RRs in Vermont and Berkshires

[4400Washboard]

This Summer, I'm going up North into unknown railroad territory and have a couple questions:

1. Besides Amtrak, do any other RRs or RR museums pass through and/or go near Burlington, Vermont?

2. The Berkshires is a very general term, so of everything North of Pittsfield, MA, what RR stuff is there to do?

Thanks TJ

[jbvb]

New England Central operates freights on the White River Jct. - St. Albans - Canada line, at least one a day. Vermont RR operates freight Bellows Falls - Rutland - Burlington and Bennington - Rutland. A subsidiary operates WRJ - Newport and into Canada. Amtrak runs into Rutland from Whitehall, NY. The Shelburne Museum has some RR exhibits. Depending on the season, there are tourist operations in North Adams, Bellows Falls and White River jct.

There's more freight on the CPR (ex D&H) on the west shore of Lake Champlain, so you might want to look into the ferries/bridges. You might also want to look into the Saratoga & North Creek tourist operation.

[Ridgefielder]

It's not a railroad museum per se, but "Hildene," in Manchester, VT was the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Honest Abe and longtime chairman of the Pullman Company. Because of the Pullman connection, the museum recently acquired and restored a wooden 1890's sleeper/obs that had served for the last 60-odd years as a fishing shack in the North Carolina woods.

The car is spectacular and when I toured it (in February of last year) the young lady who showed me around was incredibly knowledgeable about the car's construction and service history. Well worth the detour if you're in that part of the state.

[Otto Vondrak]

This Summer, I'm going up North into unknown railroad territory and have a couple questions:

1. Besides Amtrak, do any other RRs or RR museums pass through and/or go near Burlington, Vermont?

2. The Berkshires is a very general term, so of everything North of Pittsfield, MA, what RR stuff is there to do?

Thanks TJ

Hey TJ, I'm going to assume your Google is broken, so...

1) Burlington is served by Vermont Railway and New England Central. When I Googled "railroads in Burlington, Vermont" I got this link:

http://www.vermontrailway.com/maps/vtr_map.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2) When I Googled "Railroads in the Berkshires" the first link I got was:

http://berkshirescenicrailroad.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And amongst "things to do" would be:

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/ma ... neric.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other than that, you could try to find trains running on CSX, Housatonic, or even Pan Am Railways. They do not run on set schedules, so there is no way to tell when a train will roll past your camera on any given day.

Best of luck, hopefully these links give you a place to start your research. Part of the fun of traveling somewhere new is making your own discoveries (and later sharing them).

-otto-

[B&M 1227]

If you take 7 north from Pittsfield to Burlington, you'll get a quick glimpse of the Pan Am freight main between Williamstown and Pownal. You can also take a little detour and turn left on VT 346 which closely follows the PAR freight main to Hoosick NY, where you can hop on a 279 for a few miles to get back on 7 north. Monday-Friday Vermont Railway meets Pan Am at the beautifully restored North Bennington depot. M-W-F are more reliable for daylight Pan Am connections, with T-Th trains sometimes arriving after sunset. VTR is pretty consistent arriving in NB between 11 and 2. If you do run into VTR there, you can follow them all the way back to Rutland. Rutland is the hub of most VTR activity, with the Bennington & Rutland running south out of town, the Green Mountain running south east to Bellows Falls, the ex D&H Rutland-Whitehall line running west, and the VTR main running north to Burlington. I'm not sure of the schedule of the Burlington-Rutland trains, but I've had some luck catching them mid-afternoon in Middlebury yard. The Bennington & Rutland and Green Mountain jobs typically take off from Rutland between 830 and 10, and now and then an Ethanol train will slip through heading to Bellows Falls from Whitehall. Amtrak Ethan Allen takes off from Rutland in the morning and arrives in the late afternoon. If you head up during the week, you can also take Rt 22/22a to Burlington which has very comparable travel times to taking Rt 7 and takes you along the Batten Kill for aways. If you're lucky or have a scanner you can probably run into their ex L&HR RS3 (complete with hancock air whistle and marker lights ) heading down to the Pan Am interchange in Eagle Bridge. Good luck in your adventures. Railfanning around here (Bennington area) can be pretty spectacular when everything works out and Pan Am hasn't outlawed a train on every bit of rail possible.

[4400Washboard]

Cool, thanks everybody

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

... the VTR main running north to Bennington.


You mean Burlington, yes? Just trying to avoid confusion.

PBM

[NHV 669]

has the service always been in place for VTR from Rutland down to Hoosick? I remember going down route 7 a few times to get back to college from breaks (2007-8 time frame), and it seemed as though the line was in pretty rough shape

[B&M 1227]

... the VTR main running north to Bennington.


You mean Burlington, yes? Just trying to avoid confusion.

PBM

oops, yes, the main north to burlington.

the line from north bennington to hoosick was out of service for many of the guilford years, but was rebuilt as part of the pan am southern deal to improve interchanges.

[Noel Weaver]

This part of New England is not as busy as it was years ago but you will still see a good number of trains on the Boston & Albany Line of CSX and although probably fewer trains in number you will also see trains on the former Boston & Maine, now PanAm. Another good spot to see trains is Railfan Bridge at the east end of East Deerfield Yard not very far SE of Greenfield. Most freight railroading in Vermont with the exception of the portion of the Boston and Maine through extreme SE Vermont is a one train a day each way deal. In Northern New England you can get some fantastic photos but they will require research and patience and probably plenty of time as well. The results will be worth the effort. In some parts of Northern New England especially in the early summer you will also be dealing with Mosquitoes and Black Flies and they can be a very unpleasent experience. There are also Rattlesnakes and Copperheads which you sometimes will not see until they are too close for comfort. Be aware of your surroundings. Black Bears are also plentiful throughout Northern New England although I have encountered them in the woods without any problems, maybe I was lucky. Enjoy your trip.
Noel Weaver

[4400Washboard]

Thanks again everybody

[jaymac]

One additional place to investigate is the Shelburne Museum, not far south of Burlington. There is a static locomotive and a static Wagner Palace Car display as well as passenger and freight stations. While the composition of your traveling party was unstated, the museum has the advantage of offering -- in depth -- more than something for just about everybody, especially for those who might be in need of a respite from railroads.

[newpylong]

... the VTR main running north to Bennington.


You mean Burlington, yes? Just trying to avoid confusion.

PBM

oops, yes, the main north to burlington.

the line from north bennington to hoosick was out of service for many of the guilford years, but was rebuilt as part of the pan am southern deal to improve interchanges.

It was actually rebuilt by the State of VT long before Pan Am Southern happened as part of a pie in the sky plan to re-route the Ethan Allen via North Bennington and up the VTR to Rutland. It never panned out and there sat a good amount of entirely rebuilt railroad collecting rust. That is until as you said PAS re-established interchange at the junction in 2009.

[NHV 669]

That is until as you said PAS re-established interchange at the junction in 2009.

odd... the track i remember along route 7 was ratty looking during 07/08

[B&M 1227]

The track you're thinking of is probably the spur from North Bennington to Bennington. Train last ran in the 90s, but cars were stored there into the early 2000s. The line was originally part of the Corkscrew Division down to Chatham, and included a short section of street running on former trolley trackage to the Bennington Potters.