• Vermont Rail System (VTR, GMRC, WACR, CLP, NYOG)

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

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

  by thebigham
 
I could not find a one-all discussion on the VRS so I'll start one.

The December 2014 issue of Trains has an article on the VRS.

The Trains website has a locomotive roster here:

http://trn.trains.com/locomotives/2014/ ... m_content=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vermont Rail System locomotive roster

One of America's earliest regional railroad's offers a mix of motive power
By Scott A. Hartley | October 27, 2014

The Vermont Rail System covers all of its trains with a fleet of 23 locomotives painted and lettered for its component railroads, plus a half-dozen leasing company GP38-2s. With one exception, all the locomotives are General Motors Electro-Motive Division designs.

In 50 years of Vermont Rail System history, only the Vermont Railway has purchased new locomotives – a single SW1500, later sold, and two GP38-2s. Both Vermont Railway and affiliate Green Mountain have relied primarily on good-condition secondhand diesels. From its earliest roster of a pair of General Electric 44-tonners and a small group of Alco RS1s, the Vermont Railway purchased larger Alcos in the form of 1600 hp Alco RS3s and an assorted collection of EMDs. Green Mountain Railroad began with 1000 hp Alcos, most of which later were replaced by EMD GP9s. When Green Mountain was purchased by Vermont Railway, both railroads began to acquire newer and even larger EMDs, including GP38s, GP38-2s, GP40s, and GP40-2s. Three Green Mountain GP40s were painted in a newer version of the road’s green-and-yellow scheme, using a new logo based on Vermont Railway’s three peaks image. Several larger secondhand EMDs also are painted in Vermont Railway red, but carry Clarendon & Pittsford logos and lettering. Diesels of all three roads roam freely over the system, making for colorful consists...
  by NHV 669
 
a nice little railroad in some of the best scenery in New England.... sucks to see traffic on the WACR so low nowadays
  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
I've always wondered why they've never united their 4 reporting marks, since VTR, C&P, and GMRR all directly touch and feed each other and they have trackage rights on NECR for keeping WACR connected to the rest of the family. Is there some legacy cruft from previous owners about which marks can interchange which goods with whom that's keeping them segmented like that? It's actually a pretty decent-sized system with connectivity in all the right spots and growth prospects to tap, but you'd never know it by counting each mark in isolation.
  by rovetherr
 
Each member of the VRS system is still a separate corporate entity and as such, retains its own reporting marks. However, for interchange/waybilling purposes there are only two marks used now, VTR and NYOG. NYOG covers the NYOG of course, and VTR covers the VTR, CLP, WACR, and GMRC.
  by thebigham
 
NHV 669 wrote:a nice little railroad in some of the best scenery in New England.... sucks to see traffic on the WACR so low nowadays
Actually it has increased as of late. The CM&Q is doing better and business is growing.

They recently had a 50 car train.
  by NHV 669
 
thebigham wrote:They recently had a 50 car train.
Unreal. That's the kind of traffic they had early on when the line reopened (10-15 yrs?, I forget), If I remember the old Trains mag article right.
  by CN9634
 
thebigham wrote:
NHV 669 wrote:a nice little railroad in some of the best scenery in New England.... sucks to see traffic on the WACR so low nowadays
Actually it has increased as of late. The CM&Q is doing better and business is growing.

They recently had a 50 car train.
A single train is not indicative of the relative health of a railroad as a whole.... but I can say this gateway should see substantial increases in traffic the upcoming year. :wink:
  by NHV 669
 
CN9634 wrote:A single train is not indicative of the relative health of a railroad as a whole.... but I can say this gateway should see substantial increases in traffic the upcoming year. :wink:
true, but comparing it to a variety of recent pictures of WACR trains, many of them in the single digits, its quite an increase
  by thebigham
 
^Yes. I'm on the VRS Yahoo group.

Fritz gives detailed info on some WACR trains.

He has commented that the trains have been longer lately.
  by newpylong
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:I've always wondered why they've never united their 4 reporting marks, since VTR, C&P, and GMRR all directly touch and feed each other and they have trackage rights on NECR for keeping WACR connected to the rest of the family. Is there some legacy cruft from previous owners about which marks can interchange which goods with whom that's keeping them segmented like that? It's actually a pretty decent-sized system with connectivity in all the right spots and growth prospects to tap, but you'd never know it by counting each mark in isolation.
They have haulage, not trackage rights on the NECR. NECR is fighting the low rate PAS wants to move their traffic for with the STB and they have imposed ridiculous restrictions.
  by Dick H
 
Is there a possibility that VRS traffic currently being interchanged at Whitehall
and destined for and received from points on the now D&H, such as Binghamton,
Sunbury areas, etc., will see the interchange moved to Hoosick Jct for interchange
with PAS-NS? Comments appreciated.
  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Dick H wrote:Is there a possibility that VRS traffic currently being interchanged at Whitehall
and destined for and received from points on the now D&H, such as Binghamton,
Sunbury areas, etc., will see the interchange moved to Hoosick Jct for interchange
with PAS-NS? Comments appreciated.
No. Because CP didn't sell the north-of-Albany D&H. So that interchange will probably be same as it ever was. CP is retrenching at Saratoga Springs, not Mohawk which probably gets a little bit lighter traffic going forward.

Hoosick Jct. probably has growth potential, however, with NS now having fully native turf up to Mohawk a few miles away and a pretty clear gameplan to crank up its investment in (or buy outright) Pan Am Southern.
  by Dick H
 
The Vermont Railway is getting three MP-15 switchers, ex-CP.
They are at Whitehall NY. Here's some "file" photos of the
1404, 1428 and 1433.
Thanks to Richard Marchi for the photo.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3565176" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks to Bill Sanderson for the photo.
http://www.mountainrailway.com/Roster%2 ... 1433-2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will be interesting to see what duties the VRS has in mind for these units.
  by Narrowgauger
 
Lease or buy? Nice thing is they can put chevrons on these units!
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