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37-826: Beginning in 1993, CP announced its intention to abandon or sell its Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) subsidiary due to declining traffic levels. In early January 1995 the eastern portion of the CAR mainline from Saint John, New Brunswick to Brownville Junction, Maine was sold to industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) which created the New Brunswick Southern Railway (NBS) and Eastern Maine Railway (EMR) as subsidiaries. Owning this section gave JDI access to interchange points with CN Rail (CN) at Saint John, New Brunswick , Guilford Rail System at Mattawamkeag, Maine , and Bangor & Aroostook Railroad (BAR) at Brownville Junction, ME. Also in early January 1995,

74-502: A purchase agreement could not be reached before the abandonment deadline passed, thus the CAR was formally abandoned and sat dormant for the first week of January 1995 until a sale agreement was finalized. The resulting sale of the line from Saint John to Megantic was divided as follows: J.D. Irving established two companies to operate its lines: Iron Road Railways established one company to operate its line: New Brunswick Railway The New Brunswick Railway Company Limited (NBR)

111-542: A short line operator in line to purchase the route. Despite vociferous protests by communities along its route, Via Rail announced the cancellation of the Atlantic effective December 17, 1994, merging the train's equipment, crews and schedule with its Ocean route. CP Rail had entered negotiations with the privately owned New Brunswick–based industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited and Iron Road Railways in December however

148-702: A sister company of the NBR. The New Brunswick Railway was also a historic Canadian railway operating in western New Brunswick . Its headquarters while an operational railway were in Woodstock . It was acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1890 and its operations and name were subsumed by the CPR. The NBR was maintained by CPR as a non-operating holding company for its land and property in New Brunswick; this company

185-612: A survey in 1866 for a railway line extending from his mill facilities in South Devon at the junction between the Nashwaak and Saint John Rivers opposite Fredericton , north to Edmundston to service timber lands which he leased from the Crown. A charter for the railway was received from the provincial government in 1870 and the New Brunswick Land and Railway Company was formed. Part of

222-455: Is currently a Canadian non-operating railway and land holding company headquartered in Saint John , New Brunswick that is part of Irving Transportation Services, a division within the J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) industrial conglomerate. It is not to be confused with another JDI company, New Brunswick Southern Railway (NBSR), established in 1995, which is an operational railway and considered

259-487: The New Brunswick Land and Railway Company changed its name to the New Brunswick Railway Company . That same year the 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge lines from South Devon to Edmundston as well as the line from Aroostook to Caribou were converted to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ). The following year on July 1, 1882, the NBR acquired control of

296-517: The New Brunswick and Canada Railway (NBCR) under a 999 year lease. The NBCR traced its history to the St. Andrews and Quebec Railway (SA&Q) which had a charter to build from Passamaquoddy Bay at St. Andrews north to McAdam and on to Quebec City across much of what is now northern Maine ; construction plans in the 1840s from southwestern New Brunswick to Canada East halted due to uncertainty over

333-658: The Temiscouata Railway . The southern section of the main line ran along the east bank of the Saint John River from South Devon northwest to Keswick where it headed inland (north) away from the Saint John River and followed the Keswick River to Barton before heading west to Millville and northwest to East Brighton and Hartland where it again followed the east bank of the Saint John River. This section

370-437: The de Havilland Mosquito . In 1988, citing declining traffic, CPR grouped all of its lines east of Montreal into a new internal marketing and business unit called Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR). Also beginning in 1988 and extending through to 1993, CAR began the process of abandoning much of the trackage of the former NBR system, citing declining traffic and bridges at Woodstock and Perth-Andover which were washed away in

407-563: The BAR, creating a T-shaped system focused on the interchange point at Brownville Junction. Iron Road Railways also entered into an agreement with J.D. Irving to market the entire line from Lennoxville to Saint John, however EMR and NBSR remained the operator for the line east of Brownville Junction. For the remainder of the 1990s, CDAC was able to dramatically increase the amount of freight traffic handled from what CP had carried, largely due to aggressive marketing and customized service, particularly for

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444-567: The CAR sold its lines in Nova Scotia, that being the track of its Dominion Atlantic Railway subsidiary, to Washington, DC–based holding company Iron Road Railways , which owned the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad ; the new operation was called the Windsor and Hantsport Railway . As the abandonment date for its lines in New Brunswick, Maine and Quebec drew nearer, it became apparent that CP Rail did not have

481-598: The CAR system were built by the European and North American Railway , New Brunswick Railway , International Railway of Maine , Dominion Atlantic Railway , the Windsor and Annapolis Railway and the Nova Scotia Railway . During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CAR abandoned almost all of its branch lines in New Brunswick and Maine north of McAdam, NB except for a remnant of the Edmundston Subdivision which

