Various pictures from Harriman Dam to Mountain mills that didn't fit in the slideshow and were taken out of sequence. These were all but the last taken on my hike north to mountain mills (the slide show is from the return hike). Keep your eyes peeled for rail tie snow. IE where the snow doesn't melt on the area where the rail ties used to sit. I don't know if this occurs because the ground is more packed from the ties, or if the ties are buried (I didn't dig). This whole section is a good 7 or 8 miles long. There are plenty of rewarding sights along the way so I would suggest hiking (or skiing, as this is part of the catamount ski trail) the trail. This section was abandoned after a massive spring flood on March 18 1936 wiped out several sections including 2 crucial fills (both shown) and the trestle over the reservoir.
This section was installed in 1923 when the Harriman reservoir was built thus flooding the original grade (which is under water). I suspect the ties found in the woods here came from the old grade which means they could very well be over 100 years old (1891). Either that or they are from 1923 when the section was installed. When this section was destroyed the rail was ripped out and sold as scrap. The money was reinvested in the remaining 11 miles which ran from Hoosac Tunnel to Readsboro (only to be damaged severely in the Hurricane of Sept 21 1938).
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