Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-02-10


shire side and a petition by the select |
men and the town railroad committee to
the public service commission, ASKING
that the order to abolish the CROSSING az
Bridge street and build an oVerpass at
fine site of the present passenger station |
he vacated amended, modified or sus-
pended as may seem best. The pettol
was forwarded Wednesday afternoon ana
the statements made therein indicate that
there is good ground for hoping that
way may be found under the general Jaw
for the Boston & Maine to build on the
Vermont side of the river, without
charter and independent of the central
Vermont road. The selectmen ana the
committee, their attorneys and the clti-
zens generally will leave no stone I'M
turned in their efforts to bring about
that result The road wants to build on
this side of the river, the town wants
them to do So capital is interested and
the outlook is far from hopeless. Pre-
sumaby an attempt to build on Vernon
street without a charter would invite
litigation. and there has been talk on
the street that it might not be unwse
to ask Governor Mead to call a special
session of the Legislature to reconsider
the whole matter. One thing can be
stated for a certainty, and that is that
the Boston & Maine will build on one
side of the river or the other, and with
out unnecessary delay. Few people have
realized that If the Boston Maine
builds in New Hampshire the result Will
be that a majority of freight and pas
senger trains now running through the
Brattleboro yard and doing business
there will be removed The directors of
the Boston & Maine approved Tuesday
the steps taken toward constructing a
line on the New Hampshire side.
A special town meeting will be held in
Festival hall next Tuesday evening al
O'Clock Unless the situation Is pre-
scented in an unexpected way it is APP
parent that the voters, under the hrst
article, will vote almost UNANIMOUSLY 10
rescind the vote approprlatinS Sloo"
toward the alterations contemplated un-
der the public service commissions or
der The second article is to see if the
town will instruct the selectmen to apply
for an order to vacate, suspend, amend
or modify the former order. This VIII
not conflict with the petition sent to the
commission this week. The town prob
ably will vote to ask for a suspension
of the order and then the hearing before
the commission would be along the lines
of such a vote.
Chief Engineer George NJ. Tompson of
Wakefield, Mass, and an engineering
crew of about n dozen men arrived IN
town Monday and established headquar-
tiers in the hall formerly occupied by the
Salvation Army in the Richardson build
ing on Elliot street. The office furn-
ture arrived a few days earlier. crew
came from bOSlOH W cuHCouiN ulIN a.
once began boring to determine the ma
ture of the ground under the river bed
near the Bradley place with a view to
selecting a site for a bridge across the
river Mr. Tompson and mis- men have
uncovered some of the stakes driven last
wear when the New Hampshire survey
was made, and their work now is to get
the details of the survey ready for the
contractors and decide just how near
they can come with the bridge to the
business part of the village. They are
now surveying about 1000 feet north of
the Connecticut river bridge, where the
river is narrower than at any point be-
tween there and the freight yard A
bridge at that point would cross di-
agonally, would be from 900 to 100 feet
long and would afford a good connec-
ton at the curve by the Bradley place.
If a bridge can be located farther south
without necessitatng too sharp a curve
1t will be so located. A rock foundation
is not necessary, although 1t Is always
better than gravel. dam having been
built at Vernon, there Will be less
securing of the river bed than there was
before.
Mr.. Tompson is here with the definite
object in view of furnishing detailed
survey for a road in New Hampshire
and that work will require a month or
more. He is not concerned about the idea
of building on the Vermont side. When
asked if he expected to look over the
ground on this side he said all the ground
here had been thoroughly surveyed so
that it was not necessary to go over II
again He will rush his work as fast as
possible and if nothing comes up To
change the situation it is expected that
the contracts will be let and that from
1900 to 1900 laborers will be on hand by
the time the ground is in condition "a
permit digging. 1t is the intention OF the
company to have the line completed be-
Wintor'S The en-
gineering problems on the east side OF
the river are much less difficult than
would be those on the west side. Where
ever the road is built it will consist of
two tracks. and in any case a new bridge
will be constructed in South Vernon
south of the present single track bridge
on account of the greatly increased bust
ness over the Ashuelot branch. \ part OF
the summers work also will be to COM
plete double tracking the road to Brat
tleboro from the north, two tracks al
ready having been laid to a point soutr
of Putney,
Definite plans for the passenger station
and freight depot, in the event Of the
road being built in New Hampshire, haN,
not been made, but If possible they viii
be located on this side Various building
could be removed for that purpose, upol
the payment of damages, including tn
Ullery building annex the Crosby store
house and the American building annex
ana prODdDlN COulu ne Hldu
for moving the electric light station t
some other location.
A despatch from Windsor says that
force of a dozen Grand Trunk engineer
under the direction of Chief Engineer II
c. Estep of Southbrdge Mass, have ar
rived there to begin a survey for n dou
BILE track road connecting the main lin
of the Central Vermont at Windsor wit
Brattleboro.
The petition sent to the public servic
commission rectes that shortly afte
the filing of the order to abolish Bridg
street, Sept 30, 1910, application wa
made to the legislature for an act per
hitting the Vermont Valley railroad t
build from South Vernon to connect wit
its line at the north side of Bridge stree
and that in consequence of the penden
cy of the bill all work in furtherance q
the carrying out of the order was sus
pended. The bill failed and work forth
with was begun by the Central Vernon
in furtherance of the order.
Section of the petition says: "You
petitioners represent that they, togeth
err with citizens of Brattleboro, actin
individually and through committees, al
making application to the Vermont Val
ley railroad and the Boston & Main
railroad, seeking to induce said raj
roads, or one of them, to construct lin
from Brattleboro to South Vernon undo