Grassroots Railroad Sports?

In the whole at Middlebury. The #307 is a GP40-2 and if you notice all the block-off plates where various extra headlights are, then you probably can guess that this is an ex-Southern Pacific engine. Well, ex-St. Louis Southwestern, but same thing.

The problem with this line is that the entire northbound way is horribly backlit the entire day. And the #405 was going to be on the north end the entire time, so that basically just relegated it to second fiddle. It was leading so that they could say that the Rutland RS-1 led over the entire remaining Rutland main line in VT, but there weren't going to be a lot of opportunities to photograph it.

The old Rutland depot still stands in Middlebury, although it's a restaurant and is not used by Amtrak. Turns out there's not much to really do for an hour and 40 minutes in Middlebury on a Sunday morning within walking distance of Amtrak station. Walked around a little bit, but ended up coming back and waiting near the siding we were in.

Fortunately the Ethan Allen Express was running on time (it originated in Burlington, so it didn't have too much time to get behind schedule), so we got set up for a photo line for the meet.

Aaaaaand, action.

Arriving in Burlington, we've got the old Rutland roundhouse to the left, crammed in between Lake Champlain and Burlington Yard. There was an array of EMD power gathered around, with Vermont Railway GP38-2 #206, Clarendon & Pittsford GP16 #802, and Green Mountain Railway GP9R #804 sitting at the southbound end of their Burlington-based dinner train,

The #405 sitting at the Amtrak platform in Burlington, as far north as we were headed.

Heading back south through Burlington Yard. On the right we have Clarendon & Pittsford GP38-2 #204. The Clarendon & Pittsford was originally a one mile long shortline ran from interchange with the Rutland at Florence, VT to the Vermont Marble Company. Vermont Railway purchased the C&P in 1972, and it experienced a significant expansion when it acquired the Rutland-Whitehall line of the former Delaware & Hudson in 1983. The C&P now serves as an interchange between Vermont Rail System and CPKC at Whitehall, NY.

You may have noticed this bizarre-looking beast in the background and been wondering what it is. Officially Vermont Railway is called a GP40FH-2. It began life as a New York Central GP40 and in 1987, Metro North and NJTransit had Morrison-Knudsen build a passenger locomotive with the cab, nose, frame and prime mover of a GP40, with the rear body of retired Burlington Northern F45s. They also had updated electrical control systems and head end power generators. They were eventually retired, but Iowa Pacific grabbed up a few, and this one did time working on the Saratoga & North Creek before the Iowa Pacific bankruptcy meltdown. Vermont Rail grabbed it up and it became VTR #313 and is usually assigned to their dinner trains based out of Burlington. One person more familiar with Vermont Rail System commented on the lunacy of how they have a locomotive with onboard HEP, but still use their baggage car that they converted to a HEP generator car, and then they sold off the CNJ cab car that they had but the #313 can't be operated in reverse, so they always have to pair up another locomotive on the other end and run push-pull.

That power on the other end of the dinner train was Green Mountain Railway #804. Once upon a time, this was a N&W GP9 but its received a chop nose, among other upgrades, over the years and is now classified as a GP9r.

With the #308 leading us south, we made some miles, hitting 50+mph wherever we could, which was pretty fun in that old open-window CNJ commuter coach with bouncy ride quality. And we motored all the way south to Middlebury to make a stop for our first photo shoot. And it was a pretty good one. The Rutland passed under downtown Middlebury through a tunnel and runs alongside of Otter Creek. The plan was to unload in someone's backyard (seriously), then walk up to the Cross Street bridge and get photos of the train emerging from the tunnel and running alongside of Otter Creek.

These were taken during the runby, and then they also said they would back into place for static shots.

These were very cool shots, but I couldn't help but think about how great they would have been with the #405 instead of the #308.

I walked back to get the #308 approaching to pick us up. That bridge is where the previous photos were taken from.

Shortly afterwards, we arrived at our next stop, Old Jerusalem Road in Leicester, VT. We got some neat photos at this little bridge where it crossed a marshy area.

The #308 approaching to pick us back up at Old Jerusalem Road. That's one of those clearance warning signs for a plow or spreader crew.

Our final stop of the day was a little further south at Leicester where this old Rutland Depot now is part of a farm supply business. We got a runby and some static shots.

