Research Catalog

Title

The Rutland Road / by Jim Shaughnessy.

Author

Shaughnessy, Jim.

Publication

Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

436 pages : illustrations, maps; 29 cm

Subject

• Rutland Railway Corporation History

Note

• "First Syracuse University Press Edition"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 430) and index.

Contents

• 1. Burlington - Boston or Bust. Early railroad plans for connecting the Atlantic seaboard with the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Differences between Follett and Paine. Chartering of the Champlain & Connecticut and the Vermont Central. Fight between the two roads for financing. Infiltration of "spies" into each other's organizations. Construction of the Champlain & Connecticut. Reorganization of Champlain & Connecticut into Rutland & Burlington Company. The race for the mail contract. Opening of the line and attendant festivities. First schedules. Connections with other roads -- 2. Breakthrough at Burlington. Refusal of Vermont Central to connect at Burlington. Vermont Central's connection with Vermont & Canada at Essex Junction, blocking the Rutland from a northern connection. Entry of the Smiths in Vermont Central-Rutland fight. Desperate plight of the Rutland for line-haul business. Court actions.
• Vermont Central finally cooperates, but direct northern connection for the Rutland still far in the future -- 3. The Hunted Traps the Hunter. Reorganization of the Rutland and Burlington into the Rutland Railroad Company. Eastern and western connections. Connections with the new London Northern. Rutland threats to the Vermont Central's dominance of northern connections. Leasing of the Rutland by the Vermont Central -- 4. Mr. Smith Takes the Throttle. Recession and financial troubles for the Vermont Central. Connections to New York City. More financial troubles. Reorganization of the Vermont Central into the Central Vermont Railroad. D & H interest in the Rutland. Lease renewed. Still more financial troubles. Vermont Central control crumbles. Delaware & Hudson stuck with the Rutland. Charles Clement takes over -- 5. The Old and Late Coming. The Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain story. Inception and construction of Northern Railroad of New York.
• Lake Champlain trestle to connect with Vermont & Canada. Steamboat opposition. First refrigerator car. Butter to Boston. Ships to Chicago. Reorganization to form O&LC. Fenian War. Acquisition by the Vermont Central. The White Mountain Express. Rail connections westward. Loss of traffic to the NYC & HR. Independent ownership returns. Acquisition by the Rutland -- 6. Branching Out. Clement builds a strong Rutland. Acquisition of the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain. Trackage north through the Islands. Southward extension to Chatham. The railroad war. The Bennington & Rutland. The Lebanon Springs Railroads -- 7. Your Move, Mr. Vanderbilt. Seward Webb, the Commodore's son-in-law, buys in. Percival makes a killing. The Ne-Ha-Se-Ne comes to Vermont. The Rutland as Mr. Vanderbilt's pawn. New equipment and prosperous times. The New Haven becomes an owner, too. The Panama Canal Act. Prosperity goes with the ships -- 8. Uncle Sam 'Takes Over. The USRA. The War takes its toll.
• New power. Rehabilitation under the Transportation Act. Henry Ford's threat. Industrial Revolution, but not on the Rutland. Solid trains of milk. Buses to Chatham. A good quarter-century -- 9. Long Meet at Proctor. The flood of '27. Milk wreck and narrow escape. The Green Mountain Flyer saved. Clarendon & Pittsford to the rescue. Damage and reconstruction -- 10. Save the Rutland. The depression years. Decadence and ultimate receivership. Abandonment a possibility. Wage cuts under protest. "Save the Rutland" Club. Public support of reorganization. Shippers' pledges. Taxes forgiven. The Whippet. Strike threat. F.D.R. says no. The War brings prosperity. Reorganizational proposals. The Barlow plan. The Rutland Railway is born -- 11. The New Era. Caverly steps in. Scrapping of steam and dieselization. New cars. Chatham branch abandonment. Passenger service dropped. Efficiency drive. Dividends paid. The future looks good -- 12. Requiem. Too much prosperity.
• Four years of profit. Labor unrest. Adamant management. Mounting costs and highway competition. Two divisions from three? The strike of 1960. A year's reprieve. The strike of 1961. Negotiations futile. Application for abandonment. ICC approval. Labor blocks abandonment -- 13. Epilogue - A New Era, But Not for the Rutland -- App. Roster of Locomotives -- App. Chronology of the Rutland Railroad -- App. Operating Ratio 1900-1962 -- App. Population of Major Towns 1960.

ISBN

• 0815604696 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0815604564 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

96051169

OCLC

• 36017246
• ocm36017246

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries