White River Railroad (Vermont)

The White River Railroad (WRR ) is a former railway company in Vermont (United States). It existed as an independent company of 1896 until 1934.

History

Background and construction

The headwaters of the White River was opened in 1848 by the Central Vermont Railway has not been opened since it leaves the river valley in Bethel and leads over a pass in the direction of Montpelier. To connect the sites above Bethel the railway network, was intended initially to build an electrically powered railway. On June 30, 1896, the White River Valley Electric Railroad received a concession to build and operate an interurban tram in the valley of the upper White River. The company was set up formally on December 27, 1898. The construction of the line began in June 1899. Soon you predisposed but to the conventional steam operation in 1900 and founded the company in White River Valley Rail Road Station. The funders had made ​​it a condition that the track should be in operation on December 30, 1900. The line was completed so hurry and on the required day, the approximately 31 -kilometer route from Bethel was opened to Rochester as a steam railway. After financial difficulties had occurred, sold to the railway company to the newly founded on November 21, 1902 White River Railroad.

Problems due to faulty construction

The route was built according to standards for trams with correspondingly light locomotives, rolling to easy for steam trains. In addition, the tracks were laid in winter 1900 during the construction of Route partly on snow, which melted in a natural, worsened the track position. From 6 March 1902, the operation was interrupted for weeks after a flood had washed away a bridge. A year later, the Stony Brook Bridge was also destroyed by a flood in Gaysville. The line was operated on, passengers and goods, however, had to cross the river with boats. Only in October, the new bridge was finished. 1904, the traffic was interrupted for three months after parts of the railway line were washed away. With a range inspection in April 1904, the supervisory authority could adjust the passenger and limited the line speed for freight trains to eight miles per hour ( 13 km / h), on individual sections even at two miles per hour (3 km / h). After some repairs were allowed to drive passenger trains from June 13. However, the supervisory authority of the State of Vermont ordered due to the poor track position and dilapidated bridges in September 1906 to the mothballing of the route. It was only on January 1, 1907 the route was reopened after the tracks and replaced the bridges were repaired. Nevertheless, crashed on 28 February 1910 a segment of the bridge at Gaysville after drifting ice had moved on the river the bridge. The locomotive of a slowly across the bridge moving passenger train crashed it from two meters, where the heater was injured.

Further development

In August 1911, the railway company earned a gasoline-powered double-axle passenger railcars with ten seats, which supplemented the regular steam trains.

Once in November 1927, heavy flooding has inundated large parts Südvermonts, the rail rested first. Large parts of the road were washed away. Only in September 1928, the freight was resumed on a partial section, of the operation over the total distance and the passenger began on 1 January 1929. However, after the world economic crisis, the transport numbers fell sharply and brought on April 30, 1933 Finally, the suspension of operations. The schedule of September, 1933, the information " Service temporarily suspended. " (Operating temporarily discontinued. ) The operation has not resumed and the route in 1934 officially shut down and dismantled. The railway company was dissolved in the same year.

Operation

The passenger traffic on the route has always been sparse. The schedule from November 24, 1912 saw two trains per direction before which plied only on working days and needed 65 to 70 minutes for the distance. From 1929, only mixed trains were used.

Main goods transported were agricultural products, wood, talc, granite and marble as well as consumer goods, and mail for the inhabitants of the valley. Timber loading took place in Stockbridge and Rochester. In Stockbridge -chain of the railway line a woodland path of Bayonne from Lumber Co., which led several miles westward into a side to behind Pittsfield and was operated from 1910 to 1929. Talc was mined in a mine east of Rochester. The mining company had built its own railway siding of Lower Rochester from their factory. From there, led a 800 feet (250 meters) long standard gauge cable railway up the valley wall, from where a mine railway with a gauge of three feet (914 mm) was about six kilometers through four switchbacks up to the mines. The railway was opened in late fall 1913 and decommissioned in late 1927.

Route description

The route begins in Bethel, where the WRR had its own railway station next to the railway station Windsor - Burlington. The original station was abandoned in 1912 and the line was brought closer to the main line, where a new platform was built. Since the tracks of the WFD were deeper than the main route, the passengers arrived just over a pedestrian tunnel and a staircase to her connecting train. Luggage and cargo was transshipped via a hand-operated freight elevator.

The route leaves the station in a northerly direction, but results in a tight 180 degree turn in the river valley into it. The route crosses the third branch of the White River. Today is on the former railway line to Gaysville the Peavine Boulevard, named after the railway, which was popularly Peavine. The route follows along the entire length its eponymous river, which they crossed it several times. From the breakpoint Cobb Bridge to Stockbridge today is the Blackmer Boulevard on the railway line. From Stockbridge until shortly before Lower Rochester carries the route today the state road 100 The only sparsely populated river valley was opened up by numerous regular demand breakpoints. However, the route on call could be turned on and dropped out at any point. Busy stations were only available in Gaysville and Stockbridge.