Barre Transfer – Barre railway line

Barre Transfer VT – Barre VT
Route length:	9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Wells River Barre Transfer VT to Montpelier Connects to the Montpelier Jct. – Williamstown route Connection to Montpelier Connects to the Montpelier Jct. – Williamstown route Montpelier – Barre tram Industrial connection by Montpelier Jct. and Williamstown Barre VT to Graniteville

The railway Barre transfer Barre is a single-track railway, Vermont ( United States ). It is nine kilometers long and connects the city of Barre with the Montpelier – Wells River railway . Only the southern section of the line is still in operation and is used by the Washington County Railroad trains. On the northern section to Montpelier, trains run on the parallel Montpelier Junction – Williamstown railway line , which is largely within sight .

history

On June 15, 1888, the Montpelier and Wells River Railroad (M&WR) founded a subsidiary, the Barre Branch Railroad , which was to build a branch from the main line of this company to Barre with a connection to the route of the Barre Railroad . Construction work began in July and the line went into operation on June 1, 1889. M&WR leased the line from its opening and ran the business. In 1913 the line became the property of M&WR. The initial three pairs of trains a day that drove over the route turned out to be insufficient, so that nine pairs of trains ran from 1891. With the opening of the Montpelier – Barre tram in 1898, the number of trains was reduced to six pairs of trains. The main cargo, besides the passengers, was the granite quarried south of Barre.

As early as May 29, 1928, the railway company stopped passenger traffic, as the Central Vermont Railway's trains , which ran on the parallel line to Montpelier Junction, offered better transfer options to the Central Vermont main line and were therefore better utilized. In 1945 the Barre and Chelsea Railroad bought the M&WR. On January 1, 1957, the Montpelier and Barre Railroad took over the line after the main line to Wells River had been shut down a few weeks earlier. Since this company had also taken over the parallel railway line to Montpelier Junction in 1957, it built track connections in Barre Transfer and at the level of today's Vermont Shopping Center and shut down the parallel lines. Since then, the trains have only used the southern part of the route. The Washington County Railroad has been operating freight traffic since 1981 .

Route description

The disused line in this area branches off at the Barre Transfer junction from the disused Montpelier – Wells River railway . Today the Barre Transfer freight depot, which still exists, is connected to the Montpelier Junction – Williamstown railway line via a connecting track , which also runs parallel to Barre along its entire length. The route runs south to a bend in the Stevens Branch River , which runs parallel to the route. Shortly before the bend in the river, about at the level of the Vermont Shopping Center, a connecting track to the adjacent line was built in 1957 and trains have been using this connecting track ever since. To the north of it you drive over the former CV route, south over the route described here to Barre. The route now continues alongside North Main Street through the urban area of ​​Barre. There was an industrial connection at level 2. The siding crossed the river on an existing bridge and ended in an industrial area on the other side of the river. Shortly before Barre station, at the point where State Road 62 ends, the railway line from Montpelier Junction and Williamstown joined in 1957. The line ends in Barre station, but south of the Barre – Graniteville line joins the former Barre Railroad Company .

Sources and further information

literature

• Robert C. Jones: Railroads of Vermont, Volume II. New England Press Inc., 1993. ISBN 978-1881535027
• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010.