Barre & Chelsea

Company History: The B&C was born with the 1913 merger of the Barre Railroad and the East Barre & Chelsea Railroad. It ran 6 miles from Montpelier to Barre, Vermont and a bit beyond to serve a large granite quarry. The former Barre Railroad segment had 5% grades and included switchbacks. Tank engines were used on this segment in an effort to put as much weight over the drivers as possible and likely to conserve a car length on the switchbacks. The B&C and the neighboring Montpelier & Wells River were both controlled by a subsidiary of the Boston & Maine. Late in 1944, the M&WR was merged into the B&C. Although the M&WR, at 44 miles, was much longer than the B&C, it had only a fraction of the traffic. The enlarged B&C dieselized with a trio of GE 70-tonners. The line was abandoned in 1956. The original B&C route sat idle until 1957 when it was acquired and operations resumed under the Montpelier & Barre Railroad banner.

Successor/Parent History: The M&B was established in 1957 by the Pinsley shortline group to take over operation of a 14-mile segment of the failing Barre & Chelsea Railroad running from Montpelier to Barre and on to the quarry at Graniteville, Vermont. The following year, they bought the parallel line from Central Vermont, stitching the two lines together. The operation lasted until 1980 when M&B applied to abandon the line. The State of Vermont took possession of the route and Washington County Railroad became the new operator.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.