1905 - NEARING COMPLETION. Trains Will Be Running Over Bethel Granite Railway in a Few Weeks.

The construction of the Bethel Granite railway is rapidly nearing completion, and trains will be running over it in a few weeks. The work was begun early in May, last, and has progressed rapidly. The track is now laid for two-thirds of the distance and the work of ballasting has begun. Ross & McRae, of Strathroy, Ont., are the contractors.

The Bethel Granite railway is a little over five miles and runs from a point on the main line of the Central Vermont railway, near the station at Bethel up on to Bethel mountain to the white granite quarries. The quarries of the E. B. Ellis Co., the Hardwick Granite Co., and others will be reached. The principal business of the road will be to haul granite from the quarries and to take machinery and supplies to these quarries.

The quarries which are reached by this new road lie between 600 and 700 feet above the village of Bethel. The ruling grade is about 3 1/ 2 per cent or about 185 feet to the mile.

The Bethel Granite railway is the third mountain railway to be built in Vermont, the others being from Barre back to the East Barre and Graniteville quarries, and from Hardwick back to the Woodbury quarries, but the maximum grade is very much less than either of these other roads. It is the only mountain line which can be operated by regular road engines. This feature makes a distinct saving in equipment and operation.

The new line is what is known as a switchback road. The trains will proceed about 1 1/ 4 miles from Bethel out on the mountain side and switch back on to a track running in the opposite direction and above the other. The road is something like a letter "V".

When completed, the Bethel Granite railway will be operated by the Central Vermont Railway Co.