vale made an intriguing counteroffer; if the C-C electrified they’d find operating costs would drop quite a bit, and if they wanted to electrify the 7 remaining miles of the railroad the Parsons Vale would be happy to provide a nominal-interest loan to purchase wire, used Parsons Vale wire crews to do the electrification, and loan the C-C a pair of Alco S-2 switchers until the electrification was complete.
Well, that’s a deal that was hard to beat, and, not being fools, the C-C’s management leapt at it as if they were starving bass going after water nymphs.
When the electrification was complete, the C-C first leased Baldwin steeplecabs from the Connecticut Trolley Museum and the Seashore Trolley Museum, then went shopping around for a pair of motors of their own, and found a steel mill in Canada with a pair of GE industrial steeplecabs up for sale. These motors were purchased, shipped down to the USA, and went into service as C-C #1 & #2.
These units ran without problems until 2024, when #1 was rammed by a cement truck and snapped its frame in half. Business was good, but the cost of a new motor was not really affordable, and while the railway was shopping around for a diesel the Parsons Vale came knocking and proposed a merger, which would put the C-C under the umbrella of the PV&T’s shops and settle the loan they’d taken out 35 years previous and still had a bit over a quarter million to pay off.
This proposal was greeted with a great deal of skepticism, but the current management eventually came around and sold the railway to the local class 1.
The C-C (renamed by the new owners to the Claremont Traction Company) is still running as a separate railway with a class Q motor taking the place of the now-demised #1, and has been put under the control of the Groupe Ferroviaire Murmuration.