New London – Brattleboro railway line
The New London – Brattleboro line is a rail link in Connecticut , Massachusetts and Vermont ( United States ). It is about 195 kilometers long and connects the cities of New London , Palmer and Brattleboro . The railway is owned by the New England Central Railroad , which operates freight on the route. Amtrak used it until December 29, 2014 between Palmer and Brattleboro for its Vermonter express train , since then only between East Northfield and Brattleboro.
history
In May 1847, the New London, Willimantic and Springfield Railroad was founded to build a railway line between their namesake New London , Willimantic and Springfield . Just one year later, the northern end point of the planned route was moved from Springfield to Palmer and the name of the company was changed accordingly. In July 1848 construction began from New London. The first section from Norwich to Willimantic went into operation in September 1849. In October of the same year the section from New London to Norwich was opened. The first trains to Stafford ran in March 1850, and Palmer was reached in September.
In 1851, the Amherst and Belchertown Railroad was founded, which should establish the extension of the route to Amherst . The line was opened on May 9, 1853 and at the same time leased by the New London, Willimantic and Palmer Railroad, which led the operation. The Amherst & Belchertown went bankrupt in 1857 and was reorganized in 1858 as Amherst, Belchertown and Palmer Railroad . NLW & P also had financial problems and had to file for bankruptcy in 1859. In April 1861 the new New London Northern Railroad took over the NLW & P and in 1864 also the AB&P. In 1867 it extended the route to Millers Falls .
Between Millers Falls and Brattleboro, a railway line had been opened by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad on April 15, 1849 . In 1871 the Vermont Central Railroad leased both this section of the route and the New London Northern and now operated the entire route. In 1873 the lease was transferred to the VC successor Central Vermont Railroad , which it operated until 1995. On May 1, 1880, Central Vermont bought the section from Millers Falls to Brattleboro from the Fitchburg Railroad, which had taken over Vermont & Massachusetts in 1874.
On September 27, 1947, passenger traffic on the route was stopped. The CV still used steam locomotives on the route until 1957, before the changeover to diesel locomotives also took place here. From July 9, 1989, the state express train operator Amtrak ran the entire length of the route. The Montrealer (Washington – Montreal) stopped in Willimantic and Amherst. On April 1, 1995, the Montrealer became the Vermonter (Washington – St. Albans) and the route was changed. The train now travels through Springfield and only operates the rail line between Palmer and Brattleboro. In Palmer, the train changes direction and is therefore equipped with a locomotive at both ends, as there is no direct connection curve. However, there is no passenger stop in Palmer. The trains stopped at Amherst and Brattleboro. Freight traffic has been operated by the New England Central Railroad , a subsidiary of RailAmerica , since January 1995 . Between East Northfield and Brattleboro there are rights of use by Pan Am Southern , a joint venture between Pan Am Railways and the Norfolk Southern Railway .
In 2014, Amtrak announced that the Vermonter's route would be changed and it would travel via Northampton instead of Amherst from December 29th of that year. This eliminates the need to worry in Palmer and the train gets by with one locomotive. In addition, new Amtrak stops will be created in Northampton and Greenfield, while the stop in Amherst will be eliminated. Amtrak now only uses the rail line between East Northfield and Brattleboro.
Route description
At New London train station, the line leaves the main line New York – Boston and passes under it shortly afterwards. Shortly afterwards, the line reaches the East New London freight yard under the Gold Star Memorial Bridge , which carries Interstate 95 . The railway leads northwards first along the western bank of the Thames River , the bays of which it partially crosses on dams and bridges. After 15 miles the city of Norwich is reached, where the route turns into the valley of the Yantic River , which it follows to Yantic Falls. From here you continue north through a forest until the railway reaches the Willimantic River at South Windham . The city of Willimantic used to be an important railway junction. Lines to Providence , Blackstone , Waterbury and New Haven , which once belonged to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , branched off here, but are all closed. The New London – Brattleboro route is the only significant route in Connecticut that never belonged to this railway company.
After Willimantic the route continues in the valley of the Willimantic River northwards to Stafford Springs. Shortly thereafter, she crossed the border to Massachusetts, where after a few kilometers Palmer reached the next major rail junction. In Palmer, the main line of the former Boston and Albany Railroad crosses at the same level. The Palmer Union Station , designed by architect Henry H. Richardson , was once a major passenger train station that now houses a restaurant.
North of Palmer cross several largely disused railroad lines, namely the Hampden Railroad , the route of which the route crossed over a bridge, the Athol Branch of Boston & Albany and further north in Belchertown the main line of the Central Massachusetts Railroad . The latter runs parallel for several kilometers until just before Amherst. Of these three routes, only a short section of the Athol Branch is still in operation as an industrial connection. In Amherst, which is 33 kilometers north of Palmer, there is a stop on the Vermonter .
The route continues northwards and reaches Millers Falls after 15 miles. This is where the main Boston – Troy line crosses, which today belongs to Pan Am Southern. Connecting tracks allow shunting-free traffic from Boston to New London and from Troy to Brattleboro. The connecting track from the direction of Boston to Brattleboro is still there, but no longer in operation. The route now crosses the Millers River to shortly afterwards reach the Connecticut River . It also crosses this at Northfield to run on its western bank to Brattleboro. Before that, near the state border between Massachusetts and Vermont, is the East Northfield junction, where the north-south main line of Pan Am Southern joins and where the line to Keene used to branch off. Brattleboro station itself was once a wedge station , but the eastern section of the station, which is part of the Dole Junction – Brattleboro railway line , is only used as a parking facility.
Sources and further information
- Individual evidence
- ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 1999.
- ↑ Article in Trains Magazine from December 12, 2014
- ↑ History of the train station on the website of the restaurant ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- literature
- Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995, ISBN 0-942147-02-2 .
- Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .
- Web links
- Boston & Maine Historical Society (English)
- Rail America, owner of the railway line (English)
- Pan Am Railways (English)