Electric Railroads of Vermont
The Brattleboro Street Railroad
(1895 - 1923 electric)
Equipment :
The original cars were built by Wason Manufacturing Company in Springfield, Massacheusettes. The original cars numbered 1, 5, 6 and 8 were single truck closed cars, car number 7 was an unpowered flatcar trailer and cars numbered 2, 3 and 4 were single truck open cars. In 1917 cars numbered 1, 5 and 8 were replaced with 31 foot, 1 man operation cars from Wason. These new cars were painted brown.
Track & Operations :
The track ran from Main Street to High Street along the South side of Western Avenue to West Brattleboro. There were passing sidings located at Western Avenue, Park Place (adjacent to the commons) and lower Main Street near the railroad station. The rest of the line was single track. In 1911 about a half mile of track was added to the Southern section of Main Street for the Fort Dummer cotton mills. The planned interchange (connection) track with the steam railways in Brattleboro was never built, express freight and baggage was often transferred between Brattleboro Street Railroad (electric railroad) and Central Vermont, Boston & Maine and West River Railroad (steam railroads) using the company's small flatcar.
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Buildings & Structures :
The railroad's original carbarn was located on Western Avenue in the Centerville area. Later the car barn was moved to Pine Street. In 1899 some additional property was purchased in Centerville and a powerhouse was built near the old carbarn.
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New owners :
Twin State Gas & Electric Company bought the Brattleboro Street Railroad in 1906. In 1911 a new Hydro-electric plant was built on the West River and the powerhouse in Centerville was shut down.
The end of trolley service :
Twin State Gas & Electric replaced the trolleys with a fleet of three, 25 passenger buses in 1923.
Known surviving equipment :
Second car number 8 or is it the first car number 8? Any way it can be found on the roster at the Sea Shore Trolley Museum in Maine. The car was used as a ticket booth for the fair ground in Brattleboro, and a storage shed on a farm until it was sold to the museum in 1957.
Credits: Information was gathered from:
Robert C. Jones. Railroads of Vermont Vol. I.
Shelburne, VT: New England Press, 1993.
The two maps are from Vacinity Corporation's Map Blast!