I know Bennington quite well (I have family there).
Yes, the Corkscrew route wasn't a great one, but it's fun to pick out the remnants of it when driving around. My mom's house is less than a 1/4 mile from the old roadbed.
That said, Bennington is a great larger town, and while it attracts its fair share of tourists, there's a reason they're slowly building a bypass around the town (it's literally been in the works my entire life). Tourists want to go east towards Wilmington (so they can head north into the center of Vermont for skiing) or go north to Manchester. Manchester has a LOT of factory stores and other shopping attractions.
The route through North Bennington is a definitely a viable one. A stop at North Bennington would pick up some traffic, but I have to agree that Manchester has the potential for a lot more traffic.
And given where the station most likely would go, having busses meeting trains to take folks up to the ski areas would be a win-win.
That said, it would still be far faster to take the train to Albany and get a car or bus there. The advantages of a train to Manchester from NYC would be for the leaf-peepers and the like who want a single seat ride all the (or at most, a transfer in Albany).
That said, I still definitely support it and think it's a win for Vermont if it ever happens.
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