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Rutland Railroad: Map, Rosters, History, Logo

Last revised: September 24, 2026

By: Adam Burns

The Rutland was the railroad Vermonters called their own. Reporting mark RUT. Headquarters in the city the company was named for. Timothy Follett chartered it, as the Champlain & Connecticut River Rail Road, on November 1, 1843, so his Lake Champlain steamboats would have a railroad to the Connecticut River. The first train ran from Bellows Falls to Burlington on December 18, 1849. Marble, lumber, and milk were the freight that belonged to the line. Bridge cars, and for a few years a fleet of lake boats, were the freight that paid the bills when they paid at all. After November 1, 1950, the company was the Rutland Railway, and the Alcos wore forest green and yellow under the slogan The Green Mountain Gateway.

The last Rutland train ran on September 25, 1961. Vermont bought the lines worth keeping, and the Vermont Railway opened on January 6, 1964.

Rutland Alco RS3 203 with a milk train on the marble causeway across the northern islands of Lake Champlain in the 1950s

Rutland RS3 #203 on the marble causeway across South Hero, Grand Isle, and North Hero, with what appears to be a milk train, in the 1950s. Tom Stewart photo. The fill is the Island Line Rail Trail.

On this page: At a glance · Follett and Paine · July 9, 1867 · The islands and Ogdensburg · The Corkscrew · New York Central years · System map, 1940 · The Whippet · Flyer and Mount Royal · Steam after 1900 · Six RS-1s, nine RS-3s, one 70-tonner · 1953, 1960, 1961 · What Vermont kept

At a glance

Rutland Railroad logo

The Rutland Railroad logo. Author’s work.

ItemDetail
RailroadRutland Railroad, then Rutland Railway from November 1, 1950. Mark RUT
HeadquartersRutland, Vermont
GenesisChamplain & Connecticut River Rail Road, chartered November 1, 1843. Renamed Rutland & Burlington November 6, 1847
First trainDecember 18, 1849, Bellows Falls–Burlington
ReorganizedRutland Railroad, effective July 9, 1867
Last trainSeptember 25, 1961
AbandonmentICC approval September 18, 1962. Effective date postponed to May 20, 1963
StatesVermont, New York. A short reach into Quebec at Noyan
Route-miles415 (1930). An upside-down L, Chatham to Alburgh, then west to Ogdensburg, plus the original main line Rutland–Bellows Falls
Gauge4 ft 8½ in
SloganThe Green Mountain Gateway
Steam since 190074 locomotives. Drury’s grid is below. Last steam: Mountains 90–93, March 1955
Diesel6 Alco RS-1s, 9 RS-3s, 1 GE 70-tonner. All below
SuccessorState of Vermont, August 1963. Vermont Railway from January 6, 1964. Green Mountain Railroad on Rutland–Bellows Falls

Follett and Paine

Timothy Follett already ran steamboats on Lake Champlain. He wanted a railroad from the Connecticut, up the Williams River, through Mount Holly and Rutland, and north along the lake to Burlington. The Vermont General Assembly chartered that idea on November 1, 1843. The same session chartered Charles Paine’s Vermont Central on a more northerly line, through Northfield, Paine’s own town, by way of the White and Onion river valleys. The two men stayed rivals. The two railroads stayed rivals for the rest of the century. That other company is the Central Vermont.

On November 6, 1847, Follett renamed his road the Rutland & Burlington, which is what he meant to build. Construction finished in 1849. To mark it, the railroad raced a team of horses with the mail between Bellows Falls and Burlington. The train won, by a good two hours. The first train over the whole line ran on December 18, 1849.

Traffic did not follow the grading. Jim Shaughnessy’s verdict in The Rutland Road is that the railroad connected nowhere with nowhere, and Paine’s Vermont Central refused a friendly interchange. Mortgage trustees took the property on November 19, 1853. On June 25, 1867, the owners reorganized it as the Rutland Railroad, effective July 9. John Page became president in 1868.

July 9, 1867

Page went looking for railroads that would actually trade cars. The Cheshire, later Boston & Maine, was the partner at Bellows Falls. The Rensselaer & Saratoga, later a piece of the Delaware & Hudson, was the partner toward Whitehall and Troy. Across the lake, the Whitehall & Plattsburgh was trying to build its own line north into Canada. The Rutland leased that road’s Ticonderoga–Port Henry segment on September 26, 1870, leased the Vermont & Massachusetts on December 1, and leased the little Addison Railroad, Leicester Junction to Larrabee’s Point, on December 7 for 99 years. In 1852 the Rutland & Burlington had bought the Champlain Transportation Company. The boats came and went. The idea of a water connection did not.

