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70-555: The station was constructed between 1855 and 1856 by the Grand Trunk Railway , designed by the GTR chief engineer Francis Thompson and built by Casimir Gzowski . It was enlarged in 1892 and its interior and exterior were remodeled in 1904. Among the 1892 and 1904 modifications were the corner tower and operator's bay window. The station was acquired by Canadian National Railway when the GTR assets were transferred in 1923 and later became

140-472: A VIA Rail station. GO Transit service began in 1978. The station once had a water tower for steam trains and had platforms on both sides of the station building, with the south side now paved over for a large commuter parking lot. The station was the terminus of the then-named Georgetown line for most of its GO Transit history, from 1978 to 1990 and 1993 to 2011. Between 1990 and 1993 and since 2011, some GO Trains have served stations further west; as of 2015

210-770: A continuous line from Portland northwest into northeastern Vermont. William Pitt Preble was the railroad's first president. The line was originally built to the Portland gauge of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ). Construction started in Portland on July 4, 1846. The first section, from Portland to Yarmouth , opened July 20, 1848. Further extensions up the Royal River to Danville (now Auburn ) opened in October 1848 and to Mechanic Falls in February 1849. Construction then proceeded up

280-910: A few more years north of Gorham. Interchange with standard gauge railroads became a problem during the 1860s. Grand Trunk equipped approximately 1,000 freight cars with experimental "sliding-wheels" in 1863 at company shops in Sarnia, Ontario , and Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal. Gauge could be adjusted by removing and inserting axle pins on special tapered-gauge track segments at interchange points. Safety problems were reported despite high maintenance costs. All lines west of Montreal were converted to standard gauge on October 3 and 4, 1873. Grand Trunk purchased 200 standard gauge locomotives (including 62 from Portland Company ) and converted 135 old locomotives. Ten thousand standard gauge bogies were purchased for conversion of freight cars. The railway from Portland to Montreal

350-473: A hard rock trio from Flint, Michigan , called itself Grand Funk Railroad in 1969. Like the CPR and CNR, the GTR began building and operating hotels during the first two decades of the 20th century. Most of the hotels survived the takeover of the GTR by CNR in 1923 and were operated by Canadian National Hotels : Grand Trunk Railway was built fully a century before major property and highway development took place in

420-507: A major source of traffic. Annual car loadings in 1973 were 12,758 for Berlin , 5,794 for Groveton , and 1,161 for Mechanic Falls ; but the Boston and Maine Railroad carried some of the traffic for the New Hampshire mills. Dressed meat from Chicago to Maine continued to use the shorter Canadian routing as long as railway reefers remained competitive with highway trucking. From 1934 to 1939

490-621: A portion of rail line for future passenger service to Lewiston and Auburn ." The potential passenger route would operate on tracks operated by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad. As of 2013 prospective operators of a night train from Montréal to Boston are attempting to get access to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic right-of-way for a 2014-passenger launch. A bridge over the Saint-François River near Brompton, Quebec , collapsed on January 13, 2018. There were no injuries. The preliminary opinion

560-584: A result of the GTPR, and its shareholders, primarily in the United Kingdom, were determined to prevent the company from being nationalized as well. Eventually on July 12, 1920, GTR was placed under control of another federal government Board of Management while legal battles continued for several more years. Finally, on January 20, 1923, GTR was fully absorbed into the CNR on a date when all constituent companies were merged into

630-405: A secondary mainline under CNR as traffic dropped significantly. Within a decade, annual export tonnage leaving Portland declined to 21,000 tons, from an average of 600,000 tons during the early 1920s. Canadian National class S 2-8-2s pulled through freight trains between Portland and Island Pond, while class O USRA 0-6-0s worked those yards and class N-4 2-8-0s pulled local wayfreights within

700-401: A side platform on the south side of the station, adjacent to the station building. The station has two parking lots. The main parking lot and station building are located on the south side of the tracks adjacent to a bus loading/unloading zone. Ticket sales are available during peak hours with an attendant, as well as during evenings for the last few days of every month. The station building

