Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad

Manchester VT – Dorset NY, as of 2010
Society:	most recently MDG
Route length:	8.19 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1
Legend from Hoosick Junction 0.00 Manchester VT to Rutland South Dorset VT Dorset VT 8.19 Dorset VT Quarry Station

The Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad was a railroad in Vermont ( United States ). It was founded by the Norcross-West Marble Company on June 21, 1902 and intended to create a cross connection between the north-south routes of the Rutland Railroad and the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad .

history

The track should be in Manchester from the railway Rutland Hoosick Junction branch and to the northwest over Dorset , where important marble quarries were, as far as Granville at the railway Castleton-Eagle Bridge lead. Construction began in January 1903 and the 8.19 kilometer section to the quarry near Dorset went into operation on April 1 of that year. Ownership of the line was complicated. The entry point in Manchester station and 50 meters of the route belonged to the Rutland Railroad, the subsequent 219.5 meters belonged to the quarry company, and the rest of the route to the railway company.

The construction was not carried out because profitability did not seem to be guaranteed. On September 23, 1903, the initially unofficial passenger traffic was started with two pairs of trains every working day by attaching a passenger car to all freight trains. It was not until the mid-1910s that the railway appeared in official timetables. However, the main cargo was the marble quarried in Dorset. In 1913, the Vermont Marble Company took over rail operations and the quarries in the Dorset area. Due to a lack of profitability and increasing competition from the road, the line was closed on June 1, 1918 and later dismantled. The railway was popularly known as the Mud, Dirt and Gravel Railroad (mud, dirt and gravel railway ).

After the closure, the tracks were initially retained. In 1924 two smaller local quarry operators wanted to revive the route. They converted a gasoline truck into a rail vehicle and transported small amounts of marble from South Dorset to Manchester. This company was closed in 1925. In 1934 the tracks were sold to a scrap dealer and the line was dismantled. On February 28, 1936, the Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad Company was officially dissolved.

vehicles

In 1911 the company had a locomotive, a passenger car and ten flat freight cars. The first locomotive (road number 1) was a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement acquired second-hand from Rutland Railroad . The first passenger car (road number 100) had also been taken over used, namely from the Cumberland Valley Railroad . This was damaged in an accident in 1906 and replaced by a car bought from Rutland Railroad. In 1913, the operator of the railway, the Vermont Marble Company, took locomotive No. 1 out of service and replaced it with a locomotive with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, which was taken over by the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad, which was also owned by the Vermont Marble Road number 2 received.

Operational flow

On the way to the quarry, the locomotive pushed the passenger car, but pulled the freight car. On the way to Manchester, the locomotive, driving backwards, pulled the whole train, at the end of which the passenger car was located. There were fixed stops for passengers in Manchester, South Dorset, Dorset and at the quarry, but the trains also stopped on the open route to get on and off if necessary.

Accidents

Only one accident that ended with a high level of property damage but no personal injury occurred on the route. On July 6, 1906, three freight wagons that had just been loaded at the quarry loosened from their anchorage and rolled downhill without a driver, only shortly after the regular train had left the station. Only a few minutes after the train had arrived in Manchester and the locomotive had been uncoupled, the freight cars loaded with marble drove into the passenger cars standing on the track. The passenger car was then only used as a tool storage room and a flat freight car was temporarily equipped with benches. However, due to numerous complaints from passengers, a used passenger car was acquired from the Rutland Railroad shortly afterwards.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jones 1993, p. 50.
3. ^ Poor's Manual of Railroads, 44th Annual Number. Poor's Railroad Manual Co., 1911, p. 59.

literature

• Robert C. Jones: Railroads of Vermont, Volume II. New England Press Inc., Shelburne, VT 1993. ISBN 978-1881535027 .
• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .