Nostalgia & History > Early AFT: Off to New England, Part 2

It actually took me a few runbys to notice, but they turned the #1 and the train at East Deerfield, before heading up the Conn River towards Vermont. Here are a few pics on the Conn River, heading up to Brattleboro. 

Two adventures awaited me.  First, a few miles into Vermont, I was scouting for a location along a county road, parallel  to the main.  Spotting a low hillside next to the tracks, occupied by a couple of fans, I signaled a left turn, slowed down and turned into a mowed hayfield.  Or tried to.  Behind me, a speeding motorcycle showed up just as I was turning.  He evidently couldn't believe that I would turn where there was no road, and tried to zip around me. I had no idea he was there until his helmet whacked my drivers side window.  He bounced off unscathed, but came up ready to take a swing at me.  But the fans on the hillside intervened on my behalf, and noted that I had properly signaled, and that he was going like a bat out of hell.

Thanks, guys!

The second was a bit more comic.  A few miles later, the chase line overtook an elderly Chevy stake bed farm truck.  One by one, we got past him.  But when it was my turn to be right behind him, looking for a safe gap, he hit a bump in the road.  A BIG bump, which lifted a fair portion of the cargo from the stake bed body up into the air, and out over the tailgate.

Said cargo was a load of chicken poop, freshly loaded from all appearances, quite sloppy.  To make a long story short, I drove over it at speed, and splattered quite a bit of it up beneath my rear fenders and directly onto the exhaust system.  The resulting odor was, to be honest, horrendous.  Even for a farm boy like me, it was bad.  I had a railfan buddy with me in the car at the time, and I've been reminded of the incident quite a few times over the past decades.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/21 07:58 by march_hare.

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Entering Bellows Falls, the train came to a stop at the depot, while the Green Mountain's daily train from Rutland crossed in front.  The sun was getting seriously low at this point.

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Approaching Claremont, NH, it doesn't take much scouting talent to choose a spot for a sunset "Last Stand".  

It was 9PM before the train was ready to leave White River Junction, behind a pair of CV geeps. 

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Great stuff!! Thank you for sharing your photos.

A great series of pictures, all enhanced by your stories from back in the day.   How many trips to the carwash to get rid of the stench?

And nobody gives a s@%t about you turning in front of the motorcycle. Yeah he was on a bike, so he had to be going to fast, it was his fault. SMH.

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Drknow Wrote:
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> And nobody gives a s@%t about you turning in front of the motorcycle. Yeah he was on a bike, so he had to be going to fast, it was his fault. SMH.

I think you misunderstood the story.

The motorcyclist was speeding in the same direction and in the same lane as OP, when OP signaled a left turn.  Since the motorcyclist was travelling too fast for conditions to stop that does indeed make it his fault.

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/21 13:31 by choodude.

Thanks, thought I had made that clear. This dude passed a car making a legal, signaled, left trun. Passing somebody who has already signaled a turn is a pretty dumb-assed move. 

Nice photos. Thanks for posting. We normally ran without diesels when the T-1 was on the head end as that engine easily pulled that 1900 ton train without breaking a sweat. When diesels were put on it was always because of complicated switching moves needed at the new display town. 

   Great memories.  Ross Rowland 

Super set. My favorite is photo four with the Green Mountain ALCO RS.
Bob

Great stories and photos!
Your stories reminds me the times I chased UP Steam in Idaho and Nevada, The local farmers are also on the roads doing the same thing they have been doing all thier life, and then here comes a "Roman Chariot Race" of cars all of a sudden!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Thanks for sharing! This would have in 1975? They have a great map with dates of the stops on the entire trip of the Freedom Train in Portland, OR, at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center. We have not seen many photos of the T-1.
Steve Rippeteau

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