The Vermont Central answered by leasing the whole Rutland. The lease is dated December 30, 1870, for 20 years from January 1, 1871. On December 31, 1890, the Central Vermont renewed it for 99 years from January 1, 1891. Charles Clement was president of the Rutland from 1884. His father, Percival W. Clement, took the chair in 1888. The Central Vermont went into receivership and handed the Rutland back to its owners on May 7, 1896. The feud was over. The building was not.

The islands and Ogdensburg

Between Burlington and the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain at Rouses Point there was open lake and a string of islands. The Rutland-Canadian closed that gap in 1899: about 40 miles, built in a year, leaping South Hero, Grand Isle, and North Hero on a marble causeway riprapped against the ice, then a short crossing from Alburgh to Rouses Point. The Rutland leased the new company on July 1, 1899, and consolidated it on January 21, 1901.

The Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain, Alburgh to the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg, came in at the end of October 1901, consolidated October 26–28. Online freight on that line was thin. Milk and other farm products were not, and Ogdensburg was a port. Until the boats were taken away, Chicago freight moved across the lakes in ships of the Rutland Transit Company and then the length of the railroad. At Norwood the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, later New York Central, took cars. At Malone the Mohawk & Malone, also later Central, did the same. A short branch off Alburgh reached Noyan, Quebec.

Rutland Alco RS3 205 passing the covered bridge at Bartonsville Vermont in the early 1950s

RS3 #205 passes the covered bridge at Bartonsville, on the Williams River, in the early 1950s. Jim Shaughnessy photo. The 1870 bridge, 151 feet, went out in the flood from Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011. A new bridge opened January 26, 2013.

The Corkscrew

South of Rutland the railroad still ended in the air. The Bennington & Rutland, Rutland to Bennington, was consolidated on September 6, 1901. The Chatham & Lebanon Valley, the rest of the way to the Boston & Albany and the New York Central at Chatham, New York, was consolidated December 23–24, 1901. Together they were the Chatham Division. Trainmen called it the Corkscrew: 263 curves, steep grades, and the only southern outlet the Rutland owned. Commodore Vanderbilt had already guessed it would be a hard railroad to run. He was right. Passenger trains came off the division on June 25, 1932. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved abandonment on May 20, 1953, 57 miles, and scrap crews pulled the iron that summer, reaching Bennington on August 7. The division has its own page, the Corkscrew.

New York Central years

Dr. W. Seward Webb, William H. Vanderbilt’s son-in-law and the builder of the Mohawk & Malone, became president on May 1, 1902. In 1904–05 the New York Central & Hudson River bought control. From 1905 to 1913, Rutland locomotives carried Central numbers and were built to Central designs, a step behind the engines Schenectady was building for the parent. In February 1911 the Central sold half its Rutland stock to the New York, New Haven & Hartford. The two roads together held about 52 percent until 1941, when both sold out to private investors.

The good years were real. By 1906 the accounts were strong enough to pay for new locomotives and cars. Dividends started in 1909. An express milk train ran the length of the system, filled out to more than 40 cars at Rutland, and sent some of them east on the Boston & Maine at Bellows Falls and most of them south over the Corkscrew to New York. The lake boats made Ogdensburg a Chicago port. On July 1, 1914, the Panama Canal Act’s rule against a railroad competing with itself by water took the Rutland Transit Company away. The docks at Ogdensburg went quiet. The Central’s interest thinned with them.

The United States Railroad Administration ran the property from December 28, 1917, to March 1, 1920. The 1920s brought the milk business back up. Then the Great Flood of November 3–5, 1927, tore up long stretches of the railroad. On May 5, 1938, the company went into receivership. Vermont, its towns, and a “Save the Rutland” club formed that July put up money and forgave taxes. In August the unions took a wage cut that kept the trains moving.

Official 1940 system map of the Rutland Railroad

An official system map of the Rutland Railroad, 1940. Author’s collection. Chatham is still on the map. It came out in 1953.

The Whippet

Online customers were never enough, so the traffic department went after bridge freight. On January 9, 1939, the railroad put on The Whippet, a timed fast freight from the Boston & Maine at Bellows Falls to the New York Central at Norwood, via Rutland and the Ogdensburg line. To advertise it, shop forces skirted Consolidation No. 28, a 1913 Alco classed G-34d, and painted her black and silver with the name on the tender. One of the print advertisements pictured a Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4. Early in the war the skirting came off, the steel was turned in, and the name was dropped. The fast schedule stayed. The train’s own story is the Whippet.

Flyer and Mount Royal

The Rutland’s named passenger trains were the Green Mountain Flyer and the Mount Royal, New York and Boston to Montreal with the New York Central, the Boston & Maine, and Canadian connections. Ten-Wheelers and Pacifics were the usual power. After 1946 a Mountain sometimes drew them. The Central Vermont had its own north–south railroad across the state, and the Rutland never owned that market. The three-week strike that began June 26, 1953, was the first in the company’s history. When the men went back, the passenger trains did not.

Rutland Railroad yard and terminal at Rutland Vermont looking north in the late steam era

The yard and terminal at Rutland, looking north, late 1940s or early 1950s. American-Rails.com collection.

Steam after 1900

In 1913 the railroad renumbered and reclassed what it owned. Drury’s chapter counts engines built since 1900. Americans, the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Consolidations of 1897 (later 10–12, class G-14, retired in the first half of 1934), and the nineteenth-century Moguls inherited from the Bennington & Rutland sit outside that grid. The Moguls that were still on the books after 1913, including those older engines, are the Mogul page. Only two Moguls in the since-1900 list survived into the Rutland’s own numbering as a pair: E-1-d 144 and 145, Schenectady, 1900, retired in 1946.

Ten-Wheelers were the dual-purpose engine, and they have no separate article. Two groups arrived in 1902. F-12s 40–49, ten engines from Schenectady and Manchester, were the passenger engines: 69-inch drivers, about 156,000 pounds. F-11s 50–57, eight Schenectady engines, were the dual-service engines, with 63-inch drivers. Many of the F-12s were gone by the early 1930s. The rest, and the F-11s, lasted into the diesel years. Four more came in 1910, class F-2h, later 70–73 (they had been 2036–2039): 63-inch drivers, inside piston valves, Stephenson gear, about 10,000 pounds heavier than an F-12. Numbers 70 and 71 were superheated in 1913 and 1914. Numbers 72 and 73 received Walschaerts gear in 1920. Six of 1912, class F-2j, later 74–79 (they had been 2074–2079), were the modern Ten-Wheelers: superheated, piston valves, Walschaerts, fireboxes over the rear drivers, 198,000 to 211,000 pounds. They worked through dieselization. A 1912 engine of this family was still in service when the Alcos arrived.

Rutland 4-6-0 76 on the Armstrong turntable at Bennington Vermont April 12 1952

Ten-Wheeler #76 on the Armstrong turntable at Bennington, April 12, 1952. Steven Payne photo. She is one of the 1912 F-2j engines, 74–79.

Consolidations came first with the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain. In 1897 that road bought three from Schenectady, later Rutland 10–12, class G-14, about 123 tons and roughly 31,000 pounds tractive effort. They were retired between January and June 1934. Built in 1897, they sit ahead of the since-1900 grid below. The engines bought new from 1907 to 1913 were the heavy freight power until the Mikados: about 210,000 pounds, wide fireboxes over the rear drivers, and, even on the last of them, inside valves and Stephenson gear. They were classed G-34. In the 1913 numbers they are 14–31. G-34a is 18–23 (1907), G-34b is 14–17 (1910), G-34c is 24 and 25 (1911), and G-34d is 26–31 (1913). The 1911 and 1913 engines were superheated when built. Numbers 14–23 were superheated between May 1915 and January 1926. In 1939, during the campaign to keep the bankrupt railroad, No. 28 briefly wore running-board skirting for the Whippet. The last of the G-34s left the roster in 1952.

The United States Railroad Administration assigned the Rutland six USRA light Mikados in 1918, the same design the New York Central used. Schenectady built them. On the Rutland they were class H-6a, numbers 32–37. They carried the freight trains for thirty years and were retired in 1951 and 1952. That roster is the Mikado page.

Three Pacifics of 1925, class K-1, numbers 80–82, were about the size of a USRA light Pacific and had 69-inch drivers. Three more, class K-2, numbers 83–85, came from Schenectady in 1929: 73-inch drivers, 292,500 pounds, and a 28-inch piston stroke where the New York Central’s K-14 used 26. They were close to that Central class in most other dimensions, with a front-end throttle, cast trailing truck, and paired air pumps on the pilot. They drew the Flyer and the Mount Royal, and the hot milk. The class page is the Pacifics. Retirement ran from 1951 to 1953.

Rutland 4-6-2 84 class K-2 at the Rutland Vermont station in 1951

Pacific #84, class K-2, moving slowly in reverse at the station in Rutland in 1951, likely heading for her train. Ralph Phillips photo. Schenectady built 83–85 in 1929. The three K-2s were retired between 1951 and 1953.

At the end of the Second World War the power was worn out. In 1946 the road found the money for four Mountains, class L-1, numbers 90–93, from Schenectady. They had 73-inch Boxpok drivers, 26-by-30-inch cylinders, and weighed 348,000 pounds, a little under a USRA heavy Mountain. They were light enough to go anywhere on the railroad, and they often worked passenger trains. Delivered in dark green, they later went to black. The smokebox front and the air-pump shields echoed the 4-8-4s of the Toledo, Peoria & Western and the Union Pacific. Number 93 was the last of the four, and the four were the last 4-8-2s built by a commercial builder in North America. Neighbors were already buying road-switchers. Four years on, a steam shop kept open for four engines had no arithmetic left in it. The Mountains were retired in March 1955 and cut up. Their page is the L-1 Mountains.

