All About the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington Railroad

[RichCoffey]

Readsboro to Wilmington (HT&W)
A one-pager jam packed maps, thumbnail photos and links to historical and current ROW photos, etc.
It's a fascinating saga...
http://www.vizettes.com/kt/htw/
ENJOY!

[whatelyrailfan]

Great link! I put the page on my favorites list, lots of good information.
Peace,
Jonathan

[CVRA7]

Thanks for the link to this site, Rich. The HT&W double ended snowplow is at the Valley RR in Essex, CT and a former winch car that was originally a steam loco tender from the HT&W is at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.

[RichCoffey]

Thanks Folks - BTW - I just added a few more photos and links

FYI:
I am an info hound, here’s quick access to an index of links to more abandoned railroad history stuff I have compiled...
http://www.vizettes.com/kt/index.htm#railroads

[FLRailFan1]

Under Lake Whitingham is the old HT&W tressle over the Deerfield River. I have a picture of me swimming near it.

[JCitron]

Thank you for the link. This is very useful information. A friend of mine and I are working on a model project of the B&M Hoosac Tunnel and are incorporating the HT&W interchange, and possibly model the full HT&W in the future.

John

[FLRailFan1]

Thank you for the link. This is very useful information. A friend of mine and I are working on a model project of the B&M Hoosac Tunnel and are incorporating the HT&W interchange, and possibly model the full HT&W in the future.

John

I would love to know what customers did the HT&W have. I heard Readsboro Chair and the Mass Yankee were customers the last year. I am thinking of making a model of the HT&W updated to 2015 with at least those company and 6 'fictional' companies. A snowmobile company (VAST snowmobiles), a Mable quarry, a winery (tank cars and boxcars), a maple syrup company and a snow ski company.

[RichCoffey]

There is a lot of info online if you dig deep. For instance Google searches like “History of Readsboro, VT” or any other town on the line will bring up a myriad of historical facts relevant to your focus.

[JCitron]

There is a lot of info online if you dig deep. For instance Google searches like “History of Readsboro, VT” or any other town on the line will bring up a myriad of historical facts relevant to your focus.

Thank you for the link. This is very useful information. A friend of mine and I are working on a model project of the B&M Hoosac Tunnel and are incorporating the HT&W interchange, and possibly model the full HT&W in the future.

John

I would love to know what customers did the HT&W have. I heard Readsboro Chair and the Mass Yankee were customers the last year. I am thinking of making a model of the HT&W updated to 2015 with at least those company and 6 'fictional' companies. A snowmobile company (VAST snowmobiles), a Mable quarry, a winery (tank cars and boxcars), a maple syrup company and a snow ski company.

Thanks guys... I will keep this in mind for our future project. We currently have a lot on our plate right now with our present project.

John

[RichCoffey]

I can’t believe I overlooked this !
I added a link Gino’s Brochure Site as well - There's a wonderful old map and time table.

The Hoot Toot and Whistle by Gino DiCarlo
A Great Collection: History, 1906 Time Table, Map and Brochure, Photos

Link in "Further Info"

[newpylong]

For years I've tried to find out of Deerfield Glassine at Monroe Bridge had a bridge to bring tracks across or if they had a siding on the mainline side of the river - or none of the above.

[jaymac]

I'm guessing both. In the era of 30' cars and much lighter loading, the bridge could have carried both shorter and lighter cars and power. The 1947 UNH topos don't show tracks crossing the river, but field reporting and/or inclusion of field reporting weren't always 100% complete and accurate. The Gearth and Google Maps views hint that there might have been tracks on the mill side of the Deerfield.
The glassine mill seems like an excellent case in point for the discussions on another thread about old mill towns and what happens when the mills die. As a matter of publication, UMass even did a case study about Monroe: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewc ... culty_pubs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

[TomNelligan]

I hate to trust memory after 40+ years, but I don't remember a rail bridge across the river and my recollection is that cars were handled at a siding on the "mainline" side. I have late-1960s photos somewhere of the 44-Tonner switching there that would confirm that but digging them out wouldn't be easy... really gotta organize the collection one of these years!

[B&M 1227]

Deerfield Glassine had a warehouse on the east side of the Deerfield River immediately north of the bridge.
http://gino.cdfw.net/HTW/SW520929078.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://gino.cdfw.net/HTW/SW520929080.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jaymac]

Dag! Not even a skate or a tie for the end of track on the siding! I guess -- there I go again -- that a crossing of the bridge would have been unlikely to the point of nonexistence.