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Mount Mansfield Electric Freight Service (1897 - 1932)
Mount Mansfield Electric's Freight Service handled less than
carload freight by transferring it from the freight car into the
baggage portion of the combine cars, or into the freight motor
itself. The Waterbury to Stowe trolley line often carried US Mail,
express freight and passengers, in the freight motor. Mount
Mansfield Electric had two "box motors" to push and pull
freight cars. Their 1st freight motor was equipped with two
traction motors and was underpowered. The steep grades limited the
first freight motor's load to a single freight car. |
| Mount Mansfield Electric also had an unusual electric rotary
snow plow. It was of single truck design, which often caused damage
to switches and planking along the line. It was said that one could
always tell when the snow plow or freight motor was getting close,
as nearby house lights would get very dim. An accident occurred when
the plow operator forgot to turn off the rotary blades before
passing a house that was close to the tracks. The snow was thrown
through the front of the house. The farmer and his wife complained
enough that the snowplow was retired shortly there after. |
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![[Mount Mansfield Electric's 2nd car number 5]](mmefm.jpg)
The second freight motor was also built by Wason
Manufacturing, in Massachusetts. It was equiped with four
traction motors and still could only pull one loaded freight car
up the hill to Stowe. |
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Mount Mansfield Electric was kept running during the First
World War by the U.S. Government. When operations were
restored to local control in the 1920's, there were various
petitions to abandon the line. The automobile was gnawing away
at passenger traffic and trucks were starting to haul freight
from town to town. The flood of 1927 washed out much of the
road bed. The repairs were very expensive and the company
never recovered the expense. |
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Mount Mansfield Electric Freight Service(1932 - 1956)
In 1932 permission was granted for the abandonment of the
rail line. There were some conditions which had to be met. The
track had to be sold to recover some of the corporate debt,
land had to be given back to its previous owners or the next
of kin, and the U.S. Mail and freight had to be hauled between
Waterbury and Stowe. So the Electric railway ripped up the
tracks and sold them as scrap iron, pulled down the overhead
wires and sold them as scrap copper and steel, and bought a
truck to haul freight. Rubber-tired freight service continued
until 1956. |
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![[Mount Mansfield Electric's 2nd car number 5]](mmefm2.jpg)