Switchers. Most of the 0-6-0s had 51-inch drivers, slide valves, and Stephenson gear, and differed mainly in weight. B-9s 102–104, Manchester, 1902, were gone in 1945 and 1946. Cooke built 100 and 101 in 1907. Manchester built 105 in 1913. Number 106, Schenectady, 1914, was bought after Central control ended and had piston valves and Walschaerts gear. Number 107, also Schenectady, 1914, had 57-inch drivers and weighed 168,000 pounds. The Rutland bought her secondhand from the neighboring Clarendon & Pittsford in 1946, for $500, and kept her until 1953. Two USRA 0-8-0s, class U-3, numbers 109 and 110, were built at Pittsburgh in 1918. They had been allotted to the Rutland, went to the New York Central instead, and reached Vermont after the war. They were retired in 1951.

TypeClassNumbersQtyBuilderBuiltRetiredNotes
0-6-0B-2-a100, 1012Cooke19071951, 1952
0-6-0B-9102–1043Manchester19021945, 1946
0-6-0B-2-b1051Manchester19131951
0-6-0B-2-c1061Schenectady19141951Piston valves, Walschaerts. Bought after NYC control ended
0-6-0B-31071Schenectady19141953To Rutland 1946 from the Clarendon & Pittsford, $500. 57-inch drivers, 168,000 lb
0-8-0U-3109, 1102Pittsburgh19181951USRA. Allotted to the Rutland, diverted to the NYC, arrived after the war
2-6-0E-1-d144, 1452Schenectady19001946Only Moguls in the since-1900 grid. Older engines: Mogul page
2-8-0G-34a18–236Schenectady19071939–1951No. 28 skirted for the Whippet, 1939
2-8-0G-34b14–174Schenectady19101948, 1951
2-8-0G-34c24, 252Schenectady19111950, 1951
2-8-0G-34d26–316Schenectady19131951, 1952Superheated when built
2-8-2H-6a32–376Schenectady19181951, 1952USRA light Mikado. Mikado page
4-6-0F-1150–578Schenectady19021946–1951Dual service. 63-inch drivers
4-6-0F-1240–4910Schenectady, Manchester19021932–1951Passenger. 69-inch drivers, about 156,000 lb
4-6-0F-2h70–734Schenectady19101951, 1952ex-2036–2039. Inside piston valves, Stephenson gear
4-6-0F-2j74–796Schenectady19121951–1953ex-2074–2079. Superheat, Walschaerts, firebox over the rear drivers
4-6-2K-180–823Schenectady1925195269-inch drivers. Pacific page
4-6-2K-283–853Schenectady19291951–195373-inch drivers, 292,500 lb, 28-inch stroke
4-8-2L-190–934Schenectady19461955Last commercial 4-8-2s in North America. Mountain page. Retired March 1955

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 281–282. Built since 1900. Retirement years are Drury’s. Month-level dates, where a class page has them, stay on that page.

Six RS-1s, nine RS-3s, one 70-tonner

The reorganization of November 1, 1950, made the company a railway and put Gardner A. Caverly in charge of making it cheaper to run. The steam engines, the Mountains aside, were old, tired, and expensive. Scrap from the steam fleet was the down payment on nine Alco RS-3s, one of them the builder’s demonstrator, six RS-1s, and a General Electric 70-tonner. The RS-1s were 1,000-horsepower road-switchers, class DRS-1, numbers 400–405, good for the way freights and the passenger trains that were still running. The RS-3s were 1,600-horsepower, classes DRS-6a, DRS-6b, and DRS-6c, numbers 200–208. Number 200 had been Alco demonstrator 1601, built September 13, 1950. The 70-tonner, No. 500, class DES-2, was a 600-horsepower branch engine, serial 31175, order 281-7040, outshopped in December 1951. Sixteen locomotives replaced the steam roster. The Mountains outlasted the purchase. They were gone in March 1955.

