Classics combined

(See, it does fit!)

In haste, a short post following up on a post from December 2011 on the importance of North Bennington Depot having a classic SAAB 900 sitting outside it. And last week, I had both the car and the camera in the right place at the right time. I was actually voting on the privatisation of the North Bennington Graded School (a plan to create a Charter School in Vermont without any of the legislation that would be required to support it - sadly, the plan passed, though it is subject to a review by the State Board of Education next week; they stopped it last time) but the snow was lovely and the station stood resolute and welcoming as ever. 

I also got a copy of "America's Great Railroad Stations" over Christmas, which features North Bennington Depot in a beautiful spread on pp. 86 - 89, taking its place alongside the New York's Grand Central, Boston's South Station and Washington's Union Station. Wonderful book, well worth a read; all we need now is for Amtrak to be sufficiently funded to use these beautiful stations optimally. For North Bennington, this means diverting the Ethan Allen from New York to Rutland - and eventually to Burlington VT, via Manchester, Rutland and Middlebury - hopefully from 2015/16. 

North Bennington Depot

(Architectural Napoleon complex: Very large station. Very short platform. Hmm.)

Built in 1880 as a piece of crazy American Victoriana, this is the station in my mother's home town - North Bennington, Vermont. We've seen in once before, back in March this year. As "A Travellers Library" points out, North Bennington is now featured in a new book entitled "America's Great Railroad Stations" - a fitting tribute, I think. 

(Looking northbound. I also never understood why the name is facing the driver -
I'd hoped that they'd know where they were...)

The station's survival is also a very American story; not the story of the big corporation, or of the large foundation, but of local benefactors in small towns bringing their community together. The notice board on the station sets out the story eloquently...

The sad thing is that the last passenger trains to North Bennington ran in 1953 or so: it looked something like this from Jim Shaughnessy's 1981 book Rutland Road. 

(New York bound in the capable hands of one of the four gorgeous Rutland 90-series 4-8-2s)

So the good news is that the the states of Vermont and New York are conducting a study into returning passenger service to Albany and New York, potentially as soon as 2014-15. Our friends at the Vermont Rail Action Network are doing good work with the VT congressional delegation to get this done. Good!

 

(Looking south, it somehow reminds me of an aircraft carrier...)

The photo I really want a copy of the station is at Kevin's Sports Pub in North Bennington- it has the view below, but with a very early (probably a '79 or '80) Saab 900 GLs. This is one picture that I'd be happy to replicate- with Amtrak preparing to depart in the background of course...

 (Cute. Much cuter with a Saab 900 outside the station, though...)

Random Steam Train Interlude, Part Deux

As I was reminded by Mr. Joe, I promised to put up some random steam train pictures. In this case, as I'm currently in the US, an American one. Here's Southern Pacific 4449, a 4-8-4 express passenger engine that toured the US in 1975-76 with the "American Freedom Train" project.

The American Freedom Train was a neat idea - it was essentially a museum on wheels that took American history across the country to the people through 1975-76. And it even came to Vermont that first spring - it left Albany NY on April 6th and was open for visitors in Burlington VT on April 11th 1975.

I believe it even came through my mother's home town, North Bennington on the way, though I haven't got a picture of it. But here's a picture of the picturesque North Bennington Station (or Depot, depending on your sensibilities). It's a gorgeously over the top piece of American Victoriana, which was rescued by the town from dilapidation thirty years ago. It now houses the Town Offices.

Better yet, though the platform has a statue awaiting a passenger train, the last of which ran sometime in the 1950s (when it was possible to go direct to New York and with a single change, overnight to Miami), last night marked the beginning of a major study into reinstating passenger service to New York via Albany, and Burlington via Middlebury. This would be of great economic and social benefit for western VT, which currently has no meaningful public transport beyond some local buses, after it lost Greyhound services a few years back. All the details are here.

So, with luck, this will be 4hrs 15 mins from Penn Station, New York in 2014-15. We can but hope - it'd sure beat driving!