770-517: A signal for an open drawbridge on the Richelieu River near the present-day town of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec , plunging onto a passing barge and killing 99 German immigrants. Canadian Rail speculated in 1963 that an independent GTR might have survived had it always used standard gauge. The GTR was a private company headquartered in England that received heavy Canadian government subsidies and

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840-548: A similar proposal running from nearby Boston , Massachusetts . Writer, critic, and Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad investor, John Neal wrote of the necessity "to drive Boston out of the business and secure [a] monopoly." Montreal saw an advantage in linking with the smaller port at Portland, and Poor's idea became a reality. The Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad was chartered in Maine on February 10, 1845; New Hampshire on July 30, 1847; and Vermont on October 27, 1848, to build

910-593: A weekends only train, equipped with coffee shop car in addition to coach, for the route from Montreal to Portland. The GTR's bankruptcy in the early 1920s saw it nationalized by the Canadian federal government, which merged it into the nascent Canadian National Railways (CNR). Unfortunately for Portland, the CNR also included various other rail lines to ice-free Canadian ports in the Maritimes , notably Halifax, Nova Scotia , and their now ex-GTR mainline to Montreal soon became

980-706: Is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine , on the Atlantic Ocean , and Montreal , Quebec , on the St. Lawrence River . It crosses the Canada–US border at Norton, Vermont , and Stanhope, Quebec , and is owned by short-line operator Genesee & Wyoming . The line was built by the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad in the U.S. and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway in Canada, meeting at Island Pond, Vermont , south of

1050-523: Is open during the posted GO train hours and for a half-hour before each Via train arrival. Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (( reporting mark GT ); French : Grand Tronc ) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut , Maine , Michigan , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , and Vermont . The railway

1120-541: The International Limited ) from Chicago to Portland, equipped with plush silk and mahogany -finished Pullman , dining, sleeping, parlor, and observation cars including a library and a barber shop. By 1946 this required a change of train in Montreal, taking #16 from Montreal to Portland (and #17 the reverse trip). As late as summer, 1963, the Canadian National/Grand Trunk operated this route as

1190-525: The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to meet British Columbia's conditions for joining Confederation. By the early 20th century, GTR desired to operate in Western Canada , particularly given the virtual monopoly of service that CPR maintained and the lucrative increasing flows of immigrants west of Ontario. The federal government encouraged GTR to co-operate with a local railway company operating on

1260-558: The Continental Divide in North America at Yellowhead Pass . GTR's cost-conscious president Charles Melville Hays was one of the victims on board RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. His death is speculated to have contributed to poor management of GTR over the ensuing decade, and also contributed to the abandonment of the uncompleted Southern New England Railway to Providence, Rhode Island , begun in 1910. Construction started on

1330-759: The Little Androscoggin River to Oxford in September 1849 and Paris in March 1850. Construction was then completed down the Alder River to the Androscoggin River at Bethel in March 1851. Simultaneous construction of Portland gauge connecting railways occurred from Danville and Mechanic Falls. Sections into and within New Hampshire opened to Gorham on July 23, 1851, and Northumberland July 12, 1852, and

1400-710: The Prairies , the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR), but an agreement was never reached. CNoR decided to build its own transcontinental system at this time, forcing GTR in 1903 to enter into an agreement with Wilfrid Laurier 's government to build a third railway system from the Atlantic to the Pacific. GTR would build (with federal assistance) and operate the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Prince Rupert, British Columbia , while

1470-467: The St. Lawrence River . It quickly expanded its charter eastward to Portland, Maine , and westward to Sarnia , Ontario. Over time it added many subsidiary lines and branches, including four important subsidiaries: A fifth subsidiary was the never-completed Southern New England Railway , chartered in 1910, which would have run from a connection with the Central Vermont at Palmer, Massachusetts , to

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1540-483: The Toronto -Montreal line an extension east to Portland. A branch was also built from Richmond, Quebec , northeast to Point Levi , across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City . Grand Trunk enlarged their waterfront facilities at Portland by purchasing land from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . The increased traffic from Portland and Point Levi to Montreal placed significant demands on the small train ferry service across

