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September 1941. "Small town scenes in Vermont. Locomotive passing through Enosburg Falls." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
These tracks were originally part of the Missisquoi Railroad's line connecting to services at both Sheldon Junction and Richford, Vermont, completed in 1872. As noted by Marchbanks, it became part of the Vermont Central, etc. Passenger service ended in 1938/1939, so we're looking at freight service.
The bridge at Sheldon Junction was damaged in an accident in 1984, which was the end of traffic from that direction. The bridge still stands. At the Richford end, portions of a wye remain, but the tracks were removed by 1992 when the entire line was abandoned. It is now a walking trail called the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail.
I'm crazy about that adorably diminutive popcorn shop. We have a popper at home that would barely fit inside that building. I wonder if tiny popcorn pop-ups near railway stations were a "thing" in the '40s. In It's A Wonderful Life, when George Bailey meets the train of his brother Harry and Harry's secret bride, Ruth Dakin (She's a peach!) Bailey, the gorgeous Ruth/Virginia Patton is munching on popcorn the whole time she breaks it to George that Harry won't be sticking around in Bedford Falls.
This image smells like coal soot, pine tar, leaded gas, dry weeds and vanilla. Does anyone else "smell" old photos?
I am waiting for a railroad historian to tell us whose locomotive this is (I don't think it's Rutland), but what is that big tube in front of the smokebox?
We appear to have a head-on shot of Central Vermont Class M3-a #453, a Consolidation (2-8-0) built by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1916.
The Central Vermont was a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway until the CN’s privatisation in 1995, when the CV was sold off. Currently the tracks are owned by Genesee & Wyoming, operating as the New England Central Railroad. The eastern part of the CV’s Missisquoi division, which includes Enosburg Falls, saw occasional use by the Lamoille Valley Railroad until about 1989.
The strange-looking “eyebrow” pipe in front of the smokebox is part of a Coffin feedwater heater system. A lot of Coffin heaters were installed inside the smokebox, but these external ones were common for retrofits.
453’s exact fate isn’t known, but she’s undocumented as preserved, and was probably scrapped in the mid-1950s along with her sister #454.
The gas station has moved but the ice cream building is still there, next to what is now a rail trail. Seems like a great opportunity to reopen.
What a great photo! The building with the ice cream purveyor and the house next to it are clearly still standing. But look west down the abandoned right-of-way in Google Street View and you see someone walking. Looks a lot like the little boy leaning up against the telephone pole. Eerie!
Americana at its best. American flag, kids watching the train, service station, corner store. I love this picture.
This evokes Mayberry RFD, or Petticoat Junction, or both. Could almost be a Rockwell.
scene, I want to move here, I hope it is still the same.
to order Grade B milk (also referred to as manufacturing grade milk).
Notice: does not meet fluid grade standards and can only be used in cheese, butter and nonfat dry milk!
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