, from the north, showing part of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail The railroad began construction in December 1869 as part of the Vermont Division of the
Portland and Ogdensburg Railway to connect the
Great Lakes with the
seaport of
Portland, Maine. It would be completed on July 17, 1877, with
Governor Horace Fairbanks driving in the silver spike in
Fletcher. Although the railroad had plans on expansion to Lake Ontario, the line originally ended at Swanton. The Vermont Division was extended to Rouses Point in 1883, allowing it to connect to the
Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad and provide a direct connection to the Great Lakes. The eastern end of the Vermont Division was leased to the
Maine Central Railroad in 1912, and the remainder of the line became a subsidiary of the
Boston and Maine Railroad. The Boston & Maine operated their segment as the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad after 1925. This segment was reorganized as the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad in 1948. Freight traffic of the late 1940s was 30% inbound commodities, 20% outbound dairy products to Boston, 15% outbound forest products, and 25% outbound stone products (such as limestone, talc and asbestos). The remaining 10% was
bridge line traffic (westbound paper and eastbound feed) for the
Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division. Six 70-ton
General Electric Diesel locomotives replaced steam locomotives by 1950. Passenger service ended in 1956. Trucks had taken all of the milk traffic by 1961, but
bridge line traffic had increased six-fold following the 1953 dissolution of Maine Central's joint operating agreement with
Boston and Maine Railroad. Light-duty rail and
covered bridges prevented the line from accepting new heavier "incentive" freight car loadings. The
covered bridges were replaced or reinforced so worn out light diesel locomotives could be replaced by larger locomotives; but track conditions deteriorated under the heavier loads. The State of
Vermont purchased the line from
Samuel Pinsly in 1973. The line was then operated by Morrison-Knudsen as the
Vermont Northern Railroad for a time. In 1978, local shippers took over the operation and it became the Lamoille Valley Railroad. In 1989, the line was leased to a Florida company and was operated by them until major flooding in 1995 and 1997 damaged the line so much that it was not profitable to repair the track. In 2002, the state of Vermont started converting the 96-mile route into a recreational trail and created the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, under a
railbanking arrangement. This process was completed in May 2023. == Rail trail ==