Addison Railroad Historical Society


A mixed freight pulls out of Larrabees Point on its eastward run to Leicester Jct. Larrabees Point employed a Armstrong Turntable after the Floating Bridge was dismantled in 1923. A large ice house was located near the first turntable and was used to "ice down" milk cars for many years.
"The Great Eastern Drawbridge" was built in 1871 and connected Larrabees Point, Vermont and Ticonderoga, New York. The total length of the trestle which was partly on the Vt. side and partly on the N.Y. side, was 1800 feet long and required 800 piles, each 80 feet long. The floating bridge was 300 feet long and 30 feet wide and weighed about 300 tons. The bridge was hung like a door attached to one corner of the trestle. To open the bridge, a 12 h.p. engine was used to pull a chain that laid on the lake bottom. The bridge swung open and allowed boats and steamships to pass through.
This slight mishap in 1918 resulted in the bridge being condemned but because the government took over the railroads during World War 1, the bridge was repaired and trains continued to use it although they usually pushed the cars across and let another engine pick them up on the other side.
A Rutland engine waits on the turntable at Larrabees Point . Note the two men in the lower right portion of the picture manually turning the engine.
During the 1940's, a plywood factory was built at Larrabees Point and the turntable was moved to a new site . This rare photo taken by John Gardner in 1951 shows the last turntable and in the foreground the cattle chute for the stockyard. It was here that the largest revenue shipment on the Addison arrived. In 1938 the Whiteface Ranch was formed and they shipped from Texas to Larrabees Point, 20 car loads of cattle and two car loads of calves. A few days before, two cars of saddle horses and two car loads of bulls arrived and were unloaded at North Orwell Depot. The total freight bill from Texas to Larrabees Point was $10,000.00
On May 21, 1951 service was discontinued from Whiting to Larrabees Point and the last run through the Covered Bridge at East Shoreham is seen here.
One of the many culverts on the Addison line as they appear today. The superb craftsmanship of the Italian immigrants is very evident as some of these culverts are as sturdy today as they were when they were built over 120 years ago.
A box car sits on the siding at North Orwell with the Whiting Milk Company Plant in the background. The milk loading platform is just beyond the station.
An eastbound mixed freight crosses Lake Champlain in this 1905 photo.
Snow was always a factor on the Addison and one of the toughest areas to keep open was Baldwin Cut in Whiting. Area men were hired to dig this area out with long handled shovels. During a blizzard in 1905 the engineer of a westbound train decided to back up to Whiting Village and make a highball push through the cut instead of waiting for the cut to be shoveled. The snow derailed the train and it took nearly a week to dig the train out .
The East Shoreham Covered Bridge in the late 1940's. In 1984 the Shoreham Historical Society restored the bridge and today makes a great spot for fishing and picnics.
The Baldwin Dry Bridge was located between Whiting and East Shoreham. Caution had to be exercised by any motorist that passed beneath it because the road is on a blind curve.
An early color photo by John Gardner shows the last days of the East Shoreham Station and by the looks of the rails, little revenue traffic has passed this way.
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