TRAGEDY FOR STEAMTOWN’S FOUNDER
The saddest freight train
BY KEN HOJNACKI/PHOTOS AS NOTED I
F YOU WERE A LOVER OF THE STEAM locomotive on the east coast in the 1960s, Mecca for you was nestled in
the foothills of Vermont. Steam had left Canadian rails in the early years of the decade, a few short lines such as the Arcade & Attica and the Everett Rail- road tried their hand at passenger op- erations and Reading’s Rambles were the main line steam east of Chicago’s “Q” country. However, a seven hour drive through the scenic Mohawk Val- ley and over narrow, twisting Vermont
Highway 9 would find upstate New York railfans like me in Bellows Falls, Vt., home of F. Nelson Blount’s budding Steamtown USA.
Initially located across the Connecti- cut River at the former Boston & Maine roundhouse and yard at North Wal- pole, N.H., Steamtown later moved up the former Rutland Railway tracks to an area north of town destined to be known as Riverside. Like thousands of other people had already done, I ven- tured to Steamtown for the first time in
the fall of 1965.
Two years later, two friends and I, now rejoicing in having our own trans- portation, planned a late summer visit to Steamtown. We allotted two days for railfanning
(“train chasing” it was
called then) and wrote to Mr. Blount about cab rides on the steamers. None of us had ridden on any locomotive, let alone a steam locomotive, so the antici- pation was excruciating. Much to our delight, Mr. Blount personally wrote back with word that passes would be
OPPOSITE: Author Ken Hojnacki (left) and Brian Whiton (right) visit with locals as the Green Mountain Railway’s freight train pauses at the depot in Chester for train orders and a pickup. PAUL STRAUSS PHOTO ABOVE: F. Nelson Blount’s last run at Steamtown leaves Riverside, north of Bellows Falls, Vt., behind ex-Canadian National No. 89 on August 31, 1967. KEN HOJNACKI PHOTO
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