railroad history

West River Trail Update & Annual Meeting Report
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West River Trail Update & Annual Meeting Report

WRT at MarinaThe West River Trail is open. Please be aware that there are intersections between construction access and the trail path, and users should exercise extreme caution at these intersections. As an additional safety precaution, users of the West River Trail are reminded to keep pets on a leash in this area. Trail users should be aware that snow removal operations on I-91 may cause snow to fall on the trail.

The next Trail Talk will be held on February 21. Check the I-91 bridge construction website for details.

Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) in the news. Story published in The Commons issue #292 (Wednesday, February 11, 2015), page B2. Written by Sarah Buckingham.

LONDONDERRY—Work is about to begin to restore the former Newfane depot for use as a railroad museum. The Friends of The West River Trail (FWRT) learned more about this project, and others, when the group held its annual meeting at the former South Londonderry depot last month.

Laura Wallingford-Bacon, president of the Windham County Historical Society in Newfane, said her organization purchased the 1880 building for $42,000 from the children of Fannie and Bill Mantel last fall. It had been in the Mantel family for around 50 years. The railroad went out of business in the 1930s. The purchase price includes historical artifacts in the station. The historical society plans to restore the building and incorporate a collection of artifacts from the West River Railroad that currently resides at the county history museum. South Londonderry and Newfane are the only two of the 10 original depots from the West River Railroad that still sit at their original sites. Other surviving depots that were later relocated can be found in West Dummerston and Williamsville. Wallingford-Bacon said the historical society hopes to raise funds to offset the purchase price and to restore the property and they have received an “encouraging response” to that campaign. The restoration will take place in six phases, with an estimated total cost of around $50,000. The first, and most urgent, phase — addressing drainage and replacing the roof — is expected to cost $16,000.

At the annual meeting, FWRT board members Lester Humphreys and Paul Cameron gave a presentation on the Riverstone Preserve, a 23-acre parcel which the group acquired in 2013. The land sits one mile north of the Marina restaurant in Brattleboro, between the West River Trail and the river itself. The southern section subcommittee purchased the land for $97,000. One-third of the purchase price was raised in donations and the rest came from a grant from the Vermont Housing Conservation Board. The Vermont Land Trust holds a conservation easement on the property.
Cameron gave an overview of the plant communities in the Riverstone Preserve, which include a sugar maple ostrich fern flood plain community; a river shore grassland that is home to several rare plants such as the great lobelia; and a river cobbleshore, where the FWRT are working to control invasive Japanese knotweed, the worst of several invasive plant species in the preserve. Cameron also reported that last spring a volunteer group formed to develop a management plan for the preserve. So far the group has completed a drainage project, built a trail connector with a board walk, removed an old shed, and continues to work removing invasive species. More volunteers are needed for projects happening this summer. FWRT would like to build stone steps, picnic table, a pavilion or shelter of some type, and an information kiosk.

The FWRT board of directors elected Greg Meulemans as board president and treasurer. Humphreys was voted in as vice president of the board and assistant treasurer for the trail’s lower section subcommittee, and Sharon Crossman the assistant treasurer of upper section.

Meulemans reported that FWRT has received a grant for mile markers which will be modeled after railroad markers and be installed along the trail this summer.

 

Reception and Celebration of the Old Newfane Railroad Station & the New West River Railroad Museum
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Reception and Celebration of the Old Newfane Railroad Station & the New West River Railroad Museum

Dear Friends of the West River Trail,
Please join us to celebrate another West River Trail/Railroad milestone!
The Historical Society of Windham County cordially invites you to a reception and celebration of its purchase of the Old Newfane Railroad Station and the creation of the New West River Railroad Museum. A special reception with beverages and light food provided and musical interlude by Gene Morrison, will be followed by a slide presentation on the History of The West River Railroad (WRRR) by Glenn Annis. Glenn Annis is considered the foremost authority on the West River Railroad. Since his last public presentation over a decade and a half ago, Glenn has continued to research the WRRR. This presentation includes photographs and findings on the WRRR not previously shared publicly.

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014
Place: NewBrook Fire Station, Route 30, Newfane, VT
Time: 6:00 Special Reception; 6:45 Music by Gene Morrison; 7:00 Presentation: The History of the West River Railroad by Glenn Annis

36 Miles of Trouble: The Story of the West River R.R
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36 Miles of Trouble: The Story of the West River R.R

The following is a guest post by Dan Snow.

