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Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad.



The Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad was an intrastate railroad in southwestern Vermont. It ran from Manchester, Vermont to Dorset, Vermont, a distance of approximately 5 miles.

History

The company was incorporated as a common carrier in 1902 as a subsidiary of the Norcross-West Marble Company, which had a contract to supply materials for the New York Public Library. The line was built in 1903 from a connection to the Rutland Railroad near the depot in Manchester north to a quarry in the southern part of the town of Dorset. The line was never completed to the main village in Dorset, nor was it completed beyond Dorset to Granville, New York. It primarily moved marble from the quarry to a finishing plant in Manchester, though passenger service was provided as well. Traffic on the line stopped in 1918, but was revived briefly in 1924 and 1925. The rails were removed in 1934. A nickname the locals have given it is "The Mud, Dirt and Gravel Line."




The Manchester, Dorset and Granville Railroad (locally known as the Mud, Dirt and Gravel line) was incorporated in 1902, to transport marble from the west valley quarries to the mill in Manchester Deport. The first train ran the 5.09 miles to Manchester Depot in 1904. Demand for marble decreased after the completion of the New York library in 1911, and the railroad never was completed past the Norcross-West Quarry in South Dorset."

“The Norcross-West Marble Co.’s Valley quarry is a mile north-northwest of South Dorset village, and about 2 ½ miles S. 79° W. from the top of Green Peak, the southern outlier of Dorset Mountain, in the southwestern part of Dorset Township. (See map of Equinox quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey, and geologic map, Pl. I.)" N 43.23626 W 73.08286

Marble MD & G Railroad Abutments

Dorset, VT 05251

About halfway down the slope from Rte 30 are marble blocks somewhat camouflaged in foliage which are the remains of abutments for a trestle crossing of the small gully by the Manchester, Dorset and Granville Rail Road.

Disused Inclined Railway

Dorset, VT 05251

An inclined rail line, powered by gravity, provided for transport of marble from the quarries above the main rail line in the valley below, and later to the Freedley marble mill. The vertical difference from the quarry to the millsite is 1200 feet.