Castleton – Eagle Bridge railway line

Castleton VT – Eagle Bridge NY
Society:	most recently D&H
Route length:	83½ km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Rutland to Whitehall 0 Castleton VT (formerly wedge station ) Rutland tram 2½ Parker Hill VT 3 Blissville VT Connection to the Rutland tram 13 Poultney VT ( Rutland Tram ) Poultney River Vermont / New York ? Raceville NY 22½ Middle Granville NY 25½ Granville NY Mettawee River New York / Vermont 32 West Pawlet VT 43½ Rupert VT 46½ West Rupert VT Vermont / New York 54½ Salem NY according to Thomson ? Greenwich Junction NY ( wedge station ) Thomson connection curve Batten Kill (4 ×) 66 Shushan NY Batten kill 74 Cambridge NY from North Pownal Hoosic River 83½ Eagle Bridge NY ( wedge station ) to Rotterdam Junction and Albany from Greenfield to Troy

The railway Castleton-Eagle Bridge is a railway line in Vermont and New York ( United States ). It is about 84 kilometers long and connects the cities of Castleton , Poultney , Granville , West Pawlet , Rupert , Salem , Shushan , Cambridge and Eagle Bridge , among others . The Castleton to Salem section has been closed. The remaining part is operated by the Batten Kill Railroad in freight traffic.

history

In 1847 the Rutland and Washington Railroad was founded, which wanted to build a railway line from Rutland to the border with New York near Whitehall. However, the railway company soon changed its plan and wanted to move its route from Castleton further south, directly towards Troy. On March 9, 1852, the line from Castleton to Eagle Bridge went into operation. In Eagle Bridge there was a connection to the main line Troy and Boston Railroad to Troy, which, however, also had its own route east of Rutland & Washington via Bennington to Rutland, which was rather detrimental to the traffic on the route via Castleton. However, since the Albany – Eagle Bridge railway was opened in 1853 , continuous trains to Albany could be offered from October of that year. In 1865 the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad took over the route. From May 1, 1871, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad ran after it had taken over Rensselaer & Saratoga. The route was now called the Washington Branch , named after the Washington County it passed through .

At the beginning of the 20th century, Delaware & Hudson built a locomotive workshop in Salem, where the Consolidation locomotives with the 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, which are mainly used for freight traffic , could be serviced. On February 28, 1933, the sparse passenger traffic ended on the route. After the Second World War , freight traffic also became less and less. A weekday freight train in each direction ran until the 1960s. Steam operations were given up in favor of a small ALCO RS-3 diesel locomotive . On November 15, 1981, freight traffic ended after the track quality had become too bad for safe operation.

The section from Salem to Eagle Bridge was sold to the Eagle Bridge-Thomson Development Corporation of New York State and leased to the Batten Kill Railroad , which resumed freight traffic on October 22, 1982. In the same year, the remaining section from Castleton to Salem was closed and dismantled. Most of the route is now used for a bike and hiking trail, the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail . The still operated southern section was transferred in 1994 from the Eagle Bridge-Thomson Development Corporation to the non-profit Northeastern New York Railroad Preservation Group . The management remained unchanged with the Batten Kill Railroad.

Route description

The route begins in Castleton, where there used to be a wedge station and where Amtrak trains from Rutland to New York stop once a day . The route runs southeast past the town of Castleton and through Poultney. Shortly afterwards, she crossed the border into New York for the first time. Along the Mettawee River , the route continues south through Granville and crosses the border again. Back in Vermont, West Pawlet and Rupert were passed before the route finally leads to New York. Here you reach Salem shortly after the border, where the tracks begin today. In addition to the route from Salem to Eagle Bridge, the Batten Kill Railroad also operates a branch line that branches off behind Salem in a triangular track to Greenwich and Thomson . Here the route reaches the valley of the Batten Kill , which is crossed a total of five times. She leaves the valley shortly before Eagle Bridge. In Eagle Bridge, the railway line crosses the Hoosic River before it flows into the town's train station.

Sources and further information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010.
2. ^ Moody's Transportation Manual . Moody's Investors Service, 1989, p. 278 : "On July 9, 1982 all the physical assets of the Co. were sold to Eagle Bridge-Thomson Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York Urban Development Corporation. The physical rail was in turn leased to (...) Batten Kill Railroad "
3. ^ Edward A. Lewis: American Shortline Railway Guide . Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, ISBN 978-0-89024-290-2 , pp. 38 .

literature

• Robert C. Jones: Railroads of Vermont, Volume I. New England Press Inc., 1993. ISBN 1-881535-01-0 .
• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .