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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #781373  by Dick H
 
The GMRC 405 was called to freight duty today at Bellows Falls,
as nine VRS units were busy hauling an 80 car ethanol train from
Whitehall NY to Bellows Falls, as part of a new routing to Providence
RI. Here's the 405 during freight duty today:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 830596.jpg

Here's the unit ethanol train:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 028363.jpg

Both photos from the Nerail archive by Kevin Bucholder.
Dick
 #781451  by Noel Weaver
 
The shot of 405 is fantastic, there are not many engines in New England today that are still running on the same rails that they ran over when they were delivered from the builder well over 50 years ago. The only one that redily comes to mind is New Haven 529 on the Naugy. There may be one or two early GP's running on Guilford though, I am not sure about that.
Noel Weaver
 #781571  by greenwichlirr
 
Noel Weaver wrote:The shot of 405 is fantastic, there are not many engines in New England today that are still running on the same rails that they ran over when they were delivered from the builder well over 50 years ago. The only one that redily comes to mind is New Haven 529 on the Naugy. There may be one or two early GP's running on Guilford though, I am not sure about that.
Noel Weaver
One could almost make an argument for Battenkill RS-3 4116, which is originally D&H, running on former D&H Washington Branch and subsidary Greenwich & Johnsonville rails. The G&J used an Alco S unit for a bunch of years until '16 got its custom orange G&J Paint Job in/around '72, but I think it would be safe to assume that the RS-3 possibly ventured up and down the Washington Branch once or twice in its life before it became Shark territory.

And since the Washnington Branch USED to run into Vermont, that kinda counts, right? :wink:
 #781677  by Noel Weaver
 
greenwichlirr wrote:
Noel Weaver wrote:The shot of 405 is fantastic, there are not many engines in New England today that are still running on the same rails that they ran over when they were delivered from the builder well over 50 years ago. The only one that redily comes to mind is New Haven 529 on the Naugy. There may be one or two early GP's running on Guilford though, I am not sure about that.
Noel Weaver
One could almost make an argument for Battenkill RS-3 4116, which is originally D&H, running on former D&H Washington Branch and subsidary Greenwich & Johnsonville rails. The G&J used an Alco S unit for a bunch of years until '16 got its custom orange G&J Paint Job in/around '72, but I think it would be safe to assume that the RS-3 possibly ventured up and down the Washington Branch once or twice in its life before it became Shark territory.

And since the Washnington Branch USED to run into Vermont, that kinda counts, right? :wink:
The Battenkill is not in New England.
Noel Weaver
 #781682  by Noel Weaver
 
Dick H wrote:The GMRC 405 was called to freight duty today at Bellows Falls,
as nine VRS units were busy hauling an 80 car ethanol train from
Whitehall NY to Bellows Falls, as part of a new routing to Providence
RI. Here's the 405 during freight duty today:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 830596.jpg

Here's the unit ethanol train:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 028363.jpg

Both photos from the Nerail archive by Kevin Bucholder.
Dick
Apparently the ethanol train had a problem down the road, below is a link to an article out of the Waterbury rag.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/ ... 1-10-26-27


Noel Weaver
 #781720  by greenwichlirr
 
Noel Weaver wrote:The Battenkill is not in New England.
Noel Weaver
Quite aware of that fact, but like I said, it deserves at least an honerable mention as 2/3rd of it's track is formerly a branch that did indeed enter and terminate in Vermont until 1980, and the locomotive is still on home rails.
 #782005  by Noel Weaver
 
greenwichlirr wrote:
Noel Weaver wrote:The Battenkill is not in New England.
Noel Weaver
Quite aware of that fact, but like I said, it deserves at least an honerable mention as 2/3rd of it's track is formerly a branch that did indeed enter and terminate in Vermont until 1980, and the locomotive is still on home rails.
The original G & J was not part of the Washington Branch and the Washington Branch in Vermont is GONE. I said NEW
ENGLAND.
I did come up with one more legitimate possibility former MEC 573 on the Conway Scenic Railroad.
 #782260  by Otto Vondrak
 
Gentlemen, please. We get the idea.

I've never caught the 405 in freight duty. Glad they still find it a useful engine, especially since all the other GMRC RS-1's have since departed the property.

-otto-
 #782306  by gawlikfj
 
I'm very sorry to hear this . I've taken the Flyer many times & always had a enjoyable time .
I've always found something new to see on each trip and Debra always does a great job arranging with the Chester or Rutland trips. I hope the Flyer will be back very soon.
 #784075  by gawlikfj
 
No where in their 2010 Schedule does it say the Flyer is discontinued . They are still running,maybe not as much ,for that you'll have to call the Green Mountain for that.
The Rutland trip is running on October 9th,2010 as usual .
 #784157  by Otto Vondrak
 
This is interesting... this info wasn't there before...

http://rails-vt.com/gmf/gmf_main_09.html

I wonder where we got the info that they were not going to run the GMF this year...

=-otto-
 #785601  by PAR381
 
The VRS web site clearly states the Bellows Falls will be open at 11:30 on Fridays . It does not give any times of arrivals or departures and no dates anywhere on the page. So if its not retired its on a VERY limited schedule. Lets remember before last year the Flyer ran 2 trips a day Tues-Sun June 15 right through Oct 31. Now maybe the web site does not reflect what the printed material says?
 #785612  by rovetherr
 
The website is pretty much a copy of the pamphlet, or vice versa. One train on Friday, 1130 departure from DA, with a 2-2 1/2 hour roundtrip. I am sure to start a flame war, but I am not too sad to see it curtailed. When I first started on the VTR, I was assigned to a passenger job (Vermont Valley Flyer) and couldn't stand a minute of it. Probably the most boring time of my whole, albeit relatively short, RR career. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for excursions, but the constant, multiple run model is getting harder to justify as passenger counts drop. The specials, like dinner trains (we get free dinner :-) ), and charters (we get free food :-) ) do well, and are guaranteed to make money since we only go if enough tickets are sold.

Plus, the damn things get in the way of the freights! :wink:
 #785675  by curtisfarmer
 
I got a flyer in the mail this spring detailing their schedule and trains. We took the 2nd to last train last fall and it was the best tourist RR I have been on so far. I have not been on all of them, but this 1 was great.
 #786484  by Otto Vondrak
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:I wonder where we got the info that they were not going to run the GMF this year...
Well, that's why we call it "Rumorpace." Wonder where the contributor got his info that the GMF was a goner?

-otto-