Trestle on Conn River line

Can anyone tell me whether the Conn. River Division trestle at South Vernon is still standing? A buddy and I were at the Conn. River - NECR junction at East Northfield the other day and I asked him about it; he wasn't sure. The bridge site isn't terribly accessible, at least from the west side.

The GEarth view dated July 5, 2009 seems to show the structure still in place, but it appears rails and ties had been stripped.

jaymac wrote:The GEarth view dated July 5, 2009 seems to show the structure still in place, but it appears rails and ties had been stripped.

Are you sure your not looking at the schell bridge in northfield ? that was a road bridge.

I found a set of piers on google earth crossing the river in south vernon, so I am going to give this a NO vote.

I recently checked out the area using Google Earth and saw the same thing, just piers in the river. I know that it was damaged in the early 70's which caused northbound trains to have to use the line on the west bankm as well as Keene only be serviced via Brattleboro. I assume it was taken down not long after it was damaged.

If you go to GEarth just south of Brattleboro at 42deg 50min 16.95sec N 72deg 32min 46.91sec W, you'll see the former rail bridge with stripped deck. The abutments further south at 42deg 44min 13.05sec N 72deg 27 min 45.56sec W appear to be those of a former road bridge, perhaps covered. Other possible clues are the Ashuelot Rail Trail which continues to run beyond the southerly location toward the northerly one and the orientation of the southerly bridge which runs in a somewhat southerly direction from the eastern shore.

The bridge that you mention located just south of Brattleboro is ONE of the bridges from the former Ashuelot Branch. The Ashlueot branch left the CT River mainline at South Vernon, VT and crossed the CT River via the aburments that you mention as just being probably being a former covered bridge. If you look on the east side of the river you can follow the old rail bed up towards Dole JCT. where the Ashlueot veered towards Keene and the Fort Hill Branch of the Ashlueot headed towards Brattleboro and crossed the bridge just south of Brattleboro, which albeit unused, still stands.

I type corrected and with expanded knowledge. Tnx!

Thanks for your posts. The southerly of the two bridges is the one to which I'm referring. (And yes, there is a road trestle over the river in South Vernon; it has been closed.)

I checked Dr. Karr's two books over the weekend. He says that the South Vernon B&M trestle was rendered impassible in the early '70s, but doesn't indicate whether it is still there.

trainsinmaine wrote:Thanks for your posts. The southerly of the two bridges is the one to which I'm referring. (And yes, there is a road trestle over the river in South Vernon; it has been closed.)

I checked Dr. Karr's two books over the weekend. He says that the South Vernon B&M trestle was rendered impassible in the early '70s, but doesn't indicate whether it is still there.

The road bridge is in Northfield, MA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schell_Bridge

ihdavis1 wrote:The bridge that you mention located just south of Brattleboro is ONE of the bridges from the former Ashuelot Branch. The Ashlueot branch left the CT River mainline at South Vernon, VT and crossed the CT River via the aburments that you mention as just being probably being a former covered bridge. If you look on the east side of the river you can follow the old rail bed up towards Dole JCT. where the Ashlueot veered towards Keene and the Fort Hill Branch of the Ashlueot headed towards Brattleboro and crossed the bridge just south of Brattleboro, which albeit unused, still stands.

The Vernon line is well south of that bridge, its west end is in Brattleboro and connected to the old rail yard.

According to a topo map of the area from 1946, found at http://docs.unh.edu/MA/nfld46nw.jpg, one can see that the bridge I've mentioned, the abutments, is in fact the South Vernon bridge for the Ashlueot Railroad. Comparing it with a Google Earth image of the same area cements the fact that it IS the brige mentioned in Karr's book as being damaged in the early 1970's causing access to Keene to be from Brattleboro only.

I also have mistakenly been referring to The Rail Lines of Northern New England as being written by Ronald Dale Karr. He actually wrote the Southern New England version of the book as well as The Lost Railroads of New England, while Robert M. Lindsell wrote RLNNE. Sorry for the mistake in crediting the correct author.

The bridge sagged in 1970 due to the scouring action of the river currents which undermined one pier. In view of the modest traffic levels on the Conn. River Line at the time, the B & M bankruptcy Trustees opted not to repair the structure. The CV and B & M had been operating East Northfield-Brattleboro as a double track with northbounds on the B & M on the east bank of the river and southbounds on the west bank on the CV. The CV became the bi-directional route between the two towns and the B & M section on the eastbank connecting only to the Ashuelot Branch was designated the Fort Hill Branch. For a time the CV charged the B & M $9.00 per train mile, the standard AAR detour rate for northbounds. The bridge was removed in a general clean-up of the property before the sale to Guilford. Back about 1927, and written up in the B & M Employee Magazine, the predecessor bridge at this location also suffered an undermined pier, but it was stabilized and the 1927 bridge lasted 43 years longer.

On PBS a few years ago there was a program about someone diving in the river around that area. Interesting what they found in the form of wooden piers and stone.
Don't remember what the name of the program was. Could the building of the power plant and dam, in that area, had something to do with the movement of the bridge?

Side note: Remember riding up front with my dad on the northbound boot. We were coming into Brattleboro when the firemen let out a cheer, the signal was clear. The night frieght had gone south on the other side,so we were clear to go north. The only thing to meet was the southbound boot. Being 13 yrs old at the time,didn't make sense to me, but they were happy! Erv

e7401 wrote:On PBS a few years ago there was a program about someone diving in the river around that area. Interesting what they found in the form of wooden piers and stone. Don't remember what the name of the program was.

most of the diving shows on WGBY are done by Ed Klekowski. I don't remember any show about him diving that far north but I do remember him talking about diving the remains of the NYNHH bridge between Montague and Greenfield. some day I hope to dive that site my self. I have done a few drift dives from north of the Rt10 bridge and I can tell you there are lots of pieces of steel down there sticking out of the river bottom.

e7401 wrote: Could the building of the power plant and dam, in that area, had something to do with the movement of the bridge?

Northfield Mt is a good bit south of that bridge so its very unlikely that it has any effect on it. A sudden release of water from Vernon dam ( which is in winchester) wouldn't help but as a rule scour failures are the result of poor pier design, scour was probably one of the most understood aspects of bridge design at the time. My guess is deeper piers cost to much, it was a penny wise and pound foolish decision.