Troy and Rutland Railroad Company (1851)

Product Details

$75 to $100

Historical Context

The Troy & Rutland Rail Road Company was a division of the much larger Rutland Railroad of Vermont. Although the Rutland operated for more than a century, the Troy & Rutland existed as such for only six of those years. Railroad historians have given detailed accounts of other Rutland rail lines, but extensive background on the Troy & Rutland remains elusive, perhaps due to the brevity of its existence.

The Troy & Rutland was chartered on April 10, 1849, but financial issues prevented the start of construction until the following year, and it was not completed until early 1852. The T&R directors contracted with Barker, Sipperly, & Company to build what would become the southern portion of the Rutland Railroad's domain by connecting Salem Village (near the Vermont state line) to Eagle Bridge in Rensselaer, NY. From its inception, the Troy & Rutland had close ties with the Troy & Boston Company as well as the Rutland & Washington Railroad. The latter played a pivotal role in the completion of the Troy & Rutland by helping to build trackline from Salem north to the Vermont line, resulting in a portion of track shared by the two companies which formed a continuous route up to Rutland.

Upon completion, the railroad served dual purposes by transporting passengers and freight. Although the Troy & Rutland spanned less than 40 miles, it was part of nearly 400 miles of track operated by the Rutland Railroad, extending all the way up to Montreal. The T&R had only just become fully operational when it was leased to the Rutland & Washington Railroad in July 1852, eventually extending the latter's control entirely over the Troy & Rutland's trackline by 1855. Most records of the Troy and Rutland drop off sharply after that year. Although letters from the mid-1850s show interest in T&R track by the Albany Northern Rail Road, sources indicate that after the Rutland & Washington took over the Troy & Rutland, financier Jay Gould purchased many of the Rutland and Washington's bonds in 1857. The tracklines of both the T&R and the Rutland & Washington eventually became incorporated as the Troy, Salem, & Rutland Railroad by 1865, only to fall under the auspices of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company in the early 1870s.

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