All Aboard the Foliage Special JOHN MAHONEY
NEWPORT, VERMONT | The leaves are beginning to color up and it's passenger train time again around Lake Memphremagog.
The Northern Vermont Railroad - a short-line freight hauler that's part of the Iron Road outfit - is bringing back the glory days in the Northeast Kingdom, at least for a few weekends this autumn while the foliage is at its peak.
The choice ride is in the first-class parlor car with its plump sofas, comfortable chairs, end tables with lamps, and wall-to-wall carpeting.
But the trip down the 140-year-old NVR corridor through the Barton River valley and over the summit to St. Johnsbury down by the Connecticut River is also fine if you're riding in a standard passenger car, or a double-decker urban commuter from the Ontario people-moving rail system.
This year, the NVR is hauling the executive business car from the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad from northern Maine. It's a look-but-can't ride situation but Major briefed a local alderman and two reporters on the freight business in the lounge end of the car. It's the only way to travel...
The interior has been stripped and refurbished in elegant wood paneling and wall-to-wall. The comfy upholstered furniture is new and lush. It sleeps eight. There is a kitchen and quarters for the cook and whoever. Friends, this is my kind of decadence. Here's what you have to do to get on board:
NEWPORT
ST. JOHNSBURY
THE FARE
INFORMATION
© 1998 John Mahoney/Log Cabin Chronicles/9.98 |
Several dozen enthusiastic freeloaders took District Manager Andy Major up on his offer of a day-long junket to St. Johnsbury and back on Thursday, September 10, breakfast and lunch provided. I joined the 