Slow Snowy Slog Across The Lake
Another take on my fist time shooting a train at this iconic Northern New England location. This is the caption I wrote with my original post:
There have been a lot of great shots taken at this location, but this isn't one of them! Nonetheless, this location has long been on my New England bucket list but it is a LONG way from home (about 5 hrs one way) and usually out of reach.
This is the old Central Vermont Railway trestle across Missisquoi Bay, that is the northeastern arm of Lake Champlain and the Canadian border is just under three miles away as the crow flies due north of here. The 3800 ft long wood pile structure was built in 1912 and features a 102 ft long thru girder swing span in the middle. A century later the manually operated span was automated by a local Vermont based rail contractor in a public private partnership. To learn more click here: www.engineersconstruction.com/2012/05/03/100-yr-old-east-...
The trestle is located at about MP 15.3 (the draw span) on the modern day New England Central Railroad's Swanton Sub. While owned, maintained and dispatched by NECR the only regular trains that traverse this trackage are Canadian National trains 324 (CN Taschereau Yard Montreal to NECR Italy Yard St. Albans) and northbound counterpart 323. Operating as a turn five days per week their normal off days coincide with mine hence they are not something I could normally shoot. But on a long holiday weekend when I don't have to work on Sunday night then it is possible. Over MLK weekend I was in the Burlington area for largely non train related pursuits (i.e. - breweries!) but got a tip from a local Canadian fan that I should have an opportunity for 323 headed north or even 324 if it was late and I wanted to get an early start.
We didn't start super early on Sunday as the plan was to follow 323 back north from St. Albans. When we got to the yard though there was fresh snow covering the rails and no sign of the CN power so I knew that 324 hadn't shown up yet. So we started following the line north checking crossings along the way and finding nothing but snow covered rails. So we kept following the line beyond Swanton and out through the flats of Missisquoi National Wildlife refuge along VT Route 78 headed toward the lake.
Just as the trestle came into view there was 324 already more than halfway across! My girlfriend who was drivvinf pulled over quick and let me bail out in the middle of the road so I could attempt to manage a few shots. Between the gray skies, falling snow, and no time to set up I did the best I could. Thankfully the permanent 5 mph speed restriction on the bridge and massive train (106L/6E 13,959 tons 7,350 ft) allowed me to pull this off. From here it was a nice chase in fresh snow for 15 miles back to St. Albans.
Leading the train are CN 3020 (GE ET44AC blt 2015), 2921 (GE ES44AC blt 2015), 3893 (GE ES44AC blt 2019 wearing the 100th anniversary logo) as they cross from the town of Alburgh into Swanton.
East Alburg
Town of Swanton, Vermont
Sunday January 17, 2021
Slow Snowy Slog Across The Lake
Another take on my fist time shooting a train at this iconic Northern New England location. This is the caption I wrote with my original post:
There have been a lot of great shots taken at this location, but this isn't one of them! Nonetheless, this location has long been on my New England bucket list but it is a LONG way from home (about 5 hrs one way) and usually out of reach.
This is the old Central Vermont Railway trestle across Missisquoi Bay, that is the northeastern arm of Lake Champlain and the Canadian border is just under three miles away as the crow flies due north of here. The 3800 ft long wood pile structure was built in 1912 and features a 102 ft long thru girder swing span in the middle. A century later the manually operated span was automated by a local Vermont based rail contractor in a public private partnership. To learn more click here: www.engineersconstruction.com/2012/05/03/100-yr-old-east-...
The trestle is located at about MP 15.3 (the draw span) on the modern day New England Central Railroad's Swanton Sub. While owned, maintained and dispatched by NECR the only regular trains that traverse this trackage are Canadian National trains 324 (CN Taschereau Yard Montreal to NECR Italy Yard St. Albans) and northbound counterpart 323. Operating as a turn five days per week their normal off days coincide with mine hence they are not something I could normally shoot. But on a long holiday weekend when I don't have to work on Sunday night then it is possible. Over MLK weekend I was in the Burlington area for largely non train related pursuits (i.e. - breweries!) but got a tip from a local Canadian fan that I should have an opportunity for 323 headed north or even 324 if it was late and I wanted to get an early start.
We didn't start super early on Sunday as the plan was to follow 323 back north from St. Albans. When we got to the yard though there was fresh snow covering the rails and no sign of the CN power so I knew that 324 hadn't shown up yet. So we started following the line north checking crossings along the way and finding nothing but snow covered rails. So we kept following the line beyond Swanton and out through the flats of Missisquoi National Wildlife refuge along VT Route 78 headed toward the lake.
Just as the trestle came into view there was 324 already more than halfway across! My girlfriend who was drivvinf pulled over quick and let me bail out in the middle of the road so I could attempt to manage a few shots. Between the gray skies, falling snow, and no time to set up I did the best I could. Thankfully the permanent 5 mph speed restriction on the bridge and massive train (106L/6E 13,959 tons 7,350 ft) allowed me to pull this off. From here it was a nice chase in fresh snow for 15 miles back to St. Albans.
Leading the train are CN 3020 (GE ET44AC blt 2015), 2921 (GE ES44AC blt 2015), 3893 (GE ES44AC blt 2019 wearing the 100th anniversary logo) as they cross from the town of Alburgh into Swanton.
East Alburg
Town of Swanton, Vermont
Sunday January 17, 2021