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| The two Ambassadors meet in WRJ during July 1966 about 1630. Ken Patton photo. |
These two photos really display what took place in White River Jct. Vt. in 1966 when the B&M and CV Ambassador's would meet in town. Ken Patton allowed me to use these two images and notes it has been over 40 years since he last photographed or visited the CV. Ken's comments tell the story...George Dutka
The train pair between Boston and Montreal, (via CP), had been cancelled the previous year. As a result, there were only two, rather than four trains in the station at one time. By July,1966 the northbound and southbound Ambassadors arrived about the same time on their runs between New York and Montreal. Both trains were down to three cars. The plan was for the first two cars on each train to continue to destination, while the third car on each would return to its origination. This shot was made midway in the "shuffle". The CV Geep has been wyed and replaced the n/b B&M power. (The CN return coach is visible to the left). Another set of B&M power has hold of the CV s/b, through cars and joined them up with the NH return coach, now separated from the n/b through cars.
The photo below views the scene once the southbound Ambassador had departed with B&M power. As the smoke clears, CV's Alco switcher continues the process of adding the CN "return" car to the rear of the northbound Ambassador. The inbound B&M power, just visible on the left will be hosteled over to Westboro for servicing. If there are no problems, the units will most likely be used to head the night time sleeper train, the Washingtonian, down to Springfield.
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| Looking north at the WRJ station. Ken Patton photo. |
I watched this process several times when I was in the area during 1965-66, and rode these trains as well. My memory is that the locos on the Ambassador were exchanged in both directions. The NB CV Ambassador in the photo has a single GP, while the Washingtonian-Montrealer had two CV units. The B&M trains, both Ambassador and Washingtonian-Montrealer always had two B&M units, an F7A and B. My memory is that the F7 set was also wyed at the time the trains were exchanged and returned south to Springfield with the SB Ambassador. The photos I took in West Leb in 1966 suggest that by that time the power for the B&M WRJ-Springfield train was about the only thing that laid over. But someone may be able to clarify this.
ReplyDeleteThinking about this, I have a CV Employee Timetable 65, dated April 25, 1965, which I guess would be the one in effect on the date the photos were taken. You indicate the NB Ambassador was in thee station at 1630. However, the SB train 76 in the timetable arrived at 1435; after turning, the NB 75 left at 1515. So the exact movements in the photos may be unusual and don't correspond with my memory, which, however, is more than 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHi John:
DeleteI am thinking Ken was also working from memory and the time could be a bit off...but anyhow it was late afternoon...George
Thanks for the extra information John...George
ReplyDelete