Rutland Railroad archive

Originally a part of the Champlain and Connecticut River Railroad, the Rutland & Burlington Railroad was chartered on November 1, 1843. It completed the first railroad in Vermont in December, 1849, and became the Rutland Railroad in 1867. The Rutland Railroad was leased to the Central Vermont Railroad/Central Vermont Railway between 1871 and 1896. It came briefly under the control of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, and as well as that of the New York Central Railroad from 1904 to 1911. The Rutland Railroad began expanding in 1898 when shares were bought out by Percival W. Clement.

The Rutland Railroad chartered the Rutland & Canadian Railroad to build north from Burlington, Vermont, to Canada, and to connect the Rutland Railroad with the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad in Alburgh, Vermont.

The Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad had been under the control of the Vermont Central Railroad up until that railroad's bankruptcy in 1896. The Rutland Railroad purchased the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad in 1899.

The Rutland & Noyan Railroad was chartered by the Rutland Railroad to build from Alburgh, Vermont, into Southern Quebec, and to connect with the Quebec Southern Railroad at Noyan, Quebec.

The Addison Railroad was originally chartered in the 1850s. The Rutland & Burlington Railroad later chartered the Addison to build from Leicester Junction, Vermont to Ticonderoga, New York. The line was then leased by the Rutland & Burlington Railroad a period of 99 years, beginning in 1870.

The Chatham & Lebanon Valley Railroad ran from Chatham, New York to Bennington, Vermont. The line was nicknamed "the corkscrew" due to its physical profile. It was purchased by the Rutland Railroad in 1901.

By 1902, the Rutland railroad encompassed 413 miles, running from Ogdensburg, New York to Bellows Falls, Vermont, with lines to Chatham, New York and Montreal, Quebec.

Control of the Rutland Railroad shifted to the New York Central, which then traded half-ownership to the New York, New Haven & Hartford in exchange for half-ownership of the New York, Ontario & Western.

The Rutland Railroad fell into bankruptcy in 1938 and was in receivership for approximately 12 years until the reorganization of the Rutland Railway in 1950.

The Rutland Railway operated until its formal abandonment in 1963, following a period of labor strikes. After the sale of most of its assets, the company was renamed the Rutland Corporation in 1964. The company owned real estate and purchased other companies with funding received from the sale of railroad assets. The Rutland Corporation was purchased in 1968 and was integrated into the Walter Reede Company. The State of Vermont purchased much of the right-of-way and a substantial amount of Rutland Railway trackage is now operated by the Vermont Railway.