Nostalgia & History > B&M and CP's Vermont connection 1985

Throughout most of the 20th Century, the Boston & Maine and Canadian Pacific connected end to end at the small community of Wells River, VT. CP trains continued south to White River Junction, where the Boston & Maine had a handsome two sided station which also served the Central Vermont.  The B&M once owned this route all the way to Newport VT, with a branch to Lennoxville QC. Financial difficulties on the B&M saw the route north of Wells River transferred to CP ownership. St.Johnsbury VT became a CP division point and administrative center, and also an interchange with the Maine Central and the St.Johnsbury and Lamoille County.

CP and the B&M jointly operated a Boston to Montreal passenger train up into the 1960's. CP purchased three EMD E8's for this service, finally replaced by RDC's.

CP added ABS signals on their portion of the route.

The images show the B&M station at White River Junction, a preserved B&M station at Bradfort VT south of Wells River, and the end to end B&M -CP connection at Wells River VT,with only a section house and ABS signal and siding to mark the location.

Because of extensive track repairs taking place on the CP Lyndonville Subdivision, CP/B&M freight 917, northbound to Montreal was operated much later in the day than usual, allowing a rare daytime chase of this usually nocturnal train.

Train 917 is shown arriving at St.Johnsbury. For some reason, the tail end included both B&M and CP cabooses. Note the CP caboose has an FRA marker light.

By mid afternoon, train 917 departed St.Johnsbury northbound, doing some river running north of town. The third image shows the train passing through Lyndonville VT.

At North Burke VT, the MLW's on this train created some "Alco haze" while climbing a hill with the Adirondack Mountains in the background.

At Summit VT., classic CP ABS signals protect train movements. Notice a CP train dispatcher and well known railfan decorating the signal mast. He was the reason we knew the train was operating in daylight. The crew obliged us by adding white flags, not required in the US by 1985.

Finally, Barton VT provides a classic New England backdrop to train 917.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/16 10:01 by eminence_grise.

CP's Quebec Central Railway subsidiary took over the Lennoxville QC to Newport VT line from the B&M shortly after this tragedy happened to a B&M engine crew north of the Canada/US Border.

A section crew obliged by digging out the memorial. A 1968 railfan excursion travelled both the CP and QCR routes to Newport VT.  Like Vermont to the south, the Eastern Counties of Quebec have some covered road bridges, this one beside to QCR route to Newport VT.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/16 16:36 by eminence_grise.

i was up there in 2012 my son got married in E Burke ... i stayed on Lake Willoughby in Westmore about 10 miles east of Barton ... i took a ride up to Newport twice ...  i followed the line from Lyndon up to Newport and on my way home i followed the line from Newport to St Johnsbury ... Newport yard was almost empty with just a few cars ... no trains running that weekend ... stopped in White River Jct and Bellows Falls ... i gotta whole bunch of photos ... i'll post them all one day ...

Great group of photos, neat to see those CP Alcos operating in 1985.

Rich

Phenomenal, thanks for sharing.

Fantastic photos.....Had the occasion to railfan this area just when CP was going to pull out.....you brought back some great memories of that time...