By Paul Andriscin
Steam whistles shriek and diesel horns blare every Saturday at the Center Rutland Railroad Station, home of the Rutland Railway Association. From 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. the station is open as members congregate to run model trains and greet visitors to the depot’s museum. Home to a vast collection of railroad items, the association maintains the collection of the late Henry Carris as well as other donated items.
The club has existed since1986 but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that the Center Rutland Station became its home. Two model train layouts, one each in HO and N scale, are up and running every Saturday.
Highly detailed houses, bridges, factories and other buildings grace the HO setup enticing newcomers to examine every nook and cranny while freight or passenger trains roll by. A scratch-built wooden trestle bridge, hand made by one of the members, dominates a section reflecting just a fraction of the modeling talent of the group. In another area, a fishing boat returns to the quay as buoy light guides it in.
Although the N scale layout is being remodeled, it is running and has now been converted to Digital Command Control (DCC) which enables more trains to run as each engine has a computer chip. This relatively new technology has revolutionized the hobby allowing many individuals to operate their units at the same time. Guests watch as two N scale Vermont Railway GP-40s haul a string of OMYA cars up the spiral helix to the top level or watch steam engines rolling up and down the yard around the turntable. Listen as the engines growl, bells ring and horns blast. With DCC each locomotive has its own “voice” including horns, bells, brakes and motion sounds. The HO operation is scheduled to conversion to DCC in the very near future.
(Editor’s note: HO and N scale models are the two most popular types. HO models are 1:87 proportioned, meaning one foot on the model represents 87 actual feet. An HO scale 40-foot boxcar is about 6 actual inches long. The N scale ratio is 1:160, it’s a little more than half the size of HO scale. An N scale 40-foot boxcar measures just over 3 inches long.)
However, it is the station itself and the museum artifacts that are the star of the show. Built in 1912, this building served both the Rutland Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) as it sits between the rails where the Rutland headed north to Burlington and D&H went west to Whitehall and points beyond. As you enter, you are stepping back into a time when passenger trains stopped to pick up travelers. Wooden benches, train schedules, lanterns, hoops for handing mail to passing trains and even candy and gum machines recreate what a traveler would have seen here. Many other items used by train crews, conductors and track crews are housed here.
When the club acquired use of the building it was with the understanding we would curate Henry Carris’ collection of railroadania. Display cases have been added over the years as the items have increased with donations and loaned pieces. These have been labeled with descriptions of each and what its function was. Along with these objects are dozens of photographs and paintings of scenes from past days of railroading not only in Rutland but throughout Vermont and New England.
Many of these pictures show Rutland in the days when the railroads were an integral part of the city and reflect the impact this mode of transportation had on travel and society as it transitioned from the coal age to the era of diesels and petroleum. Photos of places in Rutland that used to exist often draw some interesting comments from visitors that have no idea how much the city has changed or what the effect of the railroad was.
Besides the items and layout inside, the outside also has items of interest. The station itself is an excellent example of classic railroad architecture with its bay windows and corbeled overhang. An old baggage wagon and a vintage 1925 Rutland Railroad caboose are there to see, although the caboose, sad to say, is in dire need of restoration. Additionally, visitors are often treated to trains rolling past the station as Amtrak comes down from Burlington and then leaves Rutland for points south every Saturday morning. Vermont Railway freight trains are usual sightings as well.
All in all, whether you are a local, a visitor, a railroad enthusiast, a model railroader, transportation historian or just would enjoy seeing something unique and different come visit the Rutland Railway Association’s home at the Center Rutland Railroad Station located near Carris Reels in Center Rutland. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and always welcome visitors and, of course, hoping for new members.
Rutland Railway Association is located at 79 Depot Lane on Business-4 Center Rutland.
