BFBO Getting Out Of Town
Here's a 'Monochrome Monday' photo of a once popular and very regular once a week train that alas no longer runs
Pan Am Railways BFPO (Bellows Falls to Portland) unit slurry train departed from Vermont Rail System's Riverside yard, and after a couple mile run down into the center of town has swung off the old Rutland Railroad and on to New England Central Railroad's ex Boston and Maine / Central Vermont Conn River Line main. The three second hand six axle GE dash 8s are emerging from the south portal of the 278 ft long tunnel under downtown MP 144.56 on modern day NECR's Palmer Subdivision.
This Friday only unit train was a staple for years, but was cancelled as the need for the Vermont clay slurry waned as Maine's paper mills transitioned away from white bleached writing paper (that requires the slurry for the bleaching process) to undyed brown packaging papers.
The tunnel was initially constructed in 1851 by the Vermont Valley Railroad. The Vermont Valley would ultimately end up in the fold of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1893 and this tunnel would come to be a choke point on what one the B&M's core north south gateway to and from Canada as their Conn River mainline. In addition to seeing frequent B&M freight and passenger trains the Central Vermont Railway also operated thru here on trackage rights.
In 1988 the former B&M owned section from Brattleboro to Windsor became CV property (in a complicated tale of legal wrangling not to be retold here) with B&M successor Guilford (now Pan Am Railways) retaining trackage rights and the CV itself becoming the New England Central in 1995 when parent CN sold the line to then Railtex.
Over its lifespan, the tunnel floor has been lowered three times; once in 1897, again in 1977 (by the Boston & Maine Railroad), and most recently in 2007 (as a joint venture between the Vermont Agency of Transportation, FHWA, and NECR with consultants; Parson Brinckerhoff Engineering & ECI Rail Constructors, Inc.) in order to accommodate increased car and locomotive heights at their respective periods of time.
The 2007 project lowered the floor an additional 3 ft to allow for clearance of modern multilevel auto rack cars and this view clearly shows the pronounced dip in the track profile to provide the 20.8 ft vertical clearance.
Rockingham, Vermont
Friday September 29, 2018
BFBO Getting Out Of Town
Here's a 'Monochrome Monday' photo of a once popular and very regular once a week train that alas no longer runs
Pan Am Railways BFPO (Bellows Falls to Portland) unit slurry train departed from Vermont Rail System's Riverside yard, and after a couple mile run down into the center of town has swung off the old Rutland Railroad and on to New England Central Railroad's ex Boston and Maine / Central Vermont Conn River Line main. The three second hand six axle GE dash 8s are emerging from the south portal of the 278 ft long tunnel under downtown MP 144.56 on modern day NECR's Palmer Subdivision.
This Friday only unit train was a staple for years, but was cancelled as the need for the Vermont clay slurry waned as Maine's paper mills transitioned away from white bleached writing paper (that requires the slurry for the bleaching process) to undyed brown packaging papers.
The tunnel was initially constructed in 1851 by the Vermont Valley Railroad. The Vermont Valley would ultimately end up in the fold of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1893 and this tunnel would come to be a choke point on what one the B&M's core north south gateway to and from Canada as their Conn River mainline. In addition to seeing frequent B&M freight and passenger trains the Central Vermont Railway also operated thru here on trackage rights.
In 1988 the former B&M owned section from Brattleboro to Windsor became CV property (in a complicated tale of legal wrangling not to be retold here) with B&M successor Guilford (now Pan Am Railways) retaining trackage rights and the CV itself becoming the New England Central in 1995 when parent CN sold the line to then Railtex.
Over its lifespan, the tunnel floor has been lowered three times; once in 1897, again in 1977 (by the Boston & Maine Railroad), and most recently in 2007 (as a joint venture between the Vermont Agency of Transportation, FHWA, and NECR with consultants; Parson Brinckerhoff Engineering & ECI Rail Constructors, Inc.) in order to accommodate increased car and locomotive heights at their respective periods of time.
The 2007 project lowered the floor an additional 3 ft to allow for clearance of modern multilevel auto rack cars and this view clearly shows the pronounced dip in the track profile to provide the 20.8 ft vertical clearance.
Rockingham, Vermont
Friday September 29, 2018