Making good on a promise mentioned in last week's story, "Train Departing Amherst Station," Sam Bartlett, the manager of the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, emailed the Valley Advocate several images his father had taken of trains on the route described in that article. Shown here is the "Consolidation" freight locomotive, Central Vermont 468, at the Amherst station in March 1956, heading south to Palmer.
Along with the images came a note from the photographer, David Bartlett:
"My wife and I climbed off the Vermonter [in Amherst] just three weeks ago after a 7,000-mile rail trip around the country. The picture Sam is sending was of one of two daily southbound freight trains (frequently double-headed —a great sight climbing Belchertown Hill) between St Albans, Vermont and New London, Conn. There was also a northbound pair, plus a local from Palmer to Brattleboro, up one day and back the next, except Sundays. I took numerous color shots of all this.
"What's interesting about the present dust-up is that Amherst hadn't ANY passenger service after the '40s until a few years ago when the Vermonter started running that way. Yet Holyoke, Northampton, and Greenfield did have passenger service until the '80s. On three different occasions while I lived in Amherst, I went to Northampton to catch trains to the outside world. No big deal then, and now I see there are free buses running between these two towns. Where were they when I needed them?"
Both Sam and David Bartlett will be on hand on Saturday, May 23 when the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum reopens for the season. Visitors can ride on the restored 1896 trolley car on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from then until Sunday, Oct. 31, 2009. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. In July and August, the museum will also be open Mondays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. More photos of local trains from the 1940s and '50s are available on CD through the museum gift shop for $12.
