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Union County Ohio CB Project Photos Coburn Bridge Rescued Sherwin-Williams Paint Can Railroad Covered Bridge Model Project About the Bell's Ford Bridge Post Truss More Clark's Trading Post Photos More on St.J&L Railroad Covered Bridges Need help identifying a Vermont Covered Bridge Bridgton Bridge Remembered. Swanton Railroad Bridge Remembered Covered Bridges on the St.J&LC Railroad From: Jim Barker
From: Brian J. McKee July 10, 2006 July 11, 2006
May 14, 2006 Hi, Ed and Florence Sterling, of Winchester, Virginia
December 2, 2005 - I am a U.V.M. graduate who spends summers in Waitsfield, Vt. Last summer I visited the covered R.R. bridges in Shoreham & Wolcott. Following my visit, I purchased Lionel # 24117 "O" gauge covered bridge for operating layout. My question: Did the Shoreham Bridge ( built by the Rutland R.R. ) or the Wolcott bridge (built by St. J. & L R.R.) identify themselves via Logo on any part of the bridge? Did the towns of Shoreham or Wolcott indicate via sign to announce the crossing of the Richville Pond or Lamoille River. December 3, 2005 - Ed & Florence: I have Shoreham Vermont Historical Society Contacts for you: S. M., and L. F.* January 11, 2006 - Dear Mr. Nelson, First, we would like to thank you for the research relative to the Shoreham & Wolcott bridges . We have now Lionel # 6-24117 covered r.r.bridge installed on our layout It seems close to the" real Wolcott bridge" with its full length cupola. January 11, 2006 - Ms Levesque: I am trying to track down a group dedicated to railroading in Vermont for a bit of research I have been asked to do. January 11, 2006 - Bill Brigham (email address above) is the primary contact for the Central Vermont Railroad Historical Society, as well as the best resource I can imagine for your research project. Good luck with it. Best Regards, Sandy Levesque January 12, 2006 - Mr. Sterling: Sandy Levesque of the Vermont Historical Society has given us the email address of Bill Brigham, contact for the Central Vermont Railroad Historical Society: (see above) February 22, 2006 - We have not forgotten you!. April 17, 2006 - Hello Joe Nelson, My plan is to " decorate " with decal, The Fisher Bridge on Saturday, April 22. My oldest son ,Ned, will be down from Bolton, Ma. to work with us on the project. We will attend the bi-yearly meeting of the Train Collectors Assn. in York, Pa. on Friday, April 21. April 25, 2006 - Hello J.C. Nelson, On 4/24/06, we mailed, (at the main post office), several photos of the St.J & L locos & the Fisher R.R. bridge. March 21, 2006 Just got the Spring Bridger - - very well done. Here are a couple of notes on the Post truss --mentioned in the Bridger in connection with Bell's Ford Bridge of Jackson County, Indiana, which recently collapsed: --Truss inventor, Simeon S. Post, was for awhile apprenticed to famed Vermont covered bridge builder, John Johnson, of Burlington. --Bell's Ford is widely reported as the last Post truss--this is not true. It was the last covered Post truss; but most of them were built all-iron, and one such still remains at Lancaster, Mass. There are also at least two Post-varient pony trusses, also all iron. Actually, Bell's Ford MAY have been the only covered Post ever built. There were some other wood/iron combos; but so far, none are known to have been covered. In fact Bell's Ford itself was not covered at first. See you at Woodstock Meeting!Joseph Conwill
March 29, 2006 Many thanks for sharing your photos. You say you happened to stop at the right time. That is what makes photography, for me, even more fun, serendipity! The unexpected moment.
