04-08-07 CLASSIC PHOTOS: Montpelier

While recently cataloguing my old photos in an attempt to locate some original resolution copies that had gone missing, stumbled upon a set of photos from 2004 I had completely forgotten about and had never posted online. The photos were taken on a summertime trip to the Barre Vermont area to attend a wedding. In addition to some Metro North and Amtrak pictures taken on the way up to Connecticut, I also took some around Montpelier, Barre and Springfield, MA. You can check out the whole set of classic photos for the first time right here (mirror).

For some strange reason my trip began at Stamford, CT where I was lucky enough to catch a Danbury or Waterbury branch trainset pull through on Track #2 with New York Central heritage painted FL9 #2012 in the lead. This trainset would go on to lay up east of the Stamford yard complex.

However I got to New Haven, I was on hand for the power change involving Amtrak's Vermonter. In 2004 the Vermonter was still using the NECR route via Palmer and Amherst requiring a control cab at each end. P42DC #103 was coupled to the rear of the trainset and a blue flag applied while mechanical workers when about connecting the HEP and MU jumper cables.

Seeing as how my girlfriend at the time insisted on driving up to the wedding, I got off the Vermonter at Meriden, CT with #103 pushing the train northward in a direction I would soon follow.

Green Mountain Railway GP9 #803 was parked in front of the downtown Barre station building, now serving as a bank. This unit would later be sold to the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway in New Jersey and renumbered to 1850, reflecting its original C&O designation. 

Barre and Chelsea #14 is a GE 70-ton switcher on static display behind the Vermont Granite Museum. The Barre and Chelsea was a local short line serving various quarries that went bust in the 1950's.

The Vermont statehouse seems out of place in the small mountain community that is the state capitol. Montpelier is the smallest state capitol in the United States with a full time population of only 8,000 residents.  

Most of the state offices are situated in well maintained Victorian houses. 

Amtrak's Vermonter serves a station at Montpelier Junction, about a mile west of downtown. 

On the way back from Vermont, I managed to negotiate a visit to SPRING tower, located at the diamond crossing of the Boston and Main/New Haven with the Boston and Albany directly underneath Interstate 93.

Well I hope you enjoyed this bit of lost and found media. Stay tuned for more classic and contemporary photos.