ModelClassNo.BuilderSerialOrderBuiltNotes
RS-3DRS-6a200Alco-GE78252September 13, 1950ex-Alco demonstrator 1601. To L&N 256, April 1963
RS-3DRS-6a201Alco-GE78594May 1, 1951To L&N 257
RS-3DRS-6b202Alco-GE78880June 7, 1951To L&N 258
RS-3DRS-6b203Alco-GE78881June 8, 1951To L&N 259
RS-3DRS-6b204Alco-GE78882June 12, 1951To L&N 260
RS-3DRS-6c205Alco-GE80155August 13, 1952To L&N 261
RS-3DRS-6c206Alco-GE80156August 13, 1952To L&N 262. Shipped from Ogdensburg
RS-3DRS-6c207Alco-GE80157August 13, 1952To L&N 263
RS-3DRS-6c208Alco-GE80158August 14, 1952To L&N 264
RS-1DRS-1400Alco-GE793491951Sold September 1956 to the Tennessee Railroad as No. 4. Later Arkansas & Missouri 20
RS-1DRS-1401Alco-GE79350October 19, 1951Vermont Railway, 1964. Later Consumers Power, Essexville, Michigan
RS-1DRS-1402Alco-GE79572October 30, 1951Vermont Railway. Later Coopersville & Marne, Michigan
RS-1DRS-1403Alco-GE79573November 8, 1951Vermont Railway. Sold 1972 to the Sabine River & Northern
RS-1DRS-1404Alco-GE79574November 16, 1951Norwood & St. Lawrence, 1964
RS-1DRS-1405Alco-GE79575November 21, 1951Leased 1964 to Nelson Blount. Sold April 1, 1965, to the Green Mountain Railroad. Still there
70-tonDES-2500GE31175281-7040December 1951Sold August 1962 to the Clarendon & Pittsford. Later Vermont Railway, then Kelley’s Creek & Northwestern 11

Builder numbers and RS-3 / RS-1 dates: Rutland Railway Corp. chart of July 31, 1962, in the Rutland Railroad Historical Society Newsliner (Robert W. Adams), except RS-1 400, from the society’s diesel roster. GE serial and order: The Diesel Shop. Dispositions: Rutland Railroad Historical Society. Alco specification numbers were not on those lists. The nine RS-3s went to the Louisville & Nashville in April 1963 as 256–264, in order, and were traded back to Alco and to Electro-Motive about 1964–66.

1953, 1960, 1961

Dieselization, the loss of the Corkscrew, a cut that took the payroll from nearly 1,200 people to about 400, and a new fleet of freight cars were the railway’s attempt to live inside its traffic. Milk was leaving for the highway. On June 26, 1953, the unions struck, the first time they ever had. The shutdown lasted three weeks. Freight came back. Passengers did not. The later 1950s were briefly kinder. By 1960 the only cut left was in the work rules.

President William Ginsburg wanted two operating divisions instead of three. Crews had long changed at Rutland: Bellows Falls or Bennington into Rutland, Rutland to Alburgh, Alburgh to Ogdensburg. The new plan met the trains at Burlington and ran them through. The men walked out on September 16, 1960. A federal injunction under the Railway Labor Act ended that strike on November 1, after 41 days, and started a year of cooling off. The year changed nothing. On September 25, 1961, the strike resumed, and the last Rutland train ran that day.

The company applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for abandonment of the entire railroad on December 4, 1961. Hearings ran seven days in Rutland and two in Malone in March and April 1962. On September 18, 1962, the Commission approved abandonment effective January 29, 1963. The Railway Labor Executives’ Association won an injunction in Cleveland on January 28, and the effective date moved to May 20, 1963, so Vermont could find a buyer. In mid-June the unions and the company did settle. The railroad was already gone.

Former Rutland RS3s at Louisville Kentucky after sale to the Louisville and Nashville April 4 1963

Former Rutland RS3s at Louisville, Kentucky, April 4, 1963, after the sale to the Louisville & Nashville. American-Rails.com collection. Eight of the nine left via the Delaware & Hudson at Rutland. No. 206 was shipped from Ogdensburg. On the L&N they were 256–264.

What Vermont kept

On May 29, 1963, the legislature passed a $2.7 million bill so the state could buy pieces of the Rutland and lease them to operators. The purchase of the Vermont lines closed in August 1963: Burlington south through Rutland toward Bennington and White Creek, and the line from Rutland to Bellows Falls. The Ogdensburg extension, and the causeway from Burlington across the islands to Alburgh, were left out and taken up. The causeway is the Island Line Rail Trail. A 31-mile piece of the old Ogdensburg line, Norfolk to Ogdensburg, came back under the Vermont Rail System in 2002 as the New York & Ogdensburg.

The Vermont Railway was incorporated October 25, 1963. Jay Wulfson, from the Middletown & New Jersey, was the first president. The first train ran January 6, 1964, on 128.6 miles the state had bought south of Burlington. Nelson Blount took operating rights from Rutland to Bellows Falls, called the railroad the Green Mountain, and in 1964 leased RS-1 405, which the Green Mountain bought outright on April 1, 1965. She is still in Vermont. The two roads, and the green and yellow that came off the Rutland’s Alcos, are the Vermont Rail System.

