Late in 1904, a bondholders' protective committee was formed and after some study, proposed a drastic reorganization plan. This was not accepted but a second proposal did receive favorable attention and in July 1905, foreclosure proceedings having been initiated by the protective committee, the stocks, bond and notes of the subsidiary companies of the New Hampshire Traction Company, having a par value of more than $6 million were sold at auction in Haverhill.
These securities and notes were purchased by the bondholders' committee and on August 1, the group organized the New Hampshire Electric Railways as a voluntary association to own the stock and bonds of the street railway and other properties of the former New Hampshire Traction Company. Formal organization of the new voluntary association, which was controlled by the New York Security & Trust Company, occurred three weeks later, on August 24.
At the time of reorganization, David A. Belden was president of the New Hampshire Traction Company and all of its subsidiaries, including the Exeter, Hampton & Amesbury. Other officials included Frederick P. Royce, vice president; Samuel P. Russell, assistant treasurer and auditor; Atty. Samuel W. Emery of Portsmouth, clerk of corporation and general counsel, and Franklin Woodman, general manager.
(President Belden was former general manager of the Birmingham, Ala. Railway & Light Company and previously had served as general manager of the Georgia Railway & Electric Company. General Manager Woodman, who had begun his street railway career with the Metropolitan Railroad horsecar system of Boston, later was associated with the West End Street Railway of Boston, the Union Street Railway of New Bedford and the Lowell, Lawrence Haverhill Street Railway before joining the Traction Company organization.