Trolley Tuesday 10/13/20 - The Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway

Shelburne Falls is a tiny town housing 1,731 people, and is only 15 miles from Massachusetts's northern border with Vermont. This area is lush with green foliage, making it just another exemplary New England small mountain town, but despite only being a whole 2.6 square miles in size, Shelburne Falls was once home to a thriving street railway like any other American town. Connecting to the town of Colrain just 6.5 miles north by road, this Toonerville Trolley only lasted until the 1920s and has had much of its history scrubbed away by time. However, there is one piece of rolling stock that continues to keep this fallen flag on the lips and memories of locals and tourists alike. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's take a short look at the history of the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway.

A Simple Country Streetcar

The Shelburne Falls B&M station in Buckland, some time between 1907 and 1915.
(Public Domain)

In the late 1890s, plenty of rural towns were getting into the streetcar act just like the big cities. Electricity was finally able to connect some towns with the outside world, and with electricity came new technology that once was almost unheard of. There was plenty of demand for a streetcar, as the local Boston & Maine and New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad connection in Buckland provided a healthy freight and passenger connection for any upstart streetcar company. 

A 1930 postcard view of the SF&C Bridge (now the Bridge
of Flowers) and the original Iron Bridge over the Deerfield
River. Shelburne Falls is in the background.
(Tichnor Quality Views)

In late 1896, the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway (SF&C) was formed to capitalize on this opportunity and initially ran between its named towns. Any freight or passenger connection to Buckland (on the west side of the Deerfield River) from Shelburne Falls (the east side) was negotiated through a cumbersome horse-and-wagon system, which ferried goods on an iron highway bridge over the Deerfield River. The iron bridge could only handle 20 tons, which forbade any streetcar operations. This system lasted until 1908, when the SF&C built its own $20,000, 400-foot long concrete bridge to directly connect with Buckland. 

Milk Money

Car No. 10 shoves a boxcar over the Deerfield River
Bridge to Buckland, 1908.
(Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum)

By the 1910s, the SF&C hit its peak and was well-loved in the towns it operated. In 1911, the railroad projected that it would extend right into Wilmington, Vermont, to connect with another railroad called the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington. As to how it would finance this new endeavor, the railroad had hit its stride by providing local apple orchards and dairy farms with a mainline connection to Buckland. Milk was a valuable commodity for any north-eastern railroad at the time, and it wasn't uncommon seeing enormous numbers of milk jugs loaded into one of the SF&C's combination cars, only to be re-poured into a waiting B&M milk car for express-service to the processing plants in Boston. Apple cider and vinegar were also important commodities, often to the point of long mixed trains bound for Buckland to connect with the bigger railroads.

The biggest car on the SF&C roster, Car No. 25.
Its enormous size made it perfect for hauling big mainline 40-ton freight cars.
(Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum)

A map of the SF&C at its
peak, with the thin black line
being the Deerfield River.
(Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum)

While freight made the railroad rich, in turn the SF&C returned the favor to the citizens of Shelburne Falls, Colrain, and Buckland. Land was leased just north of the Frankton Dam (the SF&C's original hydroelectric source) to form Hillside Park, a popular trolley park famous for summer band concerts, recreational outings, and baseball games. The park was served by open-bench summer cars, which was a welcome reprieve in the hot and humid summer days in western Massachusetts. There was even a mail service run three times a day along the line, competing with the twelve scheduled round-trip services running 35-43 minutes in each direction. There was no rush, however, as motormen were permitted to backtrack if a passenger left something behind and delays were frequent but welcome.

The World Outgrows Its Streetcar

The 1910s proved to be the only boom years of the SF&C, as the Roaring Twenties gave way to the roar of a Ford flathead engine. Automobile ownership all over the country skyrocketed and it was no different in Shelburne Falls. Only twice after 1917 did the company make a profit, and even purchasing power from the New England Power Company did nothing to stem any losses. The connection to the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington never happened, and trucks soon took over the milk and cider traffic. By 1927, the company ceased operations after it could no longer meet its financial obligations and was foreclosed upon later that same year. At a cost of just $11,500, the entire railway was scrapped in 1928.

Tiny Trolley no. 10

The interior of SF&C No. 10, as photographed in 2015.
(Chris Guenzler)

However, two pieces of the Shelburne Falls survived that mighty scrapping. Out of a fleet of twenty cars and countless other rolling stock, one streetcar managed to be sold to a new home following the SF&C's closure. Car No. 10 is a combination car built by the Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield, MA in 1896. Its compact 30' length made it perfect for serving the tiny Shelburne Falls system, and its electric heater and lights made it absolutely state of the art at the time. It was not uncommon to see No. 10 packed to the gills with people, and her baggage section sagging from all the milk and cider cans clattering inside her. Serving and spare parts were provided by the Brill Company of Philadelphia, PA, after they purchased Wason in 1907.

Preservation in Petunias

Shelburne Falls No. 10 peeks out of her new museum carhouse for Trolleyfest, 2017.
(Shelburne Falls Area Business Association)

No. 10 after almost 70 years of private storage on
Marshall Johnson's farm, and still
retaining most of her original bodywork.
(Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum)

At that same foreclosure sale in 1927, Car No. 10 soon found itself on the auction block. By this point, No. 10 was lacking trucks and an interior, but its new buyer was nonplussed by this and had the car stored shortly after purchasing. Years and years later, in 1992, the buyer's son Marshall Johnson donated the carbody to the new Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum for restoration. After spending eight years in restoration, through which new trucks and operating equipment were sourced from other trolley museums, SF&C No. 10 returned to operation on October 9, 1999, on her old home tracks now located at the former B&M Buckland Freight Yard. The museum is also home to other notable pieces of equipment, including one ex-MBTA PCC that's reportedly the last streetcar built by Pullman-Standard of Worcester, MA.

In a 2011 view, SF&C No. 10 passes by ex-MBTA PCC No. 3321
after the latter just arrived at the museum.
(S. Bartlett) 

The Bridge of Flowers today, as photographed in 2013.
(cmh2315fl)

The other piece of SF&C history still with us today has taken on a more pastoral bent. Following the end of trolley operations, the SF&C's Deerfield River bridge had become overgrown with weeds and this inspired local housewife Antoinette Burnham to retool the concrete structure into something beautiful. As the bridge could not be knocked down due to carrying an important water main, the Shelburne Women's club took over the bridge in 1929 and transformed it into the "Bridge of Flowers" garden. Today, it serves as a walk-through garden between Buckland and Shelburne Falls and is lovely in the springtime.

Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway No. 10, the cutest little streetcar in the world.
She's seen here in her old carbarn building, before the new one was finished.
(Union Street Railway)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today are thanks to the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, whose complete history can be read here and can be contacted on their Facebook page here. As it is a small and independent museum, it is reliant on donations from readers like you to survive temporary closure in 2020. On Thursday, we look at another tiny street railway that got famous thanks to a big letter "G" all the way in... Vermont? For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!