Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-11-04
NO NORTH WALPOLE RAILROAD
STATION.

Railroad Commissioners Think There
viii Be No Demand for One When the
Connecticut River Bridge is Completed.
The New Hampshire railroad commits
sioners have just rendered the following
report in relation to the petition for a
station of the Sullivan road in North
Walpole They do not refer at all to the
request for freight station there, but
reply exclusively in regard to passenger
service After rehearsng the petition of
w. J. King and SO others, and that the
hearing was granted September IA, 1904,
in Russell hall, North Walpole at which
hearing both sides were represented fully,
they continue:
The village of North Walpole lies along
the line of the Sullivan County railroad
and along the easterly bank of the Con-
necticut river Immediately opposite the
village of Bellows Falls in the state of
Vermont, said Bellows Falls being the
terminus of the Sullivan County railroad,
and the place where a junction is made
with the Cheshire branch of the Boston &
Maine and Rutland railroads.
There is no manufacturing business at
said North Walpole, and the settlement
there is mostly made up of the families
of workmen who are employed in the
mills at Bellows Falls. 1t has been the
custom of the workmen going to and
residents, to use the railroad bridge over
the Connecticut river, the present high
way bridge being nearly a mile down
the river During the year 1908 the rail-
road, at an expense of from $50, 900 to
$50 900 abolished the grade crossings in
said village substituting under passes for
the same. The use of the railroad bridge
by pedestrians was a source of great
danger and to protect the residents of
the village, the proprietors of the rail-
road caused their right-of way to be
fenced and the use of the bridge discon-
tinued This fencing of the right-of-
way and closing of the railroad bridge
as a foot path has compelled the resi-
dents, at great inconvenience, to use the
lower highway bridge to Bellows Falls,
and this change is the primary cause of
the petitioners request for railroad sta
ton.
The town of Walpole has recently voted,
in connection with Bellows Falls, to con-
struct, and are now building a highway
bridge across the Connecticut river just
north of the present railroad bridge. The
work on this bridge is well advanced and
it is expected the same will be completed
in two or three months, when the now
existing situation will be entirely changed.
The New Hampshire end of the new
bridge is some two thousand feet from
the depot in Bellows Falls. This will
make the station easily accessible to the
inhabitants of North Walpole and gives
them access to all the trains of the sew
eral railroads that centre there.
II a station were established on the
New Hampshire side in the village of
North Walpole, only the local trains of
the Sullivan County railroad would stop
there, which road has few local trains,
and most of the residents would for con-
venience continue to use the depot at
Bellows Falls The location of a rail-
road station at North Walpole would al
so compel the railroad to open its right
of-way which would neutralize in large
measure the protection the inhabitants
now derive from the improvements re-
Gently made at so large a cost. When
this new bridge is completed a station To-
Gated in the middle of the village would
compel the people of the south end to
travel nearly as far to get to it as to the
Bellows Falls station and fully as far If
located at the north end of the village
In view of the foregoing facts, the
board is of the opinion that the public
good does not require the erection of
passenger station at said North Walpole
as requested by said petitioners, and or
der the petition dismissed.
(Signed)
HENRY M. PUTNEY,
ARTHUR G. WHITTEMORE,
GEORGE F. BALES,
Railroad Commissioners