Alco On The Arch
A month since my last visit Vermont Railway has been continuing to use ancient Green Mountain Railroad Alco RS1 405 in daily freight service on the Bellows Falls switcher assignment (train DASW). For decades this unit has almost exclusively been used only for service on the VRS' passenger seasonal excursion trains and perhaps would see use on revenue freights once or twice a year at most. What is even more special is that this unit is very much on home rails having been built for the Rutland in November 1951. So that means she is approaching her 71st birthday in a few months and has never left the Green Mountain state!
So any time she's used for revenue service is special, and I'm hard pressed to think of anywhere else in the country an RS1 is used to haul freight anymore. For these reasons, I figured I should make the nearly 3 hr trip north to see her again!
Having just about completed their days work they have one hopper in tow at MP W0.0 on modern day VRS' North Walpole Industrial Track which is the north end of the old Boston and Maine Cheshire Branch and now is officially leased to NLR and under the control of the NLR Shop personnel. This view looks north off the closed Vilas Bridge at the 1899 twin stone arch former B&M bridge across the Connecticut River gorge and falls. The train is leaving the state of Vermont and crossing into North Walpole, New Hampshire here as 405 leads a single hopper over toward the yard and shop located in the former B&M roundhouse.
Bellows Falls
Town of Rockingham, Vermont
Friday September 16, 2022
Alco On The Arch
A month since my last visit Vermont Railway has been continuing to use ancient Green Mountain Railroad Alco RS1 405 in daily freight service on the Bellows Falls switcher assignment (train DASW). For decades this unit has almost exclusively been used only for service on the VRS' passenger seasonal excursion trains and perhaps would see use on revenue freights once or twice a year at most. What is even more special is that this unit is very much on home rails having been built for the Rutland in November 1951. So that means she is approaching her 71st birthday in a few months and has never left the Green Mountain state!
So any time she's used for revenue service is special, and I'm hard pressed to think of anywhere else in the country an RS1 is used to haul freight anymore. For these reasons, I figured I should make the nearly 3 hr trip north to see her again!
Having just about completed their days work they have one hopper in tow at MP W0.0 on modern day VRS' North Walpole Industrial Track which is the north end of the old Boston and Maine Cheshire Branch and now is officially leased to NLR and under the control of the NLR Shop personnel. This view looks north off the closed Vilas Bridge at the 1899 twin stone arch former B&M bridge across the Connecticut River gorge and falls. The train is leaving the state of Vermont and crossing into North Walpole, New Hampshire here as 405 leads a single hopper over toward the yard and shop located in the former B&M roundhouse.
Bellows Falls
Town of Rockingham, Vermont
Friday September 16, 2022