518-430: The CAR's Saint John-Montreal route to fewer than 25,000 carloads per year (including Via Rail's Atlantic ). This amount of traffic was unsustainable for the route, forcing CP Rail to apply for abandonment with U.S. and Canadian regulators, however the company was denied in lieu of selling the track to another operator. Several short line railroad companies subsequently entered into negotiations with CP Rail to purchase

555-630: The International Boundary at Vanceboro -St. Croix, CPR gained trackage rights from the Maine Central. CPR sought, and was given, a lease on the New Brunswick Railway for a period of 990 years beginning on July 1, 1890, resulting in a mainline from Montreal to Saint John and the feeder network of NBR branchlines to St. Stephen and St. Andrews as well as Fredericton and the upper Saint John River valley. This development gave CPR access to

592-458: The NTR closely paralleled Canadian Pacific's original NBR narrow gauge line between Cyr (just north of Grand Falls ) to Edmundston, along the east bank of the Saint John River. In the 1930s, CPR abandoned a 26 mi (42 km) section of the former NBR between Cyr and Iroquois (approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) east of Edmundston) and used trackage rights over Canadian National Railways , which

629-464: The NTR had been merged into in 1918. Following its acquisition of the NBR in 1890, CPR undertook several expansions to the system. These were acquired by the CPR as separate companies and were not merged with the NBR company: In the 1940s, CPR sought to reduce non-railway properties in New Brunswick and entered into an agreement with industrialist K.C. Irving , whereby the entire NBR was sold to his forestry subsidiary J.D. Irving Limited . CPR leased

666-592: The SA&;Q declared bankruptcy and its assets and charter were purchased and reorganized as the New Brunswick and Canada Railway with track extended north to Richmond Corner near the newly defined border. Although the NBCR intended to complete construction across Maine to Quebec City, it would never extend beyond Richmond Corner due to the political situation in the United States during the 1860s ( American Civil War ) as well as

703-479: The Saint John River at Newburg where it joined a new line being built from the NBCR at Debec via Woodstock where it crossed to the east bank of the Saint John River and on to Hartland . The final major expansion of the NBR took place in 1883 when it acquired the European and North American Railway 's (E&NA) "Western Extension" and the Fredericton Branch Railway . The "Western Extension" line

740-532: The charter provided for additional timber land based upon construction performance, thereby making Gibson one of the largest landowners in the province. The route was envisioned to eventually extend further north along the Madawaska River and Lake Témiscouata to the Saint Lawrence River at Rivière-du-Loup ; however, the company never built beyond Edmundston, leaving this connection to be completed by

777-479: The entire CAR. Negotiations for purchasing the lines in New Brunswick, Maine and Quebec with the short line operators fell through in early 1994 and CP Rail reapplied for abandonment with regulators for its line across Maine between Saint John and Megantic, later extended west to Lennoxville . An abandonment date of December 31, 1994, was established should no purchaser be found in the interim. Meanwhile, in August 1994

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814-413: The financial situation NBCR faced with the competing European and North American Railway project. The 1881 conversion of the NBR to standard gauge track, followed by the 1882 purchase of the New Brunswick and Canada Railway saw a 9.5 mi (15.3 km) section of the NBR's original narrow gauge line between Shewan and Hartland abandoned. A new line was built from Shewan west to the east bank of

851-547: The forestry industry. After several years CDAC operations extended west from Lennoxville to a junction in Farnham, Quebec after Iron Road Railways purchased a former CP route in northern Vermont . CDAC trains also handled traffic from BAR and intermodal traffic from Saint John. The growth of intermodal traffic saw CDAC receive trackage rights over CP from Farnham to Montreal where trains terminated at Cote St. Luc Yard. CDAC's physical plant suffered due to deferred maintenance , as

888-534: The former Canadian Atlantic rail lines, through the 2019 acquisition of MMA's successor, Central Maine and Quebec Railway . Canadian Atlantic Railway The Canadian Atlantic Railway ( CAR ) was a Canadian and U.S. railway that existed from 1988 to 1994. The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail (CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces and the state of Maine . Its creation

925-567: The holding company Iron Road Railways encountered financial difficulties by the early 2000s. Plans to improve infrastructure for Brownville Junction to Farnham during 1999 never stalled: CDAC and BAR and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in 2001. On 8 October 2002, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) acquired all of the assets of Iron Road Railways' operations in Maine, Quebec, and Vermont including CDAC and BAR. CP has since regained ownership of

