Vermont Railway HO Scale Models

The Vermont Railway traces its origins to the collapse of the Rutland Railway, which had served as the primary north-south rail corridor through western Vermont for well over a century. A labor strike in 1953 forced the Rutland to abandon passenger service, and a subsequent strike on September 25, 1961, brought freight operations to a complete halt. Faced with the loss of critical rail infrastructure, the state of Vermont stepped in and purchased the main line running south from Burlington along with a branch to Bennington, totaling approximately 128.6 miles of track. The Vermont Railway was incorporated on October 25, 1963, and commenced operations on January 6, 1964, under its first president Jay Wulfson, who had previously been affiliated with the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad. The new carrier thus assumed responsibility for keeping rail freight moving through a region that depended heavily on it for agricultural and industrial shipments. During its early years, Vermont Railway invested substantially in modernizing the aging locomotive fleet and rolling stock it had inherited from the Rutland. The railroad entered the intermodal business in 1965 and expanded its reach in 1972 by acquiring the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad, which provided access to a limestone plant near Florence, Vermont. The Clarendon and Pittsford name was retained as a separate legal entity. In 1983, that subsidiary absorbed 23.7 miles of track between Rutland and Whitehall, New York, purchased from the Delaware and Hudson Railway. The Rutland to Whitehall segment was in severely deteriorated condition at the time of purchase, with track speeds as low as six miles per hour, but a sustained rehabilitation effort raised the line to a standard that made Whitehall a significant interchange point with the Delaware and Hudson, later acquired by Canadian Pacific. Since 1996, Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express has operated over this segment, connecting Rutland with New York City via the Canadian Pacific interchange at Whitehall. Vermont Railway expanded further in 1997 when it purchased the Green Mountain Railroad, a 52.2-mile shortline running from Rutland to Bellows Falls over another former Rutland Railway branch. This acquisition prompted the formation of an umbrella organization known as the Vermont Rail System, which brought together multiple shortlines in Vermont and neighboring New York under common ownership. The reporting mark VTR continues to identify the core Vermont Railway operation, which is headquartered in Burlington. Most of the Vermont Railway's trackage is owned by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, with the exception of the New York segment, where the railroad operates over track owned by the Boston and Maine Corporation. Today the Vermont Railway plays a significant role in Vermont's freight economy, moving large volumes of stone products from western Vermont quarries, including limestone slurry from OMYA mining operations north of Rutland, as well as petroleum products such as unit trains of fuel oil moving from Albany into Burlington. Vermont Railway also serves as the designated operator of the New York and Ogdensburg Railway, a shortline operating over roughly 26 miles between Ogdensburg and a CSX connection at Norwood, New York, preserving a fragment of the old Rutland Railway's Ogdensburg Division. With approximately 150 employees in Vermont and a freight mix that reflects the agricultural and industrial character of the region, the Vermont Railway stands as a durable example of state-supported shortline railroading in the northeastern United States.