Randolph station is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station in

Randolph, Vermont Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,774 at the 2020 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities that s ...

, United States. The only train that serves the station is the ''

Vermonter Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...

'', which operates between St. Albans, Vermont and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The station also contains a local restaurant. On the other side of the tracks is the depot for a private bus company, Randolph Stagecoach Transportation,Existing Railroad Stations in Orange County, Vermont
/ref> essentially creating an unofficial intermodal transportation center. However, the schedules of the two systems are not aligned in any way.

History

The

Vermont Central Railroad The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Conne ...

was chartered to build a line along the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

, which was to include service to Randolph. The original station was not built until 1848, by which time the VCRR was acquired by the

Central Vermont Railway The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Connect ...

. By the late-1870s (although signs on the depot suggest 1881), Central Vermont moved the original depot and built a new one, converting the VCRR station into a freight house. When Central Vermont was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1896, the

Grand Trunk Western Railroad The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company is an American subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding ...

, a subsidiary of

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

bought the railroad and the station out and kept it afloat throughout most of the 20th Century. Both passenger and freight service ended in Randolph in 1966. A group of volunteers later restored the stations and the surrounding area, including converting the second station into a café and restaurant. Randolph Station became a contributing property to the Depot Square Historic District since 1975. In the 1990s local leaders began lobbying Amtrak to make Randolph a new railroad stop, even going so far as to rebuild the original VCRR freight depot into a bus depot for Randolph Stagecoach Transportation. Amtrak began using the station as a stop on the ''

'' in 1996.

References

External links

{{NRHP in Orange County, Vermont Amtrak stations in Vermont Buildings and structures in Randolph, Vermont Restaurants in Vermont Transportation buildings and structures in Orange County, Vermont Former Central Vermont Railway stations Greek Revival architecture in Vermont Victorian architecture in Vermont Historic district contributing properties in Vermont Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Vermont 1849 establishments in Vermont Railway stations in the United States opened in 1849