Vermont Rwy. Excursion Trip
May 17-22, 2012

Photos by Dave Ingles

On Sunday, May 20, Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts of Boston sponsored a rare-mileage excursion, the Hoosick Jct. Limited, on the Vermont Railway from Rutland south through Arlington and North Bennington to Hoosic Jct., which back in the day was the south end of the Rutland Railway and its junction with the Boston & Maine main line from Boston to the Mechanicsville, N.Y. (Schenectady) area. When Rutland abandoned its line from Bennington, Vt., to Chatham, N.Y., its trains for Chatham would go via Hoosic Jct. onto the B&M for Troy, N.Y., then on the New York Central to Chatham.

I'd never ridden this south end of the Rutland, and so booked a ticket and rode Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited to Albany. I was joined eastbound, in Chicago on Thurs. May 17, by John Arbuckle of Kansas. His Lake Shore sleeper room was up front, mine was toward the rear. My first photo was this one at Syracuse, N.Y. when I stepped onto the platform for some fresh air at 12:30 p.m., before lunch.

After arriving in Albany (Rensselaer Station) at 4:25 p.m. Friday, we met up with Chuck Weinstock, who flew up from Pittsburgh and rented a car for all of us, and we drove up to Rutland for the night. We'd left Saturday as a free day, hoping to get some Vermont Railway freight action. First, we went to the recently built Amtrak station in Rutland, where the consist for the morning's Ethan Allen train for New York was parked. This train operates southbound on three different schedules, with Saturday's 11 a.m. departure being unique. The Amtrak station is at one corner on the downtown's west side of the vast property where Rutland Railway's shops were; most of this now is parking lots and a retail strip mall.

While we were puttering around town checking out things, Vermont Railway's local from the Clarendon & Pittsford quarry branch at Pittsford, to the north, came into town, but we were out of position for photos until it tied up by the office. The overhead view from a street bridge looks south, and the diverging tracks go straight ahead southeast to Bellows Falls, Vt., while the track to the right goes past the VTR's shop and on south to North Bennington and Hoosic Jct., the  line we would ride. The local's units are C&P 205 and Green Mountain 305, painted green. MacIntyre is a business car, not sure if privately owned or VTR's.

The only VTR freight left that we might catch would be the return of the Burlington-Rutland train in the afternoon, so seeing as how Chuck needed to add Rutland-Whitehall, NY, to his "mileage map," he made a reservation from Rutland to the first station on the D&H past the junction at Whitehall, Fort Edward (serving Glens Falls), so John and I left him at the station for the 11 a.m. departure. We drove west looking for a good spot to shoot the train and wound up at Castleton, the first, and only other, Vermont stop. The station is now a retail shop, but on-site, formerly the junction of the Washington Branch from the south, which I rode in the early 1970s during  the Bruce Sterzing era on the D&H on an excursion (possibly the only one) behind D&H's two Baldwin Shark-nose diesels. (It went from Colonie Shop north of Albany to Mechanicville, then east to Eagle Bridge on B&M trackage rights, then north to Castleton and east a bit to a run-around track, then back west to Whitehall, and south on the D&H main back to Colonie Shop.)

We almost drove right by the Castleton depot on the old road, but John spotted it and we came to a quick stop. This is the view we almost missed, taken after the train had come and gone. Note the rear of the rear Amfleet car behind the depot, and the standard Amtrak station sign near the road, which John had spotted.

Here is a trackside view, taken first, and the train's arrival and departure. This stop replaced Fairhaven, Vt., where the track goes thru the south extremity of the town and the train stopped at an obscure grade crossing by the old, and derelict, D&H station, where there wasn't even room for an Amtrak platform.

We drove on to Fort Edward, without getting lost, thanks to my having my Garmin GPS along! The depot is nicely restored, with a coffee shop (not open this day). The schedule has the southbound Saturday Ethan Allen showing up first, and then the northbound Adirondack for Montreal, but in reality, they meet in the D&H yard, to the north, so the Allen sits there until the Adirondack goes thru, assuming it's on time, which it was, more or less.

