Mike, aka Steamboateng, and I have been working on the Hoosac Tunnel project over the past couple of years now. Mike had taken up the task of the East Portal side and since T:ANE has come along, he's started the project over in T:ANE. The project is coming along nicely and I've let him continue with it in its entirety. He's building custom content, and doing an immaculate job with this route; much better than I could ever do. He will eventually let me post some videos of the route in progress.
Last year around this time, I visited the area and became intrigued with the little branch that headed up the river's edge north. Today there's not much to be seen, in fact there's not even a sign there was once any tracks there since everything is grown in. The only way to see anything is to zoom out in Google Earth/Bing maps, or look at the Historic Aerials website, which clearly shows the ROW.
So more digging and poking around and some help from Mike, who happened to find something on it during his research on the East Portal area, and Viola! This is the old Hoot Toot and Whistle - The Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington. Initially built to carry freight and passengers up the Deerfield River valley to Readsboro and Wilmington, Vermont with a stop in Massachusetts on the way in Monroe Bridge. The route traversed very closely to the river's banks in cuttings and following some very steep grades and curves. A standard gauge line built like this? It turns out this was once a narrow gauge line - a 3-footer then standard gauged in 1913.
The line lasted until 1971 when its ROW was obliterated for yet another time by a power dam. As the old saying goes, third strike and you're out. Well this was at least the fourth strike for this poor company. The ROW was first altered early on by the Harriman Dam. This forced the railroad to build a switchback in the southern and, and lost a connection to a logging railroad in the region as its bridge was wiped out by the flood waters. Then the Sherman Dam was built a bit lower down, followed by the Bear Swamp, which finally did the railroad in. This isn't counting a fourth hit - the Yankee Power nuclear power plant which opened up in the 1950s. This forced the RR to reroute around that too.
The railroad too made some important railroad history as far as rail fanning goes. They were the first railroad ever to run a train specifically for rail fans. This occurred 81 years ago in 1934 for the BSRE - Bay State Railroad Enthusiasts. They even went as far as outfitting gondolas with benches for people to sit in to enjoy the ride, and created some open-air cars. The scenery is quite spectacular in this area, which made the rail journey very popular and something the railroad did right up until its end.
Now this route is not without some challenges. As I've been researching the region with maps, these changes now present a problem with finding the footing so-to-speak. I've run into issues already which will mean a bit of freelancing to fill in some missing pieces. I found there are no earlier than 1980s topographic maps that are 7.5 x 7.5 resolution. The second issue is because the terrain has been altered so much by the dams, that finding the ROW is difficult as well. In some places it is now non-existent, having been flooded, and in others washed away by mother nature. Mike was lucky to have found an interesting website with some local pictures of the ROW as it is ca. 2005. Even though these are older now, a decade old, they are still a resource to start with. Eventually, I will probably journey out west and have a visit.
As I'm embarking on this project, I'm looking at time periods. Its heyday was from 1913 to 1937 when it abandoned the Readsboro to Wilmington portion, which coupled with the discontinuation of passenger operations as well. This is a decade before Mike's B&M project which makes running passenger equipment an issue, that is, unless we could call these rail fan specials running between Readsboro and Hoosac Tunnel Station. A modern period then would be similar with GE 44-tonners and a handful of boxcars as opposed to small Baldwin locos, mostly hand-me-downs and tiny wooden boxcars. Then there's rebuilding the line up to Wilmington... Having been gone so long, it's barely traceable today, though there are places where the line has become the local state road. Route 100 has taken parts of the grade in a few places, which makes this kind of easy, but difficult too. I've been exploring this as well. All in all, the line is not very long. The full length from Hoosac Tunnel Station to Wilmington was all of 24 miles so it's not a big route, though very compact.
Anyway, it's going to be interesting, and hopefully this doesn't end up in the bin like so many other projects we've started.
