Eastern Railroad Discussion > Vermont Rail System Damage Report...

Back in from an all-day venture around the state - for the parts you can actually reach by car anyway - and was able to land some damage photos of the Vermont Rail System. At this point, damage is significant enough that most of the VRS will be down for weeks and in some cases maybe months. All of the subdivisions have been hit hard and have bridges either washed away or at minimum, off their moorings. I'll document some of the damage from today's sightings and will file another report tomorrow on the New England Central...

First up is the Washington County Railroad's mainline between White River Jct. and Newport, VT. The 3-span girder bridge failed this morning just before I got there...

<Photo 1-3> are the WACR Bridge over the White River.

---

---

---

The damage to the WRJ bridge has effectively ended the White River Flyer season - or at least suspended it until further notice... Two more shots of the WACR bridge...

---

---

The Green Mountain Railroad's destruction is significant with miles of track in need of repairs. I'll post some of the more dramatic damage locations that will effectively shut down the VRS for weeks to come.

<Photo 6>
The Black River bridge in Proctorsville is washed out on both ends - 200+' to the north.

<Photo 7>
The washout north of the bridge leaving rails hanging above water where water wasn't before...

<Photo 8>
Looking back toward Okemo and Ludlow, the tracks are washout on top of washout...

---

---

---

More Proctorsville washouts...

---

---

---

EXACTLY what I feared...


Allen

The infamous 1897 Proctorsville Bridge... Hanging rails on both ends of this bridge too! Also the 2nd image below shows the railroad officials flying over the GMRC to inspect the damage - the only means of transportation you can use to move right now!

---

---

---

Heading east from Proctorsville, the Cavendish Gorge is impassable, so Route 103 is the only route available and IT is closed in many places due to being completely washed out.

First photo: The Gassetts Bridge support is unstable...

Second photo: Site of the former Bartonsville Covered Bridge! Town of Rockingham had it insured for $1 million and it will be rebuilt to an exact copy of what was there!

Third photo: Remnants of the Bartonsville Covered Bridge about 1/2-3/4 mile down the Williams River...

---

---

---

First photo: Another shot of the Bartonsville Covered bridge down river...

Second photo: Tracks in Bartonsville also did get washed out for long stretches - as seen just south of the site of the former covered bridge location.

Third photo: The Bellows Falls flood gates are ALL open for the first time and the NECR Connecticut River Bridge (just on the other side) is taking a pounding from the significant rushing water.

---

---

---

Kevin was this from river cresting or down from the hills ...nice photos

Unbelievable photos Kevin. Good news on the Bartonsville Covered Bridge. What also stands out to me is the beautiful weather today as compared to all the video and photos I saw on TV just 24 hours prior. Thanks for the documentation.
Steve B.

From the VRS today -

Vermont Rail System along with all railroads in the Northeast US has been severely impacted by Hurricane Irene. We have had numerous washouts across our system and still have many sections underwater. Some bridge structures have also been compromised. Service has been severely curtailed or cancelled today on all line segments. Interline service with our connecting roads has also been cancelled for today. We are still doing a detailed assessment and will be providing regular updates as we complete repairs and we bring service back on line. In addition we are working with our connections to arrange detours where necessary to keep traffic moving. We will also looking at transload options where feasible.

Additional damage noted:

-Clarendon & Pittsford is underwater in Florence and difficult to assess
-One bridge between Rutland and Whitehall is underwater, as is roughly a mile of trackage
-VTR Northern Subdivision under water at Proctor and difficult to assess
-VTR B&R Subdivision (Rutland to North Bennington) is destroyed in a variety of locations
-Two bridges between Rutland and Danby have been pushed from their moorings and/or down river
-GMRC has numerous washouts from Rutland to Bellows Falls and multiple bridge failures
-Bridge at mile 11 is off its moorings and moorings destroyed
-WACR Conn River District has multiple washouts and bridge damage, most significant bridge is WRJ which sustained the shift of the pier

More as it becomes available - but - the City of Rutland is cut off from most of Vermont. Route 4, 7 and 103 are all destroyed with missing bridges and only access to Rutland at moment is via Burlington! There are 11 communities still without highway access from bridge outages, etc.

My parting shot is Route 44 in Windsor... Tells the story of most of the state!

---

The weather is gorgeous today - fall-like actually - and I had commented on that earlier. Unfortunately the forecasters are calling for several inches of rain from the weekend into early next week, which will just add insult to injury. The rivers reportedly were described as walls of water! One family I spoke to today said they heard what sounded like a 'train' coming down the valley at Bartonsville and had merely 15" to get out of their home before it was washed away! Incredible stories...

To think I was in the area 4 weeks ago enjoying the beautiful scenery and sparse trains.

Looks like severe damage and I hope all rail lines can be restored to service.

Thank you for the photos.

Great photography and the "you are there" report!

-- Greg

Great reporting - sad losses.

Should hopefully make an interesting story on the recovery process.
(How do you go from business to no business for days - weeks, months?
And get it back?

Regarding the highway shot, the last shot - I don't quite get it? Where
did the road go?? Can't figure how cars got from way up there to the road
below??

/Mitch

Kevin, thank you for sharing. May everyone affected by this storm get the help they need to recover.
John

Kevin, as always great shots and glad you are safe. One side note and I do not want this to become flamebait but I have noticed lately you are putting large signatures on your photo's with your company and name. I understand why you are doing it for copyright reasons but to me the signature is way too large and really detracts from your great photo's. Just my humble opinion.

Bruce

Kevin,
Nice photos.......

Really sad to see such devastation....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/prr_cabin/sets
Cabin

Terrific photo story on Vermont's railways epic damage caused by Hurricane Irene - alas some rail lines will likely never be rebuilt from all the damage you've found. The railway bridges will be mighty expensive to repair.

How many Vermont covered bridges damaged or destroyed? Sorry to see the Bartonsville Covered Bridge was swept away. I saw it on the Weather Channel along with over TV networks August 29, 2011.

Mgoldman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Regarding the highway shot, the last shot - I
> don't quite get it? Where
> did the road go?? Can't figure how cars got from
> way up there to the road
> below??

Mitch - I think this is the intersection in the shot:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&amp;cp=r784bt8yzd4g&amp;lvl=18.339261801429764&amp;dir=11.26540890523677&amp;sty=b&amp;where1=Windsor%2C%20VT&amp;form=LMLTCC

And I imagine he took the picture from I91. The bridge is still there but the entire intersection has been washed away...

Michael