962-588: The late 1870s and early 1880s. One of the first expansions was the acquisition of the Aroostook River Railroad which had built up the south bank of the Aroostook River from its connection with the NBR at Aroostook, New Brunswick to Caribou, Maine . This line was built between 1873 and 1876 and was leased to the NBR in 1878. As a result, Aroostook became a major division point for the NBR's northern system and had extensive yard facilities. In 1881,

999-677: The location of the Canada–United States border . The border was subsequently resolved in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and the SA&Q began construction in the early 1850s, however, the delays saw the competitive advantage of St. Andrews disappear with the opening of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad in 1853 that connected the Canadian rail network at Montreal , Quebec with the Atlantic coast port of Portland, Maine . In 1856

1036-445: The port of Saint John and until the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s and subsequent expansion of government ice breaking services for shipping, Saint John would become CPR's winter port on the Atlantic coast when Montreal was ice-bound. In 1912, a section of the government-built and operated National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) opened between Moncton and Lévis . Part of

1073-466: The railway tracks and other surface assets from J.D. Irving Ltd. which owned the land including the railway rights of way. In this fashion, Irving was able to secure some of the most extensive timber holdings in the province during a period at the beginning of the Second World War when JDI had entered into major contracts to supply wood veneer for defence contracts, particularly for construction of

1110-499: The spring freshet and ice jams of 1987. CPR completely removed itself from operations east of Montreal in 1994 when CAR trackage was sold to shortline operators. The only remnant of the original NBR system is a short segment of trackage in Grand Falls, operated by Canadian National. J.D. Irving Ltd. continues to retain ownership of the NBR to this very day. The NBR functions in two different but inter-related ways: At its height in

1147-616: The western portion of the CAR mainline from Brownville Junction to Lennoxville, Quebec saw operation transferred to the Canadian American Railroad (CDAC) which was a joint venture of Iron Road Railways and Fieldcrest Cannon Inc. established in mid-1994. In March 1995, CDAC completed purchase of this portion of the CAR mainline from CP; at that time, Iron Road Railways bought out the interest of Fieldcrest Cannon to assume complete control. Also in March 1995, Iron Road Railways purchased

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1184-677: Was a shareholder with Gibson in the NBR and looked to extend the CP system to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia to gain access to ports in the Maritimes. Between 1886 and 1888, CPR built the International Railway of Maine , also referred to as the "Short Line", across a gap between Quebec's Eastern Townships and the Maine Central Railroad at Mattawamkeag, Maine (on the European and North American Railway "Maine" section). From Mattawamkeag to

1221-478: Was built between 1871 and 1873. The section from Hartland to Edmundston was much more difficult to construct and was built between 1871 and 1878. The line from Hartland north to Perth remained on the east bank of the Saint John River. At Perth it crossed to the west bank, bridged across the mouth of the Aroostook River , and continued to Grand Falls , where it crossed back to the east bank before continuing to Edmundston. The NBR system expanded significantly in

1258-594: Was built from 1865-1869 from South Bay on the west side of the Saint John River opposite Saint John to the International Boundary at St. Croix . The Fredericton Branch Railway was built from 1867-1869 from Hartt's Mills to Fredericton . Beginning in 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway began looking to expand its presence east of Montreal . Typical of much of its expansion in southern Ontario , CPR looked to purchase or lease existing lines rather than survey and build itself. CPR president George Stephen

1295-500: Was predated by several years of declining traffic during the 1980s on CPR's eastern mainline from Montreal to Saint John and its supporting branchlines. The assets of CAR were sold or abandoned in stages and the company ceased to exist December 31, 1994, as CP Rail exited eastern Canada and at the same time ceased to be a transcontinental railway. The CAR included all lines operated by CPR east of Megantic, Quebec , totaling 909.3 mi (1,463.4 km). The rail lines comprising

1332-553: Was preserved as an industrial spur in Grand Falls, NB . South of McAdam, the St. Stephen Subdivision was kept, as well as its core industrial spurs in western Saint John and the mainline McAdam, Mattawamkeag and Moosehead Subdivisions connecting the Maritimes to Montreal. In Nova Scotia, the CAR abandoned the lines west of Kentville to Yarmouth following cancellation of Via Rail services in January 1990. By 1993, traffic had declined on

1369-669: Was sold to industrialist K.C. Irving in 1941 that saw all land ownership including timber holdings and railway rights of way transferred to the Irving conglomerate. CPR leased the physical railway assets from NBR and retained the right to operate them until CPR abandoned operations in New Brunswick in late 1994. The original NBR lines in the Saint John River valley were built to 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge . These tracks were converted to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) in 1881. New Brunswick industrialist Alexander Gibson commissioned

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