Vermonter Route Signal Update

About 3 years ago I wrote a fairly positive report on the state of signaling on Amtrak's Vermonter route between New Haven and White River Junction. Unfortunately the recent spike in infrastructure spending has had major negative impacts on the New England Central portion of the route within just the past six months. The only good news is that some of the vintage searchlit signaling might hang on for a little while longer, but much of it is already on the way out.

First a quick overview of the old NECR signaling. Originally part of the Canadian National family under the Central Vermont brand, the rail line up the Connecticut River Valley would have likely passed into unsignaled TWC territory if not for the presence of Amtrak's Montrealer/Vermonter on the route that made abandoning the signaling system impossible from a regulatory point of view. The solution to make the signaling more cost effective was what I termed "Centralized Manual Block", with typical single track CTC sidings, but only a single ABS block between them (although technically the distant signal in advance of the next CTC interlocking did a second ABS block in that direction). This resulted in block lengths as long as 14 miles. South of Brattleboro, there was a additional 10 mile segment of non-signaled TWC before a (formerly) isolated interlocked junction between the old CV and Boston & Maine lines. In the 90's the NECR got some money to install a section of new CTC north of Windsor, VT, however this only included block signaling without interlockings with a more sensible 3 mile block spacing.

The first major change was the elimination of the TWC island south of Brattleboro. A new signaled siding was installed in Brattleboro itself, eliminating the old WEST RIVER CTC entrance interlocking and the related northbound searchlight distant signal just north of the Brattleboro station platform. It is not clear if the project included south of the NECR's Brattleboro yard, but if not evidence also pointed to sensibly spaced automatic block signals. Unfortunately the project also included the re-signaling of the EAST NORTHFIELD junction where the former Boston and Maine CT River Main Line splits off with the typical Safetrain Vaders. It is unclear if an additional new interlocking was installed at the south end of the NECR Brattleboro yard.

New block signaling between EAST NORTHFIELD and SOUTH BRATTLEBORO

New NORTH BRATTLEBORO interlocking south of the Brattleboro, VT station.

At the Putney CTC siding, the south end was re-signaled some years back with the notable poor man's bracket mast, however the north end is still searchlit with no evidence of impending changes. The same goes for the diamond crossing at Bellows Falls with cabling that implies a more recent logic update which might fend off searchlight replacement. I did not visit the Walpole siding just north of Bellows Falls, but as of June 2023 there were no signs of reconstruction. the news CTC siding at Claremont is a different story with new signals on the ground at the south end and in place, but no new relay hut yet installed at the north end. Both of these locations will use Vader masts from Progress rail (aka EMD, aka Caterpillar). This siding is also being upgraded from restricted speed to signaled which will allow Amtrak to better use the station-side platform at Claremont at the cost of siding exit dwarf signals.

New signals up at NORTH CLAREMONT.

Between Claremont and Windsor it also appears that new ABS signals have been installed at more regular intervals. The controlled point at Windsor has work going on, but the replacement signal masts are not yet present. A station sign also indicates that the "CTC" between Windsor and White River Jct was at one time operated under Canadian style Occupation Conrail System (OCS) rules. As I understand it this is somewhat analogous to APB system.

Northern extent of the Central VT era CTC.

From a documentation perspective, while I just missed getting photos of EAST NORTHFIELD and WEST RIVER at Brattleboro, I was able to fully document interlockings near Putney, Bellows Falls, Claremont and Windsor. I hope to return shortly and get the remaining signal locations around Wapole.