My coming-on digital image of the Adirondack, train 68 didn't work out, but here is the going-away photos (engine 144 and 5 cars), with the waiting Saturday Ethan Allen, train 242, visible up in the yard on the passing track, and then the arrival of 242, which disgorged one passenger, Chuck, and boarded a few others. I apologize for the blurred close-up -- it's difficult to work a 35mm (slide) Nikon and then the little hand-held Canon point-and-shoot, and often its focus will be off. For the record, train 242 had engine 700 and 6 Amfleet cars.

Leaving Fort Edward, we stopped in the deserted yard for this shot of the parked local engine, CP GP38-2 7311 (ex-D&H 7311, D&H 7324, and originally Lehigh Valley 324), then for lunch at a Subway in the north end of town, heading back for Rutland and hopefully for some VTR action.

On the way back from Fort Edward/Glens Falls after lunch, we stopped by Fairhaven to eyeball where Amtrak used to stop before instituting the Castleton stop. As you can see, it wasn't the greatest location, either on the railroad, on in the town -- a dead-end road at the south end of the village. The old Amtrak sign still stands.

En route into Rutland proper, we stopped at "Center Rutland," which is west of downtown and where the old D&H (now Vermont Rwy.) branch from Whitehall met the Rutland (also VTR of course) main line. This is almost a mile from the downtown Amtrak station. The depot is a nascent museum, with an apparent real Rutland caboose on display.

Having checked out the engine-shop area of VTR in the morning and learning that afternoon light was best, we next stopped there, before heading north to hopefully intercept the southbound freight returning from Burlington. As you can see, true VTR red units now are, alas, a minority. In addition to the units pictured in the images following, there were two big maroon CITX SD9043MAC leasers parked on a freight a quarter mile to the south, which we didn't bother to go see up-close, and a scuzzy ex-CN GP40-2W on the east side of the pictured group, still in what was left of the factory (stripes) paint scheme.

The 301 and the 201, at least, would be our power the next day on the excursion -- two actual Vermont Rwy. red GP's! The 312 appears to be ex-Boston & Maine/Guilford (which would make it nee Penn Central, I think); you can barely see part of the ex-CN unit in back of the red 301.

Moseying north from Rutland, following the railroad as best we could, and unsure of the freight's track speed, we wound up encountering 3 covered bridges first. The first, at 3:35 pm, was the Gorham covered bridge.

The next one, 10 minutes later, was the Pittsford covered bridge. Naturally, we drove thru both of them. I haven't checked our files, but on our September-October 1971 honeymoon to New England (Amtrak to Boston and back), Carol and I photographed 52 covered bridges in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and drove thru the vast majority of them -- and information wasn't as readily available as it is now. (We also took a day off and rode the annual fall color excursion by Portland's 470 Railroad Club from Portland, ME, to Island Pond, VT, and back, on what was still CN's Grand Trunk of New England (now St. Lawrence & Atlantic, and you can't reach downtown Portland on it anymore!)

The third and final covered bridge for us on May 19th was the Hammond bridge, long since bypassed.

As I was walking back across the highway to compose the first following shot, with the covered bridge and the signal gantry, I glanced north and saw a headlight! Serendipity. We lucked out! Here came the train we were trying to intercept.

We also lucked out in having a red unit in the lead, C&P 204, followed by leaser 2663 and 23 cars, many of them TankTrain linked tank cars. In the going-away view, the cars at the right are from the Pittsford-Rutland train, which had returned north from Rutland to this junction with the quarry branch and tied up, probably while we were over in New York with Chuck and Amtrak. The units were out of sight in this view on the track next to the cars, and shaded by them, so he hadn't thought of going down for shots before our train showed up.

From this point we went back to the village of Proctor, which we had checked out coming north. For us, this was the best shot, coming by a marble works, in which now is also a marble museum, reached by a pedestrian grade crossing from the parking lot, a crossing guarded only by a bell. The train came past us here at 4:13 p.m., 15 minutes after our Hammond bridge photo.

