St. Albans – Richford Railway

St. Albans VT - Richford VT
Route length:	44.22 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Essex Junction 0.0 St. Albans VT ( Amtrak stop) to Rouses Point End of the route St. Albans tram Connection to the tram Interstate 89 7.1 Greens Corner VT Summit siding 14.0 Sheldon Springs VT Missisquoi River 16.4 Sheldon Junction VT Connection to Lunenburg Lunenburg – Maquam route Connection of Maquam 20.3 North Sheldon VT 23.5 South Franklin VT 28.6 Enosburg Falls VT Connection to loading station 33.0 North Enosburg VT 37.0 East Berkshire VT Missisquoi River 44.2 Richford VT from Farnham to Newport

The railway track St. Albans-Richford is a railway line in Vermont ( United States ). It is 44.22 kilometers long and connects the cities of St. Albans , Sheldon , Enosburg Falls , East Berkshire and Richford . The route is closed.

history

The Missisquoi Railroad was founded on November 14, 1867 to build a route in the valley of the river of the same name from St. Albans to Richford. In order to bind the railway company to itself and to counter possible competition from other railway companies, the Vermont Central Railroad co- financed the construction and so the line was opened on July 1, 1873. From the opening on, the company, meanwhile reorganized into Central Vermont Railroad (CV), leased the route. The lease was terminated on November 15, 1877, but renewed on June 30, 1888. From April 15, 1899, the CV was also the owner of the line, after they had bought up on December 24, 1886 in Missisquoi Valley Railroad reorganized railway.

In the 1930s gas turbine railcars were briefly used on the line, but this could not prevent the cessation of passenger traffic on November 11, 1938. On April 6, 1957, the last steam train ran on the route. From the following day, diesel locomotives of the types EMD SW1200 and EMD GP9 could be found between St. Albans and Richford . After the partial collapse of the bridge over the Missisquoi at Sheldon Junction due to a train derailment, the railway company stopped traffic between Sheldon Springs and Richford and closed the section from Sheldon Springs to Sheldon Junction. The remaining part of the route was now only used when required. From February 1, 1989, the Lamoille Valley Railroad took over the route and resumed traffic between St. Albans and Sheldon Springs and between Sheldon Junction and Richford. In the same year, however, operations to Richford were stopped again. After the last freight customer in Sheldon Springs ceased to exist in 1990, the section from St. Albans there was shut down and dismantled. Two years later, the Lamoille Valley also closed the section between Sheldon Junction and Richford. The entire route was sold to the state and later converted into the Missisquoi Valley Rail-Trail , a bike and hiking trail. For this purpose, the bridge over the Missisquoi was rebuilt.

Route description

The line begins at St. Albans station, where it branches off the Essex Junction – Rouses Point railway line in a triangular track . A siding from the Italy Yard freight yard is still in operation. Shortly thereafter, the line crossed North Main Street, which until 1921 also carried the St. Albans tram route . There was a track connection to the tram, mainly to be able to transfer milk carts that were transported directly to the customers by the tram. The route runs northeast and steeply uphill. Often an additional push locomotive had to be used here to push heavier trains over the mountain. After Greens Corner, the highest point on the route is reached. There was a siding here so that parts of the train could be shunted if a train was too heavy and had to be split. The route now drops steeply again and reaches the Missisquoi River at Sheldon Springs, which it follows to Richford.

The route crosses the river shortly after Sheldon Springs and immediately afterwards reaches the Sheldon Junction crossing station, where there were connecting curves to the Lunenburg – Maquam railway line crossing here at the same level . The bridge over the Missisquoi had three segments, one of which had to be demolished during the derailment in 1984. Further along the north bank of the Missisquoi, the railway line continues through North Sheldon, South Franklin, Enosburg Falls and North Enosburg. Shortly after North Enosburg, the route crosses the Samsonville settlement . Although the residents in 1882 advocated a railway stop, one was never built here. The route continues through East Berkshire and crosses the Missisquoi again. Shortly before Richford there was a track triangle, over which the trains were turned as a whole. Freight wagons always had to drive at the beginning of the train, otherwise they would squeeze the much lighter passenger wagons in a head-on collision, the baggage wagons always drove at the end of the train to serve as a buffer in rear-end collisions. A simple transfer of the locomotive to the other end of the train was therefore not possible. The track triangle was also the beginning of the short connecting track to the Newport – Farnham line on the Canadian Pacific, which had its own train station on the other side of the river. Carriages were regularly handed over to the Canadian Pacific via this track and the railway line.

Accidents

On November 4, 1883, a mixed train, consisting of the locomotive, two milk cars and several passenger cars, as well as a combined baggage and mail car, drove towards Richford. About a mile (one and a half kilometers) east of Enosburg Falls was the connection to a loading station on the banks of the Missisquoi River. The switch to this connection was set in the direction of the river, which the platoon leader noticed too late. He drove over the end of the siding and the locomotive and the two milk trucks fell into the river. The engine driver and stoker died. The switch had been set on purpose by a former railway company worker who had recently been dismissed.

The station building in North Enosburg burned down in 1904, and that in Richford in 1906. They were replaced by new buildings shortly afterwards. The new Richford station building still stands on Troy Street today.

On June 29, 1984, a Canadian Pacific Railway and Guilford Transportation train , which had been diverted over the route, derailed on the bridge over the Missisquoi at Sheldon Junction. Since the bridge was badly damaged in the process, this was the last train to pass the bridge and it was shut down.

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 .