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  • Lamoille Valley thread and Conversion to Rail Trail

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #568702  by sjl
 
Nice photos, although I believe the second one of Cambridge Jct is just a little bit west of the former station lcoation. But, I haven't been up there in several years...

Just this morning I watched an NS freight roll by towards Harrisburg with a LVRC boxcar in it. The reporting marks were patched over and I couldn't make out the owner markings. What a shock! What a way to start a Monday!
 #569653  by thebigham
 
RussNelson wrote:Here's where it crossed the Missisqoi branch:
http://flickr.com/photos/russnelson/272 ... 480786717/
http://flickr.com/photos/russnelson/272 ... 480786717/
Obviously they're not close to turning it into a trail -- at least not right there.
Hi, Russ. Thanks for the pics.

About this pic:

http://flickr.com/photos/russnelson/2727656335/

Are they really rebuilding the 3-span covered bridge?
 #661340  by laflamcs
 
Found this online today - http://timsfeedback.home.comcast.net/~t ... imited.pdf. It is a pamphlet handed out to riders on the Lamoille Valley excursion train, listing rules for trainriding and a town by town explanation of the route. What confuses me, is that this document is dated 1991 and lists the towns along the whole line. From what I understand, when the excursion trains they started in Morrisville and ended in St. Johnsbury only and that the western half of the line was inactive since the early 1980s. The pamphet explains the route all the way to Swanton and even through seemingly long abandoned Cambridge Jct. Does anyone here know when and where these excursion trains traveled? Although this was my favorite line, I remember refusing an invitation from my parents to ride it....one year later, it was abandoned. Damn.

..Chris
 #661408  by Noel Weaver
 
laflamcs wrote:Found this online today - http://timsfeedback.home.comcast.net/~t ... imited.pdf. It is a pamphlet handed out to riders on the Lamoille Valley excursion train, listing rules for trainriding and a town by town explanation of the route. What confuses me, is that this document is dated 1991 and lists the towns along the whole line. From what I understand, when the excursion trains they started in Morrisville and ended in St. Johnsbury only and that the western half of the line was inactive since the early 1980s. The pamphet explains the route all the way to Swanton and even through seemingly long abandoned Cambridge Jct. Does anyone here know when and where these excursion trains traveled? Although this was my favorite line, I remember refusing an invitation from my parents to ride it....one year later, it was abandoned. Damn.

..Chris
I think this was a one time fantrip or excursion that covered the entire line. I don't recall whether it was sponsored by the
railroad or by an organization. I remember hearing about it but I passed it up too. I also regret not going when I had the
chance.
Noel Weaver
 #661494  by Steve Zuppa
 
Wasn't that a Carl Fowler trip? If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was marketed to French Canadiens as a full weekend trip over the line. Again, if it's the one I'm thinking of, it went all the way to Whitefield,NH. I rode the short trip from St. J to Whitefield and back and was glad of the opportunity. I'd love to be able to do it today.
Steve
 #661719  by bigfreight
 
In the 90's I went on a MBRE excursion from Morrisville to St Johnsbury, Vt and return. What a shame the tracks are all gone into St J. Coming thru Greensboro and Joe's Pond was very scenic and coming up and down the hill into and out of St.J had a pretty good grade. I think we used Lamoille Valley's equipment for this run. I remember on the return the engine was working pretty hard pulling the hill out of St.J heading back to Morrisville.
 #661763  by laflamcs
 
Wow so the tracks west of Morrisville were "in service" in 1991? As I mentioned before, I thought they were way out of service. Looking at the line in Cambridge and Bershire back right before they ripped the line up amazed me as the track looked abandoned for 20 years (which I had assumed.) The railroad, once a joy to me, is now a great sadness. At least I got a tie plate and a few spikes before they were all cleaned out...

..Chris :(
 #663008  by oibu
 
Wow so the tracks west of Morrisville were "in service" in 1991?
They were running regularly scheduled excursions to Johnson in 1994... not sure, was that the last year or did it last into 95?
 #663021  by thebigham
 
laflamcs wrote:Wow so the tracks west of Morrisville were "in service" in 1991? As I mentioned before, I thought they were way out of service. Looking at the line in Cambridge and Bershire back right before they ripped the line up amazed me as the track looked abandoned for 20 years (which I had assumed.) The railroad, once a joy to me, is now a great sadness. At least I got a tie plate and a few spikes before they were all cleaned out...

..Chris :(
Yes, they were.

I was advertised as a trip covering the entire line.
 #677050  by NellieBly
 
I rode a two-day excursion from Morrisville to Whitefield in (IIRC) September of 1986. We stayed overnight at a wonderful old hotel called the White Mountain House, that I can't now find on the Web. Very nice trip.

I talked with the general manager before departing Morrisville, and he told me the line west of there was out of service account lack of traffic. Apparently when the state bought the railroad (early 1980s) they upgraded the whole thing on the promise of traffic from a talc processing plant and a feed mill on the west end, as well as some traffic on the east. But neither of those establishments actually shipped by rail, so the railroad put the west end out of service.

In fact, the GM told me their only large shipper was the paper mill in Gilman, VT, which they reached over the former MEC Mountain Division, which they had leased from Guilford between St. J and Whitefield.

I'm very glad I rode this trackage when I could.

There has been talk recently about the re-opening of the paper mill in Gilman, which would apparently require reactivation of the rail line between Whitefield and Gilman. That's shorter than Gilman to St. J, and there is no other traffic on the line.
 #677336  by thebigham
 
^Prior to 1983, the LVRC did a big interchange business with the Maine Central at St. Johnsbury. LVRC would take these cars and interchange them with the CN at St Albans.

After the Maine Central Mountain Division was abandoned in 1983, the LVRC lost this lucrative traffic which doomed the line.

I highly recommend the 3 issue LVRC article that was in Railfan/Railroad in 1980. It gives an exhaustive history of the line.
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