Electric Railroads of Vermont
St. Albans Street Railway
(1891 - 1921 electric)
The street railway operated 3 closed double-truck passenger cars numbered 1, 2 and 3. There were 4 open cars numbered 10 through 14. Two other open cars were ordered as trailers 15 and 16, they were eventually fitted with motors. The passenger equipment was painted maroon with cream lettering and stripes.
ST.ASRy operated a box motor numbered 21 for hauling single freight cars. A double-ended, double-truck rotary snow plow was used until 1915. A single-truck double-ended wedge-plow was used occasionally until 1916. The street railway also had a 34 foot flat car. If your browser supports tables click on the "Equipment" heading to view the equipment roster.
This post card is captioned Main Street, Looking North, St. Albans, VT. published by R.A. Brush. The postmark is St. Albans 1906 Oct 24 TR 2 R.P.O. a second postmark reads Georgetown, Mass. Rec'd Oct 25 1906 8 AM.
The Saint Albans Street Railway operated three lines.
The St. Albans to St. Albans Bay Main Line which had a running length of just over 3 (3.1) miles. This line started at the American House on the corner of Main and Lake Streets in St. Albans.
The track was laid in and next to Lake Street. This was an expensive line to build. The tracks went by the Central Vermont Railway's Depot and crossed 21 tracks of the CV yard at grade. When the trolleys began to roll, the grade crossing had not yet been put in. The first trolleys in St. Albans rolled down Lake street from the Exchange Hotel to St. Albans Bay. The lines first car barn was located at the intersection of Walnut and Lake Streets. Just west of Brigham Road there was a trestle, to accommodate the grade. The line continued past the Pelkey Farm. Adjacent to the Bay Cemetery, there was a short passing siding called "Pelkey's Passing Track". The tracks continued down Lake Street and turned on to Shore Road in front of the Village of St. Albans Bay's Post Office. The line ran along the west side of the road and turned west just before the park. There was a stub ended siding here just before the tracks continued on to the dock. The impressive dock was 320 foot by 75 foot and ran out into St Albans Bay. This dock supported a freight station, passenger waiting room and the trolleys ran to the very end of it.
The first trip for railway officials, on the St Albans Street Railway ran on July 2nd, 1901. Car number 10 was the trolley used for this trip, an open 15 bench passenger motor. Public trips began on July 4th, 1901.
The South Main Street St. Albans Branch Line was under a mile (.88 miles) long. This short extension on South Main Street went from the American House, on the northwest corner of the intersection of Lake and Maine Streets to the intersection of South Main and Freeborn Streets.
St. Albans to Swanton Main Line ran for about 12 and 3/4 miles (12.71). The St. Albans & Swanton Main Line ran up North Main Street from the American House. It crossed the Richford Branch of the Central Vermont at grade, just past the brick car barn. The tracks then went off of North Main on to what has become US Route 7. Shortly beyond Warner Cemetery and Jewett Avenue, was a passing siding across from the old Ball Park. The tracks continued north to pass the Swanton Junction Village Post Office. Between the post office and Swanton Junction (renamed in 1915 to Fonda Junction) was another passing siding called the "Fonda Passing Track". The tracks crossed the "Marble Spur" used by the CV to service a rock quary operation, at the junction and continued on to Beebe Road. At Beebe Road, there was another passing siding. The tracks continued and crossed the Missisquoi River on John's Bridge. The trolley route had another grade crossing with the CV and a grade crossing with the Saint Johnsbery & Lamoile County Railroad as it entered Swanton Village. The line ended at the post office and Merchants Row in Swanton.
The Swanton Main Line was officially opened to the public on July 3rd, 1902. Although originally scheduled for 40 minute head way, the trolleys eventually were run with 70 minutes between departures.
The company's first car barn was of wood frame, two track construction. It was located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Lake and Walnut Streets.
The railroad's second car barn was a brick car barn, located on North Main Street. When the street railway went out, it was sold to a car dealership. The Saint Albans Messenger, now occupies the building. Before 1905 the electricity for the St. Albans Street Railway was steam generated in the single floor part of this building. The electric railway also built a brick battery storage sub-station some where between Fonda Junction (Swanton Junction before 1915), and John's Bridge; a bridge over the Missisquoi River. This was located here on the Swanton Main Line to boost power for that end of the line.
In 1905 they started using hydro-electric power generated at Fairfax Falls on the Lamoille River.
St. Albans and Swanton Traction Company bought the St. Albans Street Railway at public auction in 1912. The new company painted the passenger equipment yellow. The automobile began taking customers away after World War I.
This post card is captioned Merchants' Row, Swanton, Vt. It was published by Thomson & Thomson, Boston, Mass. The card was printed in Great Britain. The postmark reads Oct. 30 1909 8 PM , the post office station is unreadable.
The photo of St. Albans Bay Steamship dock is from Railroads of Vermont Volume II
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