Related reading on American-Rails.com

Sources

  • Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Revised ed. Waukesha: Kalmbach, pp. 281–282. Since-1900 class table; NYC numbers 1905–1913; Ten-Wheelers; Consolidations and Whippet No. 28; USRA Mikados; Pacifics including K-2 in 1929 and the 28-inch stroke; Mountains 90–93 as the last commercial 4-8-2s, retired 1955; switchers, including 107 from the Clarendon & Pittsford in 1946 and USRA 0-8-0s 109–110; diesel purchase as scrap down-payment on nine RS-3s (one a demonstrator), six RS-1s, and a GE 70-tonner. Recommended reading named there: Jim Shaughnessy, The Rutland Road, second edition
  • Rutland Railroad Historical Society timeline. Charter November 1, 1843; first train December 18, 1849; reorganization effective July 9, 1867; leases of 1870; Central Vermont lease and the return on May 7, 1896; 1899–1901 consolidations; Webb May 1, 1902; NYC control 1904–05; New Haven half-interest February 1911; Panama Canal Act water rule July 1, 1914; USRA December 28, 1917–March 1, 1920; flood November 3–5, 1927; Chatham passenger June 25, 1932; receivership May 5, 1938; Whippet January 9, 1939; stock sold by NYC and New Haven in 1941; Railway November 1, 1950; Chatham abandonment May 20, 1953; strike June 26, 1953; strikes of September 16, 1960, and September 25, 1961; ICC dates through May 20, 1963; Vermont funding bill May 29, 1963
  • Rutland Railroad Historical Society diesel roster, and the July 31, 1962 Rutland Railway Corp. chart published in the society Newsliner (Robert W. Adams, “How Rutland RS1 #405 Became GMRC #405”). RS-3 serials 78252–80158 and build dates; RS-1 401–405 serials 79350 and 79572–79575; demonstrator 200; L&N 256–264; RS-1 and 70-ton dispositions. RS-1 400 serial 79349 from the society roster
  • The Diesel Shop, John Komanesky, GE 70-ton production roster. Rutland 500, serial 31175, order 281-7040, December 1951. Same figures on the American-Rails 70-tonner page
  • Shaughnessy, Jim. The Rutland Road. Second edition. Howell-North. The “nowhere to nowhere” line, the milk trains, and the operating narrative behind the society timeline. Railroad magazine, November 1922, p. 130; August 1946, p. 33; April 1970, p. 26. Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin No. 101, p. 82. Trains, March 1946, p. 34
  • Railfan & Railroad. “Silence in Rutland: Epilogue.” The 41-day strike of 1960, the cooling-off year, RS-3s stored at Rutland, No. 206 shipped from Ogdensburg, and the April 4, 1963, delivery to the Louisville & Nashville

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    The Texas & Eastern Railroad has finished the first phase of a roughly $30 million track project between Palestine and Rusk. Phase I used a $13.4 million CRISI grant. Phase II, at $8.54 million, adds…

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  11. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx Get Subway Power Design

    Nov 04, 26 09:12 AM

    STV said on November 2, 2026, that MTA Construction and Development selected the firm to manage design of 10 subway substations and 12 circuit breaker houses in four New York boroughs. No contract pri…

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  12. Chicago's Regional Transit Budget Goes Out for Comment

    Nov 04, 26 09:07 AM

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    The Northern Illinois Transit Authority opened its first regional budget for comment through December 4, 2026. The proposal is $5.04 billion for 2027 operations and $9.73 billion in capital work throu…

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  13. VIA Rail Finishes the Toronto Maintenance Centre

    Nov 04, 26 09:05 AM

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    VIA Rail completed a four-year modernization of its Toronto Maintenance Centre on November 2, 2026. The Government of Canada invested $310 million. The shop supports 32 Corridor trainsets and will sus…

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  14. Brightline Suspends Orlando Service for High Water

    Nov 04, 26 09:02 AM

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    Brightline suspended trains between Orlando and West Palm Beach on November 2, 2026, because of high water in Brevard County. A later post the same day kept the suspension until 2:00 p.m. on November…

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  15. Hiawatha West Draws Federal Funding Toward Madison

    Nov 04, 26 08:58 AM

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    Amtrak welcomed a CRISI selection for Hiawatha West, extending Chicago-Milwaukee service toward Madison, Watertown, and Pewaukee. Wisconsin said on October 16 that the award is over $218 million.

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  16. Seattle's Train Maintenance Facility Opens for Airo Trains

    Nov 04, 26 08:56 AM

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    Amtrak cut the ribbon October 23, 2026, on a $250 million Seattle shop for Airo trains on the Cascades route. The building came in on time and $50 million under budget and opens in phases through the…

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  17. Aberdeen Carolina and Western Wins a $19.9 Million Grant

    Nov 04, 26 08:46 AM

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    The Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway won a $19.9 million CRISI grant for about 30 miles of welded rail in Montgomery and Stanly counties. The railroad and NCDOT are putting up a 52 percent match…

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  18. Alco "C628" Locomotives: Roster, Data Sheet, Specs

    Nov 03, 26 07:57 PM

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    Alco Century C628: 2,750 hp C-C road switcher, 186 built from December 1963 to December 1968. Production roster, specs, and where the high-hood Norfolk and Western units went.