Joseph: Here are four photos depicting one of the bridges in the letter "Covered Bridges on the St.J&LC Railroad," by Timothy Phelps.[see letter below]
If you look very closely through the [bridge] in question you will see that the extra track, which is inside of the regular track, you will note that it does not terminate inside the bridge or very close to the end as most bridges would have. This means that there is something over the water on the other side. In this case there is a steel truss with two wooded cribs used as abutments. I am absolutely sure that this is the Cambridge Junction Bridge on the St Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad. It is listed as a Town Pratt Design built in 1899 over the Lamoille River and 123 feet long. WGN 45-08-03. [see right] The photo of the unidentified bridge on the right [see Phelps collection below] looks like it could be the bridge "East of Walcott Railroad Bridge." In 1967 or '68 This bridge was to be replaced but the people of Wolcott and area towns were asked to reimburse the railroad $14,000 for special "I" beams that the RR had to purchase to preserve the bridge. The Vermont Board of Historic Sites contributed $9,000 towards this amount. The remainder was Solicited and collected from area groups and individuals. The beams were finally placed under the structure. This bridge was also over the Lamoille River and was 90' long, built in 1908 and of the Town Pratt design, WGN 45-08-16 You will also find four photos depicting this bridge. One shows the temporary wood pier before it was replaced. Three other Covered Bridges on this road were replaced in 1967. Two with steel structures and one by passed and abandoned. Yours in Bridging, Dick Roy
Need help identifying a VERMONT COVERED BRIDGE Update
Jan 2, 2006 - Hello: My father passed away in June, 1999. In 1996 - '97, he traveled
to Vermont and took a picture of a covered bridge. I have researched every possible avenue in
identifying this bridge with no luck. I'm hoping that you and/or your organization might be able
to help me. I've attached the picture for your review. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much and Happy New Year!!! - Jan Dear Panel of Experts Joe: I believe this is the Barre and Chelsea Railroad's bridge in Berlin, unless they used
the same portal decorations on all their bridges. It's nearly an identical match to a photograph of
the Barre bridge taken by AOT's photographers. - Bob McCullough Hi Jan: The covered bridge that is pictured is the one at Clark's Trading Post near
Woodstock, New Hampshire. It was moved to this location in 1964 from Barre, Vermont. It was
on a short line that ran between Montpelier and Barre. The bridge was built in 1904 and is a
Howe Truss. Steam engines still go across this bridge at Clarks Trading post. You can say that
this is the only OLD Railroad Covered Bridge that still is in use.
Joseph,
Everything seems to be all right for the ID of the Clark/Pinsley Bridge in Woodstock, NH. I have enclosed three views of the moving of the bridge in question. The bridge had completely been reassembled and was being towed across the river for final seating on the abutments.
Thank you, Gentlemen. I am always amazed by the depth of knowledge and resources possessed by our community of covered bridge buffs. With your information, I found that the mystery bridge is listed in the World Guide to Covered Bridges as 29-05-14, formerly 45-12-16. Many thanks: I don't know if you know this, but I'm pretty sure you do because of what you do but the Bridgeton Bridge in Bridgeton Indiana was lost last Thursday or Friday. It was 245 ft long, built over the Big Racoon River. My wife and I were going to visit my parents and we drive past the bridge to go to their house. This time we were surprised because it wasn't there. All that was there was this huge mess of burnt wood and tin. I personally can remember riding my bike over the bridge as a kid in the 1970's and we used to use it to get away from the summer heat. It was nice to hear the water running underneath and to be able to look out the windows. My grandmother used to tell me stories that she had when she was a little girl during the early 1900's and how they used to go over it on horse and buggy. When I saw the mess that now it is now I didn't know to cry or what as it took my breath away when I drove past it the first time. The next day my wife and I went out there for a better look and everyone we talked to had a story. I don't understand how anyone can do what they did to that bridge. No matter how many times they rebuild this bridge it will not have the memories like the old bridge had. People in this country I think have lost the one thing that truly makes us Americans which is Pride and the respect of our heritage of our history of our families and our country. I personally love all old building because I like to think of the hard work they put into these buildings and that they didn't have power tools and yet they're standing longer than these high tech houses. The one thing I wish this government would do is make it stiff prison time for ANYONE that takes fire to any historic site. Thank you for your time. I'd better go now. I just wanted to share my thoughts with someone who looks like they also care for our past and our future. Truly, Nathan Brown Dear Nathan: I have received your note. I am sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner. November 13, 2004 - I have enclosed two slides of the old railroad bridge which
burned about 18 - 20 years ago.
by Timothy Phelps November 1, 2004 - Joe, Attached is a zip archive containing a number of photos of Covered Bridges on the St.J&LC Railroad. The two pictures from the wayside of train passing through Fisher Bridge were taken by my father, Richard Phelps, in the summer of 1967, the first year of Pinsley operation of the railroad. As I had noted, this was before the steel structure was put beneath the original bridge to allow heavier locomotives to operate. I was taking an 8 mm color movie of the same train as my dad took these B&W still photos. The two "on train" pictures are in my photograph collection, and are from a friend who had ridden the mixed train across the line in the early 1950s. I am not sure of the identity of the two bridges in these pictures. The steam era photograph was from an old magazine article, and I believe is of a bridge near Hardwick.
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Joe Nelson, P.O Box 267, Jericho, VT 05465-0267
This file updated 8/27/2006