Excellent cross-country skiing conditions can be found these days on the newly established West River Trail. The former rail bed along the east bank is ideal for gliding over the snow pack. Glimpses of the frozen waterway and woodlands are peaceful today but the stillness is deceiving. It masks a time not so long ago when the air was full of anticipation. The driving wheels of a steam locomotive made the iron rails sing underfoot and soon a thirty-car train would come chugging by.

Evidence of the days when trains passed through West Dummerston twice a day have mostly disappeared. What’s left to see is an old station house in the village and the granite piers at the river’s edge that once held up a bridge. Fortunately, a lively remembrance of the Brattleboro and Whitehall Rail Road Company was written by Victor Morse and published by Stephen Green Press in 1959. 36 Miles of Trouble: The Story of the West River R.R. chronicles the slow rise and long decline of the line. Morse earned college money on the West River line. As an adult, he operated a saw mill in Brattleboro that made railroad cross-ties. Growing up, I knew him as my father’s no-nonsense friend who’s wool pants were permanently caked in sawdust. His wry sense of humor only came out full-force on the pages of 36 Miles of Trouble. By turns, a historical document and a personal remembrance, the slim volume is a testament to the first, and last, time that the citizens of West River Valley were hitched, for better or worse, to a mode of public transportation.

“The West River Railroad’s best years were its first. In the two decades before the turn of the (20th) century it enjoyed its greatest patronage, which was nothing to rejoice about and gave its best service, which was nothing to excite praise. Unreliable as West River trains came to be, it was never strictly true that they would wait at the station for a hen to lay another egg so the farmer would have a dozen to send to Brattleboro.” (From 36 Miles of Trouble)

AN INVITATION TO AN OPEN HOUSE
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AN INVITATION TO AN OPEN HOUSE

AN INVITATION TO AN OPEN HOUSE
Doings at the Depot!
The public is invited to attend an Open House and social hour, with refreshments provided, hosted by the Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT), to be held on Tuesday, February 12, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, in the South Londonderry Depot on Route 100.

At the Open House, visitors will be updated on the current projects involving both the West River Trail (South Londonderry to Brattleboro when completed) and the Depot itself. Recent significant advances in trail development in the Brattleboro area by the Southern Section of the Friends will be recognized.

During the social hour, the latest prize of memorabilia at the Depot will be formally introduced: a locomotive bell generously donated by William and Agnes Peele. It is believed that the bell came from one of the last regularly operated steam locomotives on the Santa Fe Railroad.

Tim Lawrence will also be on hand to present a narrated video depicting his recent experience hiking on a rail trail, one of a series he is producing, and will also, as a rail historian, update us on the status of his “Forgotten Railroads” project. Timothy W. Lawrence is Founder and Videographer, I.M.R. Films, created in 2003. Since that time, he has worked on numerous projects from online advertising for Coca-Cola and Comcast to corporate videos for companies such as Skyhorse Publishing, Living WRAP and more. He resides locally, in Windham, VT.

The Open House will be preceded at 5:30 PM by a short business meeting of the FWRT Board, which visitors are welcome to attend if they choose.

Please plan to join your friends and the Friends of the West River Trail for an enjoyable and informative evening.

News & Events
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News & Events

Our “Lower Section” newsletter is coming soon from Board member & editor, Kathleen White.

Kathleen White, Board member & Newsletter editor, working hard on the Lower Section of the West River Trail!

Here is a great photo of Kathleen during the Lower Section “Clean-Up Work Party,” where she obviously was getting deep into the mud, so to speak! Cheers to Kathleen, and check back here to read the newsletter on-line.

Alex Wilson’s fundraising letter was put in the snail mail last week . . . if you’d like to receive a copy via email, contact us! We have a challenge grant from the Thomas Thompson Trust, and we really appreciate the donations coming in to our Lower Section initiative, via our new Donations page!

We received a great tip today, from someone out on the trail, that a tree was down just north of the I-91 Interstate bridge. That has been cleared and thanks to the person who let us know about it! (This note is from board member, Jason Cooper, via our Facebook page)

Thanks to Alex for his great work on the fundraising letter—Thanks to all!

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