By Kolby R. LaMarche

Labor Day honors the tenacity of American workers, and the 1961 Rutland Railroad strike in Burlington captures that spirit like few others. It was a moment when ordinary people—engineers, firemen, and conductors—stood up to a struggling company to protect their way of life.

Born in 1843 as the Champlain & Connecticut River Railroad, the The Rutland Railroad tied Vermont together, linking Burlington to Rutland and Bellows Falls. By the 1950s, it was in real trouble. Trucks were taking over freight, especially the milk runs that once kept the railroad humming. “The decade of the 1950s was a grim one for the Rutland,” wrote historian Jim Shaughnessy, as the company bled money despite slashing costs. Workers, backed by unions like the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, were already underpaid, earning just $1.50 an hour for firemen compared to the national average of $1.80.

In 1960, the company dropped a bombshell: move the operational hub from Rutland to Burlington and change schedules to include overnight stays. Before, crews could finish round trips in a day and sleep in their own warm beds. The new plan, however, meant relocating or facing longer, more unpredictable hours—a raw deal for workers already stretched thin. 

“We’re not against progress, but we can’t let them tear apart our lives for their bottom line,” one worker told the Burlington Free Press (BFP) in September 1960. On September 16, the unions, led by the Railway Labor Executive Council, officially called a strike. For 41 days, trains sat still, freight backed up, and passengers scrambled, putting the workers’ fight in the spotlight.

The 1960 strike ended with a deal to delay the hub move, but the peace didn’t last. In 1961, management attempted pushed the same changes again, but on September 25, workers walked out once more. “This is about our homes, our families,” a striking engineer remarked to BFP that September. The second strike, lasting 21 days, stopped the railroad dead, with the last train rolling out on September 25, 1961.

By October 16, 1961, negotiations brought a compromise. The company kept the Burlington hub but agreed to ease schedule changes. Still, they cut passenger service, which was losing $500,000 a year. It was a bittersweet win for the workers—they’d saved some of their working conditions, but the railroad was on its last legs. On December 29, 1961, the Rutland asked the Interstate Commerce Commission to shut down entirely. “The Rutland’s financial condition is unsustainable,” ICC Chairman Laurence Walrath declared in January 1962. 

By January 1963, the line was gone, and the Vermont Railway later took over parts of it.

The strike’s gains didn’t last long. Workers held their ground, but the railroad’s collapse cost 400 of jobs. Burlington felt the sting—the Rutland wasn’t just a business, it was part of the city’s soul, and that was something the workers had fought for too. The strike laid bare the bigger forces at play, as Shaughnessy put it: “The Rutland’s fate was sealed by forces beyond labor’s control—trucks, highways, and time.” 

Still, the workers’ defiance left a mark. “We fought for what was right,” one striker said in October of ‘61. 

The Burlington Daily News wishes all readers a happy and restful Labor Day.