Vermont Railroading and Railfanning In "The Green Mountain State"

While Vermont railroading once featured celebrated railroads like the Rutland, Boston & Maine, Central Vermont and the Delaware & Hudson, like a number of other New England states, today it no longer features a Class I carrier. However, the Green Mountain State continues to be served by several Regionals and is a major tourist attraction with excursion trains like the famous Green Mountain Flyer carrying riders through the breathtaking Vermont countryside.

Vermont railroading has its beginnings dating back to 1843 when the Vermont Central was chartered to connect Windsor with Burlington, a distance of roughly 103 miles. The first segment was completed in June of 1848 connecting White River Junction with Bethel, and the entire line was opened on December 31st, 1849. The railroad eventually became part of the Central Vermont Railway, which today is part of shortline, New England Central.

While Vermont was home to railroads like the Boston & Maine, Central Vermon, and Delaware & Hudson perhaps its most legendary railroad was the Rutland. The Rutland Railroad has its beginnings dating back to the Champlain & Connecticut River Railroad, which was chartered by the State of Vermont in November of 1843 to connect Rutland and Burlington. By the time construction began on the railroad in 1847 it had changed its name to the Rutland & Burlington Railroad to better reflect its intentions. The railroad would open its main line in December of 1848.

The Rutland & Burlington in 1867 reorganizes itself into the now well-known Rutland Railroad. From this point forward the Rutland would marginally grow through leasing railroads like the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad and the Addison Railroad, and purchasing the 50-mile Chatham and Lebanon Railroad.

With leased lines included the Rutland extended just over 400 miles in total on a system that looked a bit like an upside-down “L”; extending from Chatham, New York to Alburgh, Vermont with a western extension from Alburgh to Ogdensburgh, New York. The railroad’s one major branch line extended from Rutland southeasterly to Bellows Falls where it connected with the B&M.

For all of the fondness and status that surrounded the Rutland, particularly by the people of Vermont, the railroad struggled to survive for most of its life. Trouble first began in 1871 when it was leased to the Central Vermont, which held control of the Rutland until the CV entered receivership in 1896 allowing the railroad to regain its independence.

However, it again fell under the control of an outside railroad when the New York Central gained control of the Rutland in 1904 selling half its interest to the New Haven Railroad in 1911. Together both owned 52% of the railroad’s common stock until 1941 when they sold their interest in the company.

Things took a turn for the worst in 1927 when that year major flooding in the Vermont region heavily damaged large sections of the Rutland’s right-of-way. Then, in May of 1938 the railroad entered receivership and was on the verge of total shutdown until the unions agreed to a wage reduction in August that kept the railroad operating.

However, just 15 years later the Rutland was in trouble again (having already reorganized in 1950 to become the Rutland Railway), this time with a strike as the railroad’s organized workers would not comply with a new change in operational practices, which was to move the center of the railroad’s operations from Rutland to Vermont's larger city of Burlington.

The point of this move was to increase the length of train movements to both gain longer hauls (and more profit per train) and to more efficiently utilize man-hours. Unfortunately, the unions stubbornness to not comply with the change not only resulted in a total loss of passenger traffic in 1953 but also a second strike in September of 1961 that left the Rutland with little choice but to petition the ICC for total shutdown.

The grant was approved in September of 1962 and on January 29th, 1963 the Rutland ceased to exist. Thankfully, in a proactive move the State of Vermont purchased all of the remaining Rutland property and today it is the under the direction of the Vermont Rail System which includes the Vermont Railway and Green Mountain Railway, both of which derive their livery from the Rutland.

While the Rutland was never a large carrier, even in its own region, it was in many ways the face of Vermont itself and is remembered for its classic green and gold livery and long trains of milk. To learn more about the Rutland please visit one of the below websites:

Today, Vermont railroading, along with the Vermont Rail System, is the realm of Regionals and shortlines like the St. Lawrence & Atlantic, New England Central and Pan Am Railways. And, passenger service can still be found in the Green Mountain State as well with Amtrak operating the Vermonter between St. Albans and Washington D.C. and the Ethan Allen Express between Rutland and New York City.

Lastly, Vermont railroading offers some of the most spectacular excursion trains in the country with the Green Mountain Railroad offering splendid views of the Vermont countryside aboard one of its many trains. Also, be sure and visit the New England Transportation Museum to learn more about Vermont’s rail history.

In total these railroads operate over 500 miles of track although at one time the Green Mountain State was home to over 1,000 miles of trackage. For more information on Vermont railroading in terms of route mileage over the years please refer to the chart above.