St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County

Company History: The StJ&LC was established in 1948 in the reorganization of the failed St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain. The line ran 98 miles from St. Johnsbury, Vermont northwest to Swanton and was famous for its covered bridges. The company was originally owned by Boston & Maine but they soon sold it. By 1956, it was in the hands of the Salzberg shortline group. It was at this time that they adopted the Salzberg orange and cream paint scheme. In 1967, Salzberg sold it to the Pinsley shortline group and they adopted the standard Pinsley red, black and yellow paint scheme. Pinsley set about upgrading the railroad. The far west end was abandoned, including a rare triple span covered bridge. They also acquired a short segment from Central Vermont to give them an additional interchange at Fonda Junction. Two more aging covered bridges were replaced with simpler steel bridges. However, the covered bridge at Fisher had become a mascot for the railroad so it was retained and strengthened with hidden steelwork. However, Vermont had long been a hard place to run a successful railroad and in 1973, Pinsley sold the StJ&LC to the state. The state chose a new operator who began as the Lamoille County Railroad but they soon changed their name back to St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County. They had no more luck than Pinsley and soon got into an argument with the state over track work which was followed by a strike by MOW employees. A new company, the Vermont Northern took over the line in 1976.

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