She was really wheeling for this runby shot.

By the time we got to the static shots, the VTR crew was getting a little antsy about getting going, since they were going to be cutting it close on their service hours. There had been a planned photo stop at Proctor as well, but they just couldn't make it work, and didn't want to basically get stuck somewhere waiting on a new crew to come reliever ours.

So, day two was, I think a little bit better, in terms of how it was handled. We didn't get a ton of photo stops, and the #405 was pretty much relegated to second fiddle sadly, but they were trying to work around a couple obstacles and make it work. I still don't get how they were blindsided by the #405's speed restriction and having to work around the Ethan Allen Express. Neither of those were sudden or recent developments. Honestly, I think I preferred the original plan of #405 leading in both directions and only going to Middlebury, but I understood people's complaints and I think not going the full distance both days really would have been a bad look.

So, some good news. I got my hotel extended a day, since I already had Monday off. What's the plan? Well, on Friday, when we caught the northbound deadhead move of the #405 meeting train 263 at Ludlow, Kevin Burkholder mentioned that the #405 was going to be deadheading back to Bellows Falls on Monday. I talked to him today, and confirmed that around 7am, the #405 is indeed running from Rutland back to Bellows Falls, running long hood forward (correct for an RS-1) and towing the passenger cars. Well, if I was disappointed with Saturday's photo ops, this gives me a chance to get the shots that I didn't get.

If I'd seen this pic out of context I'm not sure I'd have realized it wasn't someone's layout. 

While touring Minnesota last week we saw CN locomotives pulling trains.  Sort of a surprise.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

That tunnel is not much wider than the train, and both when we arrived and when they went to shove back to do the first runby, there were people walking in the tunnel. The first time, we came rolling in and they didn't have time to stop, but someone yelled "Whoa, there was someone in there", and the person was pressed against the wall to not get hit. After we unloaded and hiked up to the bridge, they were backing down into the tunnel, and all of a sudden they stopped short and the crew notified us over the radio that there was another trespasser in the tunnel and they had to wait for them to exit.

So, armed with my insider info of the #405's deadhead move back to North Walpole, I got up early Monday morning and got in position for the shot I wanted of them crossing S. Main Street headed out of Rutland. I had been told that the crew was going on-duty at 7:00am and leaving shortly afterwards, and while waiting there I was scrolling on Facebook I saw someone saying that there were cars at the Batten Kill/CPKC interchange in Eagle Bridge, which is the only way to know for sure if Batten Kill Railroad is running. I almost got back in the car and headed to Eagle Bridge but decided to wait it out. Well, it's getting later and no #405 yet, and all of a sudden over a dozen MoW guys show up in high-viz vests and are waiting around, and then a payloader and a tractor trailer with a trailer load of new rails pulls in as well. The MoW guys are measuring and painting rails for removal and I'm starting to wonder if there's been a change of plans and either #405 went back the night before, or it's going to make the deadhead move some other time, because these guys are getting ready to start yanking the rails up for replacement. I'm now considering to cut and run to Eagle Bridge and chase the Batten Kill instead, but I decide to swing down by the Amtrak station and the engine house and see if the engine is still there. Go by the station, no sign of #405 and her train. As I'm making my way past the tail end of the wye to go to the engine house though, I catch the #405 being turned with her train there. Okay, I go back up and set up again and 15-20 minutes I was rewarded with the shot I wanted. According to some guys I bumped into later, they said the train was barely over the crossing and the MoW guys descended on the rails like a swarm of locusts and yanked them up for replacement.

Crossing East Clarendon Road in North Clarendon, VT. My goal was to try and get photos at locations, or angles, where we hadn't had photo runbys on Saturdays.

Approaching the crossing for Route 103 at Shrewsbury, VT.

Not a great shot, but the best I could get, as they cross the Cuttingsville Trestle. The good shot was all the way in on the river bank but I had gotten stuck behind a slow driver and this was the location I got to.

I got set up alongside Route 103 above Mt Holly, the same place where I caught train 263 on Friday, and was waiting for the #405 to arrive and then realized that it had been cloudy on Friday and now I was on the wrong side of the sun. So I ended up following a deer trail and hiking down into the marsh to get on the right side for this shot. Worth the wet jeans and feet.

Passing through the Mount Okemo ski resort at Liftline Road.