Electric Railroads of Vermont

This site is always under construction.

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{Animated gif of a trolley rolly through the country.}

At one time most of the larger cities in Vermont had electric railroads. They were often set up to transport people. Some, like Springfield Electric, hauled freight as their major source of revenue. Others, like Burlington Traction Company, hauled passengers mostly. The Rutland Street Railway Company had the most track of any electric railroad entirely within the state of Vermont, with about 35 miles. The Berkshire Street Railway, a combination of several electric Railway Companies had tracks from North Bennington into New York State, Massachusetts and Connecticut. This was the only trolley line to have rails in four states in the U.S.A.

I thought you might like to read and view a little bit of Vermont that you might not already know. There are pictures with the additional information, that might take a while to load.

Updates coming soon:

  • Berkshire Street Railway - 24 May 2001
  • Burlington Traction Company -24 May 2001
  • Concord & Clairmont Electric (NH)- 14 May 2001

New :

  • Research in progress Industrial (a Manchester lumber company 1895?)
  • proposed
  • Research in progress incomplete

Last modified 11 May 2001

(Click on the highlighted text for more information.)
Barre & Montpelier Traction and Power Company (1897 - 1928).
[Updated] 14-Mar-2000 Bellows Falls and Saxtons River Street Railway (1899 - 1924) ran through the streets of Bellows Falls and the town of Saxtons River.
[Updated] 14 Jan 2000 Berkshire Street Railway ran from Bennington, VT. to Caanan, CT. the Bennington and Woodford a failed proposition? Caanan

Brattleboro Street Railroad (1895 - 1923).

Burlington Traction Company ran trolleys from downtown Burlington, VT, to Winooski, Queen City Park, Ethan Allen Park and Essex Junction (1885 - 1893 horse drawn, 1893 - 1929 electric) .
Mount Mansfield Electric ran from Waterbury to Stowe, VT (1897 -1932).
Rutland Street Railway (1885 - 1894 horse drawn, 1894 - 1924) ran from Poultney to Rutland to Castleton, Castleton to Lake Bomoseen or Fair Haven.

Saint Albans Electric Street Railway (1901 - 1921), from Lake Champlain to the Central Vermont train station downtown ST. Albans, or to Swanton.

Springfield Electric (1897-1921) which became Springfield Terminal Railway Company (1921-1984) ran from Charlestown, NH to Springfield, VT.
e-mail - the interchange

users since 18-Nov-1997 update.

The Rail