NEB&W Layout Guide - The Addison BranchLast Update: 2008-11-16
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More on the Addison branch in the Addison Photo Gallery. Also see the Addison Road website.
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This area is based on the Addison branch on the Rutland RR.
The branch was originally built before there was the D&H's
line on the west side of Champlain. The Addison section
was built to cross the lake to tap the iron ore resources
of Port Henry. Shipping interests prevented the railroad
from building a bridge.
Instead, the railroad ran across the lake on a permanently stationed two-hundred foot long barge. The barge could be swung out to allow a steamboat to pass, and was a way to circumvent laws prohibiting a permanent bridge. (These laws had been enacted under pressure from the steamship lobby.) The barge had a nasty habit of tipping as a train passed over it, and finally in 1917, one last dunking caused the cross-lake connection to be taken out of service.) Win Grant said that recently the barge was discovered on the bottom of the lake in pristine condition by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Only the track had been removed before it was sunk. In 1946, a plywood factory was built at Larrabee's Point. The turntable had to be moved to the east to clear the area. We began construction of this branch in early 2004. We got the initial benchwork done, then realized we still had more planning to do and will have to add more benchwork. |