Some links...
http://htandw.com/introduction.htm
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/DeerfieldR.GIF ---- The Mountain Mills branches - a 3-foot gauge logging railroad!
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/SomersetVT_LOGGING.PDF - A PDF of an old article on the railroad.
Last year around this time, I visited the area and became intrigued with the little branch that headed up the river's edge north. Today there's not much to be seen, in fact there's not even a sign there was once any tracks there since everything is grown in. The only way to see anything is to zoom out in Google Earth/Bing maps, or look at the Historic Aerials website, which clearly shows the ROW.
So more digging and poking around and some help from Mike, who happened to find something on it during his research on the East Portal area, and Viola! This is the old Hoot Toot and Whistle - The Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington. Initially built to carry freight and passengers up the Deerfield River valley to Readsboro and Wilmington, Vermont with a stop in Massachusetts on the way in Monroe Bridge. The route traversed very closely to the river's banks in cuttings and following some very steep grades and curves. A standard gauge line built like this? It turns out this was once a narrow gauge line - a 3-footer then standard gauged in 1913.
The line lasted until 1971 when its ROW was obliterated for yet another time by a power dam. As the old saying goes, third strike and you're out. Well this was at least the fourth strike for this poor company. The ROW was first altered early on by the Harriman Dam. This forced the railroad to build a switchback in the southern and, and lost a connection to a logging railroad in the region as its bridge was wiped out by the flood waters. Then the Sherman Dam was built a bit lower down, followed by the Bear Swamp, which finally did the railroad in. This isn't counting a fourth hit - the Yankee Power nuclear power plant which opened up in the 1950s. This forced the RR to reroute around that too.
The railroad too made some important railroad history as far as rail fanning goes. They were the first railroad ever to run a train specifically for rail fans. This occurred 81 years ago in 1934 for the BSRE - Bay State Railroad Enthusiasts. They even went as far as outfitting gondolas with benches for people to sit in to enjoy the ride, and created some open-air cars. The scenery is quite spectacular in this area, which made the rail journey very popular and something the railroad did right up until its end.
Now this route is not without some challenges. As I've been researching the region with maps, these changes now present a problem with finding the footing so-to-speak. I've run into issues already which will mean a bit of freelancing to fill in some missing pieces. I found there are no earlier than 1980s topographic maps that are 7.5 x 7.5 resolution. The second issue is because the terrain has been altered so much by the dams, that finding the ROW is difficult as well. In some places it is now non-existent, having been flooded, and in others washed away by mother nature. Mike was lucky to have found an interesting website with some local pictures of the ROW as it is ca. 2005. Even though these are older now, a decade old, they are still a resource to start with. Eventually, I will probably journey out west and have a visit.
As I'm embarking on this project, I'm looking at time periods. Its heyday was from 1913 to 1937 when it abandoned the Readsboro to Wilmington portion, which coupled with the discontinuation of passenger operations as well. This is a decade before Mike's B&M project which makes running passenger equipment an issue, that is, unless we could call these rail fan specials running between Readsboro and Hoosac Tunnel Station. A modern period then would be similar with GE 44-tonners and a handful of boxcars as opposed to small Baldwin locos, mostly hand-me-downs and tiny wooden boxcars. Then there's rebuilding the line up to Wilmington... Having been gone so long, it's barely traceable today, though there are places where the line has become the local state road. Route 100 has taken parts of the grade in a few places, which makes this kind of easy, but difficult too. I've been exploring this as well. All in all, the line is not very long. The full length from Hoosac Tunnel Station to Wilmington was all of 24 miles so it's not a big route, though very compact.
Anyway, it's going to be interesting, and hopefully this doesn't end up in the bin like so many other projects we've started.
Some links...
http://htandw.com/introduction.htm
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/DeerfieldR.GIF ---- The Mountain Mills branches - a 3-foot gauge logging railroad!
http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/SomersetVT_LOGGING.PDF - A PDF of an old article on the railroad.