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Canadian Pacific and Boston & Maine

in Vermont and New Hampshire

My layout features the Canadian Pacific line between Newport, VT and Wells River, VT. This line operated pool CP/B&M trains as well as CP locals. The operations through St. Johnsbury are a primary feature of the layout. The line to the north includes an industrial park in Lyndonville, VT before entering Newport, VT/Montreal staging. The line to the south of St. J goes into staging, representing Wells River, VT, as well as East Deerfield, MA on the B&M.

In addition, the layout also features the Boston & Maine's Berlin Branch, from White River Junction, VT up to Groveton, NH. Staging represents White River Jct., and the B&M enters the layout at Whitefield, NH. Hidden trackage carries the B&M downgrade where it emerges at the paper mill in Groveton, NH.

CP Rail in Vermont 1980

The Canadian Pacific operated 90 miles of rail in Vermont. The CP dropped down from Montreal and Quebec City, Canada with 2 rail lines converging at Newport, VT. From Newport, CP track traveled south to St. Johnsbury to interchange with the Maine Central and Lamoille Valley Railroad Company (aka St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County, Vermont Northern). The CP Rail line extended further south to Wells River, Vermont where the line became the Boston & Maine's Connecticut River line. The CP and B&M operated pool power between Newport, VT and as far south as Springfield, MA.

CPMap

Trains operated mainly for the B&M and MEC bridge traffic, although a few local industries are switched. A paper mill in East Ryegate, a feed mill in Richford, a plywood mill in North Troy and a furniture plant in Orleans were major shippers all served by the CP. Industries in St. Johnsbury were also served by the CP.

Locomotives on CP's Vermont lines consist of RS10s, RS18s, RS23s, GP30s, GP35s and C424s. An RS2 was stationed at St. Johnsbury, while an S4 worked in Newport. Locomotive facilities were maintained in Newport while a turntable was used in St. Johnsbury when needed.B&M pool power in the form of GP7s, GP9s and GP18s also make an appearance. Rarely would other B&M power (GP38-2, GP40-2) be found in this service.
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CP RS2 #8401 on yard duty in St. Johnsbury Vermont (Glenn Salvatore slide from my collection)

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CP RS18u #1801 arrived from Newport into St. Johnsbury in the summer of 1992 (Mike McNamara slide)

Two trains a day operated between Montreal and Newport. One train operated daily between Newport and White River Junction, the B&M/CP pool train. Locals out of Newport handled work to Richford and up to Sherbrooke, Quebec. A local also operated from Newport down to Wells River. Interchange was made with the MEC and Lamoille Valley in St. Johnsbury, the B&M in Wells River and the CV in Richford.

CP Rail Lines Today

In 1995, the CP sold many of its eastern lines to Iron Roads. Iron Roads created a new railroad, the Northern Vermont, which was part of their larger Bangor & Aroostook system. Service continued to the few remaining customers around Newport and the branch to Richford. Not much traffic moved down to St. J or Wells River. One train a week would head south all the way to White River Jct. With the BAR bankruptcy, the NVR ceased operations 12/31/02. The Vermont Railway became the designated operator of the line. Currently one train a day heads south from Newport, while another heads north from White River Junction. The trains meet and swap crews so they return back with the new train. Some rumblings have started about increasing operations in St. J and getting new clients on the MEC trackage to Gilman and Whitefield. Meanwhile, at Newport and Richford, the new Maine, Montreal & Atlantic operates between the Montreal line into Maine and the VRS interchange at Newport, with a local serving Richford, wher the CP still maintains a presence.

Prototype B & M In VT and New Hampshire 1980

The B&M operated in all 3 Northern New England States, but most of the track and service was in New Hampshire. The B&M also operated in Massachusetts and New York. In 1983, the railroad had 1574 miles of track. 46 miles were in Maine, 103 in Vermont and 600 in New Hampshire.
The main line of the B&M was Portland, ME to Rotterdam Jct., NY, traveling mostly through Massachusetts. However, a second main line was the 224 mile Connecticut River Line from Springfield, MA north along the Connecticut River into Vermont and New Hampshire, sharing some trackage with the CV in southern Vermont. From White River Jct. north to Wells River, the line continued as B&M and then crossed into New Hampshire at Woodsville for the run up to the paper mills in Groveton and Berlin. A diamond crossing with the Maine Central was in Whitefield, NH.
BMMap

B&M interchanges in Vermont included the Green Mountain in Bellows Falls. There were also pool trains operated with the CV and CP. An official CV interchange was at White River Junction, and the CP interchange was a little further north in Wells River.

