The Rutland and Washington Railroad is a railroad company based in Rutland, Vermont that is chartered in Vermont on November 13, 1847 and built between Rutland and Eagle Bridge in Rensselaer County, New York in 1851 and 1852.
One of the company's founders is Merritt Clark, a Vermont politician, and another is Thomas Canfield, later involved with the Northern Pacific.
In order to build in New York, the company, on June 24, 1850, takes a perpetual rent-free lease of the franchise rights of a portion of the Troy and Rutland Railroad, which had been chartered in that state on July 2, 1849.
The remainder of the Troy and Rutland, from Salem west to Eagle Bridge, is completed in 1852 and leased to the Rutland and Washington effective July 2.