Our last good, planned action shot of the Burlington-Rutland train was at Center Rutland, at 4:32.

Our final image of the train, and of the day, was this thru the windshield between Center Rutland and the yard in the center of town.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

As we gathered in the Amtrak station parking lot Sunday morning, the Ethan Allen that would leave in the late afternoon was parked on the 2nd track (siding), as usual, and our excursion had not backed in from the yard on the main yet. The consist would be VTR GP40 301 on the north end, then cars 3075, 3089, 1312, 1306, 1313, 1323, and VTR GP38 201 on the south end. Our seats were in the 3089, stainless steel, no A.C. (the day got a bit warm), with tables; the rear 4 cars are ex-commuter coaches, all normally used on VTR's various local excursions. The 3089 and 3075 are ex-Santa Fe. Having shot the depot, and with no good angle for our train, I shot only the Ethan Allen and then a "people shot." The Ethan Allen had engine 713 and 6 cars; the 700's are dual-mode GE's that can switch to third-rail electric from Croton-Harmon, NY, into New York City proper.

From left to right, we have these rare-mileage collectors: Thom Sulanke of Bloomington, IN Sarah and Bart Jennings of Avon, IL; Bob Douglas of the New York City area; and Carol Sulanke.

On board, I snapped a few more "people" shots of mileage-collector friends. Here are Keith White of the Chicago area, a retired IC/CN train dispatcher, and John Arbuckle, my traveling companion from Chicago and an Amtrak station agent in Newton, KS.
John snapped Chuck Weinstock and me from across the table.
In the end of the car with no tables, someone snapped me and Railpace Magazine Editor Tom Nemeth.
I found John Godfrey of Montreal, a former TRAINS correspondent and still a contributor, in the vestibule.

Finally, somewhere en route, I found a slight curve to attempt a vestibule shot.

Owing to a running marathon in the area, the usual photo stop for RRE on this line (they hadn't run a trip here in a couple of decades, though), Arlington, was off-limits for a stop, so we had a "double run-by" at North Bennington, by the picturesque depot at 1:20 pm. The train backed past us first, then pulled by south, then pulled back north and stopped to re-load to take us on south to Hoosic Jct. and return. There was no place to disembark for a photo at the junction. In this first photo, Otto Dobnick of Waukesha, Wis., who drove out by himself for this trip and other Vermont activities, is at the far left, point the camera south. The gent to his right, in the gray shorts and white socks, is mileage collector Al Butler of the Boston area, retired NYC-PC-Conrail track supervisor.

En route to Hoosic Jct., I shot this "theme" shot from the end car to the end of the north unit. The overview following, of a road in a small valley, looks west at the site where Jim Shaughnessy made his famous Rutland Railway freight night photo, described in a CLASSIC TRAINS article a few years ago. I suspect Jim might have been among the roadside photographers this day, but I couldn't pick him out.

Once back into North Bennington, Chuck, John, and I were among about half the crowd who de-trained, either to their own "spotted" autos or to take the "escape bus" back to Rutland. This was an RRE charter coach run ostensibly to allow anyone wishing to take the Ethan Allen from Rutland south to make the connection, as the highway is much faster than the train. Others of us just wanted to shorten the day a bit, as our threesome had an Albany motel reservation, so Chuck and John could fly out early Monday morning. The bus, Green Mountain Lines 98, is a one-vehicle operation by Joe Antigna, and we made a rest and photo stop at Wallingford.

Back in Rutland by 4:05, I snapped another shot of the depot and the Ethan Allen consist, then we bade farewell to Rutland and headed south on Route 7, intending to intercept our train for a "final action shot."

Just south of Wallingford, we spotted people on the Route 7 overpass, so figuring the train was close, we made that our photo spot. The train came past at 5:05, and we zipped back into Wallingford proper for a coming-and-going sequence at the depot, at 5:10. The train was stopping for its own photo run, but we headed on south.

