NEB&W Guide to Gassetts, VT

Last Update: 2009-09-25

Layout Photo Gallery Table of Contents

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• There were members of both the Gassett and Gassette families (same family, different spelling) in Vermont that go back to at least the 1790's. Apparently the town was first named "Gassett's Station" so the "S" is not for the plural but the possessive of this family. The name of the village apparently dates back to 1859 and was still called Gassett's Station through the 1880's. (Haven't found which specific Gassett the town is named after.)

• Topographic map c. 1929, before the talc plant was built and the overpass moved slightly north.
  • [Map.]
  • [Close-up.]

• The Gassetts talc plant sat nestled in a valley just around a curve north of the depot area. Prototype views c. 1970's.
  • [Looking south.]
  • [Looking south. Photo by Jim Shaughnessy.]
  • [Looking north.]
  • [Another view looking north. This photo is c. 1981.]
  • [The bins.]

• The highway bridge over the tracks was originally closer to the talc mill.
  • [View from a train c. late '50's. Photo courtesy Scott Whitney.]
  • [Looking south from the new bridge. A section of the old bridge is still visible. Photo c. 1972 by yours truly.]

• Richard Hutter took these photos in the 1960's.
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo of just the plant. Note there is no siding on this side which would eventually serve the two silos.]
• The talc plant on our layout was scratchbuilt by Al Wood.
  • [Model view, looking south.]
  • [Model view, looking north.]
  • [Model view, up close. The prototype had the walls covered by what looked like large sheets of asbestos.]

• An NEB&W train works the siding.
  • [Model view.]

• An NEB&W train crosses the stream that parallels the talc plant.
  • [Model view.]
  • [Another view.]

Gassetts, North of the Overpass

• On our layout, we call this Duttonsville Gulf, since the scene is separated by our Summit scene. See Duttonsville Gulf.

Gassetts, Not Being Modeled

• The Gassetts depot and "downtown" was about half a mile south of the talc plant. (Not much a downtown.) The depot was one of the funky Rutland style with the large cupola.
  • [Photo c. 1920's courtesy Bob Nimke.]
  • [Photo c. 1960's of the squat water, by Richard Hutter.]

• Bob Nimke has a track map dated 1944, showing the depot, water tower, etc. This map shows a lease to Montany & Montany, who dealt in coal. M&M unloaded coal from hoppers, and by means of portable conveyors, dropped it into holes in the roof of a low bins located on the side of the embankment. The coal was loaded into trucks on the downward side of the bins.
  • [Track map courtesy Bob Nimke.]
  • [Photo of the sheds and conveyor courtesy Bob Nimke.]
  • [Photo c. 1981.]
  Don't know if the facility was built in '44 (which seems pretty late for a coal dealer to start up) or the map reflects a change in company ownership and hence a change in the lease.
  But this is a great way to model a coal operation without having a big ungainly structure in the way.

• A farmhouse. Note that like the farm we model from Gassetts, the house is connected to the barn.
  • [Postcard. (Have no idea where this farmhouse was, other than being in Gassetts.)]

• Here are some early photos (c. 1900) of the area around Gassetts.
  • [Photo with a covered bridge. I think we are looking south and the talc plant would some day be to the far left.]
  • [Another photo with a covered bridge. I think we are looking south and to the right, out of the picture, is the farm scene.]
  • [A photo of a truss bridge. Have no idea where this was.]

See our Layout Guide for Gassetts.

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