rectangular building has three polygonal pavilions - one each on the sides facing the tracks, and a larger seven-sided one facing the junction - to provide additional interior space. The larger pavilion, with its panoramic view of the Connecticut River, housed a newsstand and restaurant; the pavilion facing the CV/B&M line houses the agent's office. A canopy wrapped around the station building and onto the REA building. The new building opened on March 10, 1923. The Great Vermont Flood of 1927 left the station under of water. All passenger service on the Rutland Railroad - including the Boston sections of the Green Mountain Flyer and Mount Royal via Bellows Falls - ended on June 26, 1953. (Freight service on the Rutland Railroad ceased in 1961; three years later, the Green Mountain Railroad took over the Rutland–Bellows Falls line.) The B&M discontinued passenger service on the Cheshire on May 18, 1958 - part of massive service cuts that day. Passenger service to Bellows Falls ended on September 6, 1966, when the Montrealer was cut. The canopy was soon removed. Amtrak era Amtrak took over intercity passenger rail service in the United States on May 1, 1971. Vermont was not initially served by Amtrak, as initial routes were limited to a "basic system" primarily consisting of intercity routes still in operation at that time. 1972 legislation to add international service resulted in the restoration of the Montrealer on September 29, 1972, restoring rail service through Vermont. The waiting room was reopened for Amtrak passengers, but services like ticketing were not provided; the B&M used the baggage room for storage. After the REA ceased operations in the 1970s, the Green Mountain Railroad began using the REA office as its freight office; it also maintains the station building. The Bellows Falls Downtown Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 16, 1982. It included three railroad structures as contributing properties: the station building, the REA office, and a circa-1860 Cheshire Railroad freight house (which was later demolished around 2000). In 1984, the Green Mountain Railroad began operating excursion service from Bellows Falls. The Montrealer was suspended north of Springfield, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1987, because of deteriorating track conditions on the B&M-owned section of the CV mainline between Brattleboro and Windsor, Vermont, as well as the Connecticut River Line in Massachusetts. After National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Boston &