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...)