Vermont's Granite Railroads: The Montpelier and Wells River and the Barre and Chelsea [Hardcover]

Robert C. Jones (Author), Whitney J. Maxfield (Author), Bill Gove (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: Pruett Pub Co; 1st edition (November 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871086956
• ISBN-13: 978-0871086952
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,515,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Granite ruled., October 16, 2009

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This review is from: Vermont's Granite Railroads: The Montpelier and Wells River and the Barre and Chelsea (Hardcover)

Traces the history of railroading in north-central Vermont with a focus on the Montpelier-Barre area from the 1870s to 1983. Readers gain a clear sense of how these lines fit into the regional and international rail network, and how larger-scale social/economic factors affected the economic viability of railroads. The focus isn't solely on serving granite quarries and cutting sheds, but includes a wider range on the mix of passenger and freight at different times in the period covered. There are over 300 photos and diagrams; printing and photo quality is high. This book is very well written, and should be of interest to people interested in economic waxing/waning of an industry, Vermont history generally, and to model railroaders interested in New England layout themes. There are not many detailed routing schedules, but there is enough information on various kinds of industries and uses that were served (excursion trains to Boston, local lakes or the White Mountains for example) that modelers could work up their own schedules based closely on real uses. There are 11 hand-sketches (no scale) showing track/siding details for larger or smaller areas in Vermont and New Hampshire - mostly in Barre City (1890, 1900, 1910, 1914, 1985) and Montpelier (1895, 1915, 1925). I came away with a much clearer idea of what people did in their work and out-of-work lives in Vermont in this period, and what it takes to keep a railroad running.