Here is the depot at Arlington, in late afternoon, where we should have had our run-by. The track is in the grass between the street and the station.

We just made it into North Bennington in time for a nice low-light afternoon depot photo, almost called it too close. Nearby was an old interurban car barn pointed out to us on board the train, but shootable only from the east end. The stone at the top reads "B&HV Ry. Co. 1897," for the Bennington and Hoosic Valley. From here we went into Bennington proper for a depot photo (shady side, not presented) and then drove on to Albany for supper and overnight.

Monday, May 21

Rather than try to rush back Sunday evening from Rutland to catch Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited at Albany at suppertime, I scheduled myself out on the Lake Shore Monday evening. My two cohorts were probably in the air toward home by the time I got going on Monday at the motel, on a cloudy morning that would turn to some brief afternoon rain showers. I drove out to Schenectady to just look around, then back along -- more or less -- the CSX (Conrail, PC, NYC) freight route toward Selkirk Yard. The line has few grade crossings or access points. I wound up in Voorheisville, a pleasant village where D&H's direct line from Albany southwest used to cross the NYC line at grade. It went on southwest to Delanson, where it tied in with the main line (today, CP's), from Oneonta, NY and points south up north thru Schenectady to Mohawk Yard and Mechanicville (to the east) or on to Saratoga Springs and points north. CP still serves Albany, particularly the Port of Albany, from the north, via Mechanicville, but the Albany-Delanson line is gone. Well, the northern part is, and signs of the old diamond crossing in Voorheisville are fading. But to the southwest, the track is apparently still in, as a string of trash-container flats was stored on it in the weeds, obviously not moved in years. Whether the track is intact on to the southwest or not, I do not know.

Here are the stored trash-containter cars, looking northeast toward the former crossing site.

This view looks southwest toward the stored cars.

This photo looks northwest at a passing CSX container train. I got only a slide of the front end, engine 5342 and two more GE's, at 1121 a.m. The literal end of rail on the old D&H from Delanson is visible at the lower left.

Voorheisville has two grade crossings, and signals are visible to the west, toward Schenectady, so you do have some warning of approaching trains. With nothing else apparently imminent, I continued my scouting trip east toward Selkirk Yard. And old road bridge that crossed over the yard now is closed; it would have been a good vantage point. I had no interest in trying to enter CSX property here, though in a small rental car i probably could have prowled around a bit. I went on to Selkirk itself, at the east end, and on the Route 9 overpass over the main line, just about where the line splits to go on to the Hudson River's Castleton Bridge and the B&A to Boston (straight ahead), or right on the connection down to the West Shore Line to North Jersey, a southbound freight was slowly moving around the curve onto the West Shore. So off I went down Route 9 south to see if I could nab a shot of it. I wound up in Ravenna, where the main drag goes under the railroad and there appeared no easy access for a trackside photo. Prowling the back streets with my GPS, I wound up in an area where I spotted what obviously is the old West Shore depot, now the city's maintenance HQ. I went on south of the building and parked trackside, and soon the train came along: Engines 591/8845/4429 and 100 cars, at 12:11 p.m.

On the way out, i snapped a photo of the old depot, at 12:18 pm. I'd seen a couple of autos come and go during my brief wait, but no one paid any attention to my little rental car parked to the south.

I'd spotted a Subway in a C-store in Selkirk, so grabbed lunch and, guided again by my faithful "Julie Garmin" GPS (named for Amtrak's Juile, as it has a female voice) which I'd brought along, got back to Voorheisville and parked trackside for lunch. A map would've done me scant good on the back roads, GPS is the only way to go, especially with no sunlight! In all my driving around the V'ville-Selkirk-Ravenna area, I saw not a single fast-food franchise, and only a couple of C-stores. I had the same experience a couple of years ago around Sayre, Pa. and Waverly, NY -- those C-stores and McDonalds are not "just everywhere" like in the Midwest! Not long after I was back in Voorheisville, a CSX eastbound merchandiser came along, engines 7872/8854/5448 and 80 cars, at 1:12 p.m. We are, I assume 22 miles west of some control point around the Selkirk Yard area, and 140-something from New York (or maybe Weehawken, NJ, the old NYC ferry slip for New York on the West Shore).

I went back to the crossing where the D&H diamond used to be, and snapped the photo at right looking east toward Albany. A westbound CSX train showed up at 1:51 with UP power (4029/9055) and 102 cars, but I got only a slide, not digital. Having done quasi-OK here considering the weather, I headed back toward Albany.

My first port of call, literally, was the Port of Albany, where an apparent public street lets you drive right thru the area. The Port's own switcher, coupled to a CP caboose, was in a fenced-off area next to this public street. It was raining, so I just rolled the window down for photos.

At the north end of the port road, I found an inbound CP freight tied up, new GE engine 9369 on the front, with 9500 trailing. It was still raining. Again I didn't get out of the car.

Having been into D&H's yard near the port in 1996 on our New England/Cooperstown, NY vacation, when two D&H blue and gray GP38's were assigned there (and had been spotted in the evening from the freeway on the way to our motel -- so I returned solo first thing next morning to photo one), I knew the layout and bravely drove right in toward the yard office. Former Guilford GP40 4650 proves CP has other ugly "Bandits" around besides unpainted Milwaukee Road units. Farther down in the yard, reachable only with my slide camera's telephoto (the small digital's telephoto wasn't strong enough), was a GP38 still lettered St. Lawrence & Hudson, CP's brief name for D&H from decades ago. The 7308, one of a series of 10 D&H got in its 1976 expansion (to compete with Conrail) from the Lehigh Valley but one of only 2 of those 10 marked "StL&H," is ex-D&H 7314, originally LV 314. Six had had Guilford 220-series numbers at one time. The 4650 is the first of 8 ex-B&M GP40-2's CP acquired from a lessor that had had HATX 500 series numbers, originally in B&M's 300's, this one having been 308. We will not comment on the D&H caboose. (All the diesel data comes from the "Canadian Trackside Guide.") Having successfully invaded the yard office area and drawing no attention, though I did not get out of the car, I beat it off the property and over to the Amtrak station area in Rensselaer.

With the day so gray and occasionally now wet, and with my being able to turn in the Hertz car right at the Amtrak station, I just hung around for some passenger action. I found a dead-end street (former grade crossing) not far south of the depot, which provided access. It's easier on the east, but if the sun had been out, the west side would work, too. My first action was the New York-bound Ethan Allen from Rutland, train 242, engine 708 and 5 cars, at 3:07 p.m.

I then moseyed south along the Hudson and wound up almost in Castleton-on-Hudson, the little village where the B&A connector line goes high over the river out of Selkirk Yard, and shot westbound Amtrak Empire Service train 283, engine 702 and 6 cars, at 4:18 p.m., but only on a slide -- too fast to work two cameras. Returning north to Rensselaer, I found the eastbound Lake Shore Limited in the depot, and was able to get this photo of the Boston section, train 448, engine 52 and 5 cars, charging uphill on the "Post Road" connection at 4:51. The Boston sections are the only trains to use this line. It was spitting rain, but worth getting out of the car for.

Back at the dead-end south of the depot, I then was treated to a meet right in front of me, at 4:55, of the outbound Lake Shore, train 48, with engine 700 and 8 cars, and northbound Empire Service train 235, engine 709 and 5 cars. Note that all trains south of Albany use the dual-mode 700's, which also go to Rutland, but not west to Buffalo, etc., or north to Montreal.

This was the same train set on 48 I'd ridden east in, on the previous Thursday night-Friday, on 48, so I went south and sped ahead of him for an action shot at MP 140. The front end was a slide, but since I had not taken a digital of the Heritage dining car, 8505, as the train left the depot, and could not shoot the front end at high speed with both cameras, my final digital frame of the trip was of 48's mid-section, with the Heritage diner. I returned to the depot, turned in the car, and waited to board train 49 for Chicago, and then home Tuesday morning on a Hiawatha.

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