Granite State Scenic Railroad and Rail Bikes

The operation now branded the Granite State Scenic Railway began on June 15, 1987, when Edward Clark and his wife Brenda Reynolds Clark formed the Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad to run a tourist line and theme park from Lincoln, New Hampshire. Trains have covered the seven miles between Lincoln and Woodstock ever since, for decades under the Hobo Railroad name, and after the company won the lease on the state-owned Tilton-to-Plymouth trackage it launched the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, running between Meredith and Lakeport with a stop at Weirs Beach. The railroad now holds passenger rights over the full 54 miles of New Hampshire-owned track from Lochmere to Lincoln. Founder Edward Clark died in the summer of 1998, and his son Benjamin took over as president. The company's Lincoln Shops grew into a year-round repair and restoration business, taking in projects such as the three-car Flying Yankee streamliner set in 2005. A Polar Express train, run with the Believe in Books Literacy Foundation, has departed Lincoln since winter 2005, and rail bike tours out of Laconia Station began in June 2021. The Patriot Rail Company acquired the passenger and rail bike operations in August 2023, and the railroad took the Granite State Scenic Railway name in April 2024.