North Concord – Steven's railway line

North Concord VT - Steven's VT
Route length:	18½ km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Lunenburg 0 North Concord VT (formerly Essex) after Maquam Harvey's VT Odell's trail Victory Hill VT Moose River Morrill's VT Women Crossing VT Weed's VT Dodge's VT Gallup's VT 18½ Steven's VT Moose River Railroad ( Forest Railway )

The railway line North Concord Steven's is a disused railway line in Vermont ( United States ). It is around 18 kilometers long and connected the villages of Gallup Mills and Victory as well as sawmills in the Moose River valley with the Lunenburg – Maquam railway line .

history

After the main line of the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad was completed, the railway company decided to connect it to the main line of the Grand Trunk Railway at Island Pond . The new line was to branch off in North Concord and lead north through almost unpopulated woodland to Island Pond and beyond to Canaan and Beecher Falls , where there would have been a connection to the Quebec Junction – Lime Ridge railway to Canada. Construction began in 1882, and in January 1885 the stretch to Steven's north of the village of Victory, where a sawmill was located, was open. However, the planned route was not continued from here. Only the forest railway built by the sawmill operator , the Moose River Railroad , led from here further north into the surrounding forests from 1889.

Passenger transport was initially offered to Steven's, primarily for the forest workers and residents of Victory, Gallup Mills and Granby. After the forests were exhausted, the forest railway was taken out of service on February 14, 1902. Regular passenger traffic had already ceased a few years earlier. The forest railway systems were occasionally used until 1906 before they were removed. In 1909 the line between Victory and Steven's was closed, and the rest of the line was closed until 1918. A connection in North Concord was served until the 1930s.

Route description

The route branches off the main line in North Concord and leads north along the Moose River. Shortly after the Victory station (Victory Hill), the route crosses the river, the bridge is still there today. Between Damen Crossing and Gallup, the route does not run along the river, but through marshland west of the actual river. The only settlement on the route was in Gallup Mills just before the end of the route.

Sources and further information

Individual evidence

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

literature

• Robert C. Jones: Railroads of Vermont, Volume II. New England Press Inc., Shelburne, VT 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 .