Okemo ValleyPassenger Rail Alliance
About

Who we are.

Three neighbors who think the railroad through our towns should carry people again, and who would rather show progress than promise it.

Preston Bristow, in glasses and a plaid shirt, seated aboard a train with a grade-crossing signal outside the window.

Preston Bristow

Founder · Chester

Preston is Chester's town planner, and this is his idea, though he is careful to say he pursues it on his own time and not on the town's. He has been working on it for more than two years: the October 2024 article in The Chester Telegraph, the comment campaign that put the corridor into Vermont's 2025 State Rail Plan, the route map, the name. He rides Amtrak when he can and takes the long view. "Everything involving rail takes years," he says, "and we have to start somewhere."

Carl Henshaw, in glasses, a beard and a dark knit hat, smiling aboard an excursion coach in winter.

Carl Henshaw

Founder · Chester

Carl lives in Chester and builds things for the Alliance: this website, the photographs of the Depot and the line, and the research behind the plan, a study of fifty-nine other corridors that tried to bring passengers back to a freight line. What he learned there shapes how the group works: evidence first, an organization that can outlast its founders, and a constituency that can be counted. He came to this as a neighbor rather than a railroader. The tracks already run through town and three excursion trains use them; his question is what makes the next train easier to catch.

Mark McKeon, with a white beard and sunglasses, in a light blue shirt outdoors.

Mark McKeon

Founder · Chester

Mark McKeon worked in the railroad industry for more than 40 years. Starting as a yard brakeman, he went on to work as a freight conductor, a passenger conductor in both intercity and commuter service, a locomotive engineer, a train dispatcher, and manager of rules and safety on the Penn Central and the Providence and Worcester. Appointed to the Federal Railroad Administration, he served in New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, DC as a railroad safety inspector, regional specialist, deputy regional administrator, regional administrator, and special assistant to the associate administrator and chief safety officer. After retiring from the FRA he was Amtrak's corporate safety advocate in the Office of the President and CEO until he retired a second time. He lives in Chester, Vermont, and was appointed to the Vermont Rail Advisory Council by Governor Scott in 2025.

The gable end of Chester Depot, red brick with a scalloped roofline and arched windows, the CHESTER sign over the platform and picnic tables in front.
Chester Depot from the parking lot. Photo: Carl Henshaw.

How we are organized

The Okemo Valley Passenger Rail Alliance is registered with the State of Vermont as an assumed name (trade name) and operates as an unincorporated association. As we grow we will seek to be incorporated as a nonprofit and gain tax-exempt status from the IRS. It has no paid staff and no budget, and it is not a project of the Town of Chester or any other municipality.

The story so far

July 18, 1849
The first public train arrives at Chester. In December the Rutland & Burlington opens the first railroad across Vermont, Bellows Falls to Burlington by way of Ludlow and Rutland.
1953
The Rutland Railroad ends passenger service. The State buys the line in 1963 and leases it to the Green Mountain Railroad, which begins freight service in 1965. Steamtown, and later the railroad's own excursions, keep passengers on the line from 1964 until 2019, when the pandemic ends them.
1998
A study commissioned by Okemo Mountain Resort finds three-quarters of surveyed skiers would ride a train to the mountain and prices the station work at about $600,000. The track is limited to 10 mph for passengers, no institution carries the idea forward, and nothing is built.
October 2024
The Chester Telegraph publishes "Amtrak service for Chester and Ludlow? One man has the vision." Preston asks residents to comment on the draft Vermont State Rail Plan. Read the article.
December 2024
After a four-year pause, passengers ride the line again: the Chamber's first Okemo Valley Holiday Express runs from Chester Depot, and the Bellows Falls firefighters run their first Santa Express from Bellows Falls the same season.
December 2025
The Federal Railroad Administration accepts Vermont's State Rail Plan, which records public support for new service among Bellows Falls, Chester, Ludlow and Rutland, "recognizing it would likely start as bus service."
March 2026
Preston, Carl and Mark agree to found the organization.
August 2026
The name settles on the Okemo Valley Passenger Rail Alliance. This site goes up.
October 2026
The Chamber adds an Okemo Valley Foliage Train out of Ludlow: three excursion trains on the line in one year.

Partners and friends

We work alongside the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, which runs the Foliage Train and the Holiday Express and welcomed the "Okemo Valley" name, and with the regional planning commissions whose work produced the route map. Working alongside is not the same as endorsement; we will say which is which.

Contact

info@ovpralliance.com

Email is the way to reach us; we do not publish a phone number or mailing address.

Reporters: a short boilerplate, the logo and the route map are available on request until the press kit page is up.