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  19. Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF): Diesel Roster (All-Time)

    Nov 03, 26 12:54 PM

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    Santa Fe diesel locomotives, each new frame once, with construction numbers and order numbers. The counted total is 3,964, from the 1935 boxcabs through the SD75Ms.

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  20. Metra Holiday Trains Return on Six Lines

    Nov 03, 26 11:40 AM

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    Metra holiday trains will run on six lines in December, with tickets on sale at noon November 16 for $10. The Chicago Transit Authority and Pace are fielding holiday buses in the same regional announc…

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  21. Amtrak Encourages Early Booking for Thanksgiving

    Nov 03, 26 11:39 AM

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    Amtrak is asking travelers to book Thanksgiving trips early. The railroad carried more than 1.2 million customer trips over the 2025 holiday and expects another record, with extra Northeast Regional s…

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  22. Channel Pacific Keeps Its West Sacramento Exemption

    Nov 03, 26 11:26 AM

    The Surface Transportation Board denied a West Sacramento challenge to Channel Pacific Railroad’s exemption to operate about 2,132 feet of terminal track. The exemption took effect in June 2026.

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  23. DART Marks One Year of the Silver Line

    Nov 03, 26 11:22 AM

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    DART marked one year of Silver Line service linking seven North Texas cities and DFW Airport. The 26-mile regional rail line opened October 25, 2025, as the agency’s first rail expansion in a decade.

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  24. Massachusetts Breaks Ground for the Berkshire Flyer

    Nov 03, 26 10:07 AM

    Massachusetts broke ground October 29 in Pittsfield on track work meant to support permanent seasonal Berkshire Flyer service. MassDOT has $31 million for the project in its 2027-2031 capital plan.

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  25. Cheraw Scrapyard Closed After a Search for CSX Rail

    Nov 03, 26 10:02 AM

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    Chesterfield County deputies, CSX police, and state agents searched Cheraw Iron and Metal on October 27 and closed the yard after finding CSX rail and telephone wire.

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  26. Union Pacific Urges the Board to Keep a Speech Video Confidential

    Nov 03, 26 09:53 AM

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    Union Pacific on October 30 asked the Surface Transportation Board to keep a recording of Jim Vena’s shipper speech confidential while it appeals. BNSF on November 2 asked the board to deny that…

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  27. Enfield Station Construction Begins on the Hartford Line

    Nov 03, 26 09:39 AM

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    Connecticut has started a $125.3 million Enfield station on the Hartford Line, restoring passenger service for the first time since 1986. The state expects construction to finish in fall 2030.

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  28. Santa Fe Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

    Nov 03, 26 09:30 AM

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    Featured here is the Santa Fe's all-time steam roster after 1900. The railroad operated a wide and varied collection of wheel arrangements.

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  29. Santa Fe Railroad: Map, Logo, History, Rosters

    Nov 03, 26 09:16 AM

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    History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, from Cyrus Holliday’s 1859 charter to the Burlington Northern merger on December 31, 1996. The Warbonnet, the Super Chief, and the Chicago to Los An…

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  30. Asheville Rail Corridor Gets $35.8 Million

    Nov 03, 26 12:18 AM

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    The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded North Carolina $35.8 million for development, design, and construction on the Salisbury to Asheville corridor, including more than 40 crossing-signal syst…

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  31. Le Mars Transload Center Expands on Canadian National

    Nov 03, 26 12:06 AM

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    Burlington Junction Railway has expanded the Le Mars Transload Center beside Canadian National and U.S. Highway 75. A zero-interest Iowa DOT loan paid for part of the work. The center and industrial p…

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  32. Lehigh Gorge Trains Move to Nesquehoning

    Nov 02, 26 11:48 PM

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    Reading and Northern has moved Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway trips to Nesquehoning after the October 31 rockslide west of Jim Thorpe. Trains leave at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. through Sunday, November…

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  33. Texas Transit Agency Breaks Ground on TEXRail

    Nov 02, 26 11:40 PM

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    Trinity Metro broke ground October 29, 2026, on a $270 million, 2.1-mile TEXRail extension from Fort Worth T&P Station to a new Near Southside station on land donated by Baylor Scott and White Hea…

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  34. Lake Front Depot: The C&NW's Milwaukee Terminal

    Nov 02, 26 09:40 PM

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    The Chicago and North Western Lake Front Depot at 915 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee. Charles Sumner Frost, 1889. Last train May 15, 1966. Clock tower down May 7, 1968.

