Requires joining VRS/Rutland Yahoo Group. This is the only photo I've ever seen of the former Rutland RR turntable from Bellows Falls, Vermont, which was relocated in the early 1970s to Chester, Vermont. Never used by Steamtown, it was simply buried in its new pit after locals complained it was a falling hazard for children. At BF, the table had slightly extended rails to turn the road's USRA Mikados.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/8NYCReEO_u ... ter-tt.jpg

From reports I've received this is a 70' long turntable that was moved to Chester in 1965 but never used or even connected to active trackage. It was reported as buried in 1975 after the pit filled with water and was deemed a hazard to local children. In the 1980s the Green Mountain RR built a parking lot over the site and it may have been dug up and scrapped at this time. If anyone can verify or correct these dates or details please post them as the story of this turntable is vague.

I would think if someone were to walk around this spot with a metal detector we might solve this mystery...

Scott, you out there?

For those who do not know, the buried table at Chester was the Rutland's, originally near the depot in Bellows Falls. It served a four stall wooden roundhouse which was sandwiched tightly between the B&M/CV mainline, and power canal - the roundhouse was razed after dieselization, in 1954. Photos from Howard Towsley (whose son, incidently is my regular engineer) show the road's USRA 2-8-2s carefully balanced on the table, being pushed around by hand. The wheelbase of such engines was 71' 8 1/2", so the 70' table had rails that stuck out about 18" on each end. To balance, the tender wheels were on the overhung part of the track. Careful hostling required! Last time I was there, the turntable pit and roundhouse foundations were still evident, but the new visitors center near the depot may have been built over it, I don't know.

Just across the river, at North Walpole, NH, was the B&M's brick roundhouse, at which Steamtown was once located. This is still in use by the Green Mountain RR, mostly for car repair today, and somewhat modified since the early days of Steamtown, when it was a true historical treasure. I think this table is 85'. The Rutland's 90-series 4-8-2s had to come over there to be turned. Regular revenue steam shots at North Walpole are quite rare, surprising, as hundreds were taken nearby at Bellows Falls.

The third table was about two miles up the river at the location called Riverside, Vermont, where once the Rutland planned to build a new, more spacious yard, but never did. This became the Steamtown site, with the Rutland's turntable from Rutland, which was 90 feet, installed in the 1960s. After Steamtown departed for PA, it eventually went to Burlington, and (I'm told) has since become a road bridge for trucks over the barge canal near the VTR's ex-Rutland roundhouse.

This undated photo from the BFHS shows the Bellows Falls roundhouse, with what appears to be "The Whippet" taking a spin on the table. Note the long gone arch bridge in the distance just over the roof of the roundhouse. The lower photo shows nearly the same scene today.