SPUI wrote:zz4 wrote:Not to de-rail the subject but does anybody know if the Deerfield River Railroad was just a 'dead-end' line or interchanged with the HT&W ??The Deerfield River Railroad was reorganized as the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad in 1886.
I recall looking through some old POORS? Railroad Manuals once and as to the HT&W it had it with a branch going further than we know the HT&W went. Don't know if it was ever built or just 'mapped' and 'speculated'.
I'm not up that way to wander around but supposedly there are remnants of the Deerfield River RR back in those woods.(vermont)
Actually I think this is only half right. Whereas the HT&W took over a company called "Deerfield River Company's Railroad" in 188x, another company which formed later ran lines that extended beyond Wilmington. This company had a similiar name "Deerfield River Railroad Company" and ran rails up into somerset which branched into all surrounding towns (Stratton, Glastenbury, Dover, Searsburg) for lumber transport operations. A map can be found here: http://hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/DeerfieldR.GIF
anyone who believes these routes were purely speculative will ahve to explain these pictures:
http://hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/Somerset1.jpg Taken in the "town center" of somerset (if you can call it that)
http://hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/searsburg.jpg Taken in searsburg at Horseshoe curve (which is on the map).
I believe the rail was 36" Narrow Gauge, It had some pretty nasty turns and grades. I'm going to try and locate and document all the branches summer 06. I have already documented the entire HT&W from the Hoosac Tunnel to Readsboro. http://hoosactunnel.net/HTW
