Vermont Rail System is looking to reopen the west end of the famed Maine Central Mountain Division between St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Whitefield, N.H., to connect with the New Hampshire Central, a short line it acquired in 2024. 

The Mountain Division was last used as a main line route between St. Johnsbury and Portland, Me., in the 1980s, however, the west end continued to operate as a short line called Twin State Railroad (a subsidiary of Lamoille Valley) into the 1990s. Twin State ceased operations in the late 1990s after the paper mill at Gilman, Vt., closed, and since then the route has been considered for a rail trail. 

VRS presently operates NHC on state-owned track between North Stratford and Colebrook, N.H. (formally the North Stratford Railroad) and between Groveton and Littleton, N.H. (formally the Boston & Maine). It connects to the Twin State (former Maine Central) at Whitefield and the Conway Scenic at Hazens (operator of perhaps the most famous part of the former MEC Mountain Division). 

VRS President Selden Houghton told the Caledonian Record that the railroad has already developed new traffic in Whitefield. 

“We’re currently working to get the tracks back in service to Whitefield,” he said. “There’s a grant application to get the old yard area cleaned up and get some trans-load going out there as well. Then our plans are to work west toward Gilman, getting the brush out of the way.”

If VRS was able to reopen the line between Whitefield and St. Johnsbury, it would be able to connect with another of its operations, the Washington County Railroad. WACR operates the former Canadian Pacific and Boston & Maine between Newport and White River Jct., Vt. —Justin Franz