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BM GP9 #1745 along the Conn Rover on a beautiful Fall day (Glenn Salvatore slide from my collection)

In New Hampshire, the B&M Conn River Line interchanged with the Springfield Terminal in Charleston, Claremont & Concord in Claremont Jct., the Maine Central in Whitefield, the Grand Trunk in Groveton and the Berlin Mills Railway in Berlin.

Freight carried by the B&M was largely from the forests of the north. Pulp, paper and lumber made up over a third of all traffic. Other freight included food, plastic pellets, grain, gravel, sand, salt, cement, fuel, and chemicals.

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BM GP9 #1746 idles in Whitefield NH along Rt. 3 in July of 1983 (Mike McNamara photo)

Locomotives used by the B&M in the 1970s and 1980s were almost exclusively EMD. Some older Alco RS3s, S1s, S2s and S3s were still around but were quickly being sold or scrapped. GP7s, GP9s and GP18s still were important main line locomotives, and F3s and F7s were still being used when extra power was needed. SW1, SW8, SW9 and NW2 switchers worked many of the yards and smaller branches. Sorely needed new power was added in the mid to latter 1970s with the acquisition of GP38-2s (1973) and the GP40-2s (1977).

Prototype B & M In VT and New Hampshire Today

The 1970s were tough on the B&M as it struggled through bankruptcy. After years of deferred maintenance, deficits and underhanded corporate dealings, the B&M was not even attractive as a merger or buyout candidate. It was likely the railroad was going to be carved up or turned over to the government like so many other northeastern railroads. However, the court-appointed trustees decided to try an independent reorganization. A new management team was brought in and the entire railroad was turned around, from management to marketing and trackwork to new locomotives.

Unlike many of its neighbors, the B&M did survive, beating the odds and emerging as a profitable railroad. In 1981, as it emerged from bankruptcy, a private investor bought 100% of the railroad’s stock for $24 million. Timothy Mellon envisioned a new regional railroad, Guilford Transportation Industries, that would include the Maine Central, Boston & Maine and the Delaware & Hudson. This would eventually come to be, but the D&H would later be discarded by Guilford and GTI (Pan Am) continues to exist today with the MEC and B&M.

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BM GP40-2 #310 came on board in the lmid 1970s as the B&M reorganized itself into a profitable railroad. Seen here in 1984 in the early days of Guilford with a D&H GP39-2 #7403 (Glenn Salvatore slide from my collection)

The B&M divested many of its branch lines in the 1980s. Most of the NH branches were sold to shortline railroads. The entire 101 mile Wells River to Berlin line was sold to the State of NH and operated by the start up short line New Hampshire & Vermont RR. Today this line sees little activity, operated by the New Hampshire Central, although recently the Vermont Railroad has been rumored to be reactivating portions of the line.

The track from Wells River to Littleton has been removed. Some trains are operated by NHC between he Grand Trunk interchange in Groveton and Whitefield. The track through Gorham to Berlin has been converted to snow mobile trail.

In 1987, the Guilford owned B&M trackage on the Conn River in Vermont deteriorated to such a point that Amtrak was able to forcibly purchase these 50 miles and sell it to the CV who in turn upgraded it back to 59 mph passenger standards. The B&M (Guilford) was allowed trackage rights on this line and still has a local out of East Deerfield, MA that runs up to WRJ to serve customers.


CP and B&M on my Layout

CP/B&M pool trains operate from staging through St. Johnsbury. Northbound trains exit staging representing East Deerfield while southbound trains exit staging representing Newport. At the yard in St. J, the CP St. J switcher adds and removes cars interchanging with the MEC and LVRC. The trains then depart headed to staging.

CP locals also operate out of staging from Newport, working Lyndonville, passing through St. J and into staging for Wells River to the south. A counterpart operates north from Wells River staging to Newport staging. Both of these pass through St. Johnsbury as well.

B&M local operations in New Hampshire are represented by the Groveton local passing through Whitefield and the diamond crossing with the MEC. Here too staging is employed for White River Junction, VT where the B&M left the Conn River Main Line to journey northeast into the mountains of New Hampshire. Leaving staging the local arrives in Whitefield, then heads north to the paper mill in Groveton. After completing work, the local heads back south through Whitefield returnng to White River Jct. staging. A switcher based in Groveton assists in working the paper mill and also makes a run down to Whitefield to interchange cars with the Maine Central.

GrovetonOverview
An operators view of the paper mill at Groveton on my layout.
GrovetonOverview2

I have a variety of CP and B&M locomotives in use on the layout. These include Athearn and Atlas GP9s and GP7s, a Kato RS2, and a few GP40-2 and GP38-2. The CP is represented by Atlas C424s, P1K RS10s, Rapido chop nose RS18s, and even a Rapido F7B that you could sometimes see in earlier 1970s consists.
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