Gilman grapples with its identity as rail is poised to return

LUNENBURG — The inconceivable is happening in Gilman: Rail is returning to the former mill community.

Early this year, news broke that Vermont Rail System planned to reopen a then-defunct section of railroad that runs from one of its freight lines in northern New Hampshire across the Connecticut River into Gilman. The rail company is in the process of clearing and reconstructing that section of track, as well as negotiating with rail giant CSX to purchase the rest of the line, which runs approximately 20 miles from Gilman to St. Johnsbury.

The plans, however, have been a shock to community members in Gilman, a village in Lunenburg that once thrived because of the local mill and adjoining railroad, but became a shadow of itself when the last freight trains passed through in the late 199