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  35. Canal Street Maintenance Plan Will Get an FRA Review

    Nov 02, 26 01:48 PM

    The Federal Railroad Administration will prepare an environmental assessment of Amtrak Canal Street maintenance plans in Chicago after adding 17 viaduct repairs to a project that had a categorical exc…

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  36. Durango & Silverton Repairs Track After Continued Flooding

    Nov 02, 26 01:40 PM

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    Durango & Silverton crews are repairing flood damage after the Animas hit 11,200 cfs on October 23. The Highline Express ran October 27 through November 1. Polar Express trains remain listed from…

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  37. Middle Georgia Megasite Will Host the First Audi Plant in the U.S.

    Nov 02, 26 01:35 PM

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    Audi will build its first U.S. plant at the Norfolk Southern-served Middle Georgia Megasite in Peach County, about $4 billion and about 4,500 jobs. Audi and Norfolk Southern publish different construc…

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  38. Union Pacific No. 844 Returns Beside Big Boy on November 21

    Nov 02, 26 01:30 PM

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    Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 is back under steam and will trail Big Boy 4014 from Greeley to Denver on November 21. The pair will then stand on free display at Denver Union Station.

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  39. Norfolk Southern Abandonment in the Shenandoah Valley Is Stayed

    Nov 02, 26 01:19 PM

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    The Surface Transportation Board on October 22, 2026, postponed a Norfolk Southern exemption to abandon 48.5 miles from Front Royal to Broadway, Virginia. A response is due November 3.

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  40. Reading & Northern Sets a November 23 Start in Luzerne

    Nov 02, 26 01:13 PM

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    Reading and Northern expects to begin operating about 59.65 miles of Luzerne County rail line on November 23, 2026. The package is $7 million in cash plus $3 million in track work.

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  41. Second Daily Pennsylvanian Begins November 18

    Nov 02, 26 12:19 PM

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    A second daily Pennsylvanian round trip between New York and Pittsburgh begins November 18, 2026, after 46 years with one round trip. Each city gets a morning departure and an afternoon departure.

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  42. MBTA Sets November Meetings on Regional Rail

    Nov 02, 26 12:10 PM

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    The MBTA will hold virtual meetings on November 4 and November 17, 2026, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., on a plan to turn Commuter Rail into Regional Rail with more frequent servic

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  43. Wisconsin Central Diesel Roster (Soo Line Years)

    Nov 01, 26 11:31 PM

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    Diesels built new for the Wisconsin Central in the Soo Line years. 97 locomotives, Alco 24 and Electro-Motive 73. These 97 are already inside the Soo Line roster of 786.

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  44. Wisconsin Central Ltd. Diesel Roster

    Nov 01, 26 11:22 PM

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    Wisconsin Central Ltd. diesels, 1987 to 2001. Thirty locomotives with a number fixed by another roster on this site or by a photograph. The fleet stood at 244 units. More than 100 were SD45s.

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  45. Wisconsin Central Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

    Nov 01, 26 11:20 PM

    Wisconsin Central steam locomotives built since 1900. The quantity column is 156. Consolidations, Mikados, Atlantics, Ten-Wheelers, Pacifics, and Mountains. The Soo 4-8-4s stay on the Soo roster.

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  46. Wisconsin Central Railway: Map, History, Logo, Roster

    Nov 01, 26 11:15 PM

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    Two railroads kept the Wisconsin Central name. The 1871 line was leased to the Soo on April 1, 1909 and merged January 1, 1961. Wisconsin Central Ltd. ran from October 11, 1987 until Canadian National…

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  47. Watchmen Talks Extended at Los Angeles and Long Beach

    Nov 01, 26 10:41 PM

    Suggested meta description: The Pacific Maritime Association and ILWU Local 26 extended their contract through 5 p.m. Pacific Time on November 4, 2026, moving a November 1 deadline at the ports of Los…

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  48. LIRR September Ridership Tops the 2019 Mark

    Nov 01, 26 10:39 PM

    The Long Island Rail Road carried 102 percent of its September 2019 ridership in September 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul said on October 28. Metro-North carried 323,423 riders on October 24 and 25.

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  49. North Carolina Awards the Rogers Road Bridge in Wake Forest

    Nov 01, 26 10:22 PM

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    NCDOT on October 28, 2026 awarded a contract to Blythe Construction for a bridge over the CSX S-Line on Rogers Road in Wake Forest. Work can start as early as November 30, with opening aimed at fall 2…

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  50. Trinity Books 2,190 Railcar Orders in the Third Quarter

    Nov 01, 26 10:17 PM

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    Trinity Industries on October 29, 2026 reported 2,190 new railcar orders and 2,030 deliveries in the third quarter. The company expects industry deliveries below 25,000 railcars in 2026.

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