1610-423: The gauge difference , the GTR experimented with a form of variable-gauge axles called "adjustable gauge trucks", but these proved unreliable. The GTR system expanded throughout southern Ontario , western Quebec, and the U.S. state of Michigan over the years by purchasing and absorbing numerous smaller railway companies, as well as building new lines. GTR's largest purchase came on August 12, 1882, when it bought

1680-553: The 1,371-kilometre (852 mi) Great Western Railway , running from Niagara Falls to Toronto, and connecting to London , Windsor , and communities in the Bruce Peninsula . The company sold the line along the St. Lawrence River between Rivière-du-Loup and Lévis in 1879 to the federal government-owned Intercolonial Railway (IRC), and granted running rights in 1889 to the IRC on trackage between Lévis and Montreal (via Richmond); however,

1750-580: The 1960s) continued to operate the Portland-Sherbrooke line as its Berlin Subdivision, but traffic continued to decline. By the late 1980s, following deregulation of the U.S. railroad industry, it became a candidate for divestiture to a shortline operator. In 1989, the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad was formed to take over operation of the Island Pond -Portland section, and several years later this

1820-556: The CAR in 1905, although the purchase was not ratified by Parliament until 1914. The routing of these systems was extremely speculative, as GTPR's main line was located farther north than the profitable CPR main line in the Prairies, and NTR was located even farther north of populous centres in Ontario and Quebec. Construction costs on the GTPR escalated, despite having the most favourable crossing of

1890-708: The Château Laurier in Ottawa. Hays blundered in 1903 by building a subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company some 4,800 kilometres (3,000 mi) long; it reached Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia in 1914. The government built and the Grand Trunk was to operate the National Transcontinental to link the main Grand Trunk with its Pacific subsidiary. The very expensive subsidiary

1960-483: The Conservative party. Carlos and Lewis (1995) show that it managed to survive because its British investors accurately assessed the corporation's value and prospects, which included the likelihood that the Canadian government would bail out the railway should it ever default on its bonds. The government had guaranteed a very large loan and had enacted legislation authorizing debt restructuring . These arrangements allowed

2030-543: The Crown corporation. At the time that the GTR was fully merged into CNR, approximately 125 smaller railway companies comprised the Grand Trunk system, totalling 12,800 kilometres (8,000 mi) in Canada and 1,873 kilometres (1,164 mi) in the United States. Canada's worst railway accident based on loss of life happened on the GTR, occurring on June 29, 1864, when a passenger train operating between Lévis and Montreal missed

2100-455: The GTPR and the limited financial returns being realized, GTR defaulted on loan payments to the federal government in 1919. GTPR was nationalized on March 7 of that year, being operated under a federal government Board of Management until finally being placed under the control of the Crown corporation Canadian National Railways (CNR) on July 20, 1920. GTR underwent serious financial difficulties as

2170-516: The GTPR/NTR in 1905, and the GTPR opened to traffic in 1914, followed by the NTR in 1915. It was a transcontinental system, with the only exception being the NTR's ill-fated Quebec Bridge , which would not be completed for several more years. The first indication the arrangement with the government was faltering came when GTR refused to operate the NTR, citing economic reasons. With the enormous cost of building

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2240-645: The Grand Trunk Corporation as a Class I railroad . The Portland, Maine-Chicago, Illinois mainline of the Grand Trunk is or was known by the following names: The Montreal-Toronto segment had been known by the following names: The Grand Trunk Railway Building on Warwick House Street in London continues to stand. Built by Aston Webb , the 7 storey building was built in 1907 with the banner The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada on 4 Warwick House Street and Canadian National Railway on Cockspur Street. CN no longer owns

2310-603: The Grand Trunk was on the verge of bankruptcy and in no position to expand further east to Halifax . On the eve of the American Civil War , it stretched from Sarnia in the west to Rivière-du-Loup in the east and Portland in the southeast. Colonists in the United Province of Canada, some of whom had experienced their territory being attacked by the United States fifty years earlier (in the War of 1812 ), were uncomfortably close to

2380-479: The Grand Trunk wharves at Portland by 1896 with connections to Bristol , London , Liverpool , Glasgow , and Antwerp . Fifty steamships visited Portland that winter, and as many as seven could load simultaneously from the Grand Trunk wharves. More powerful 2-6-0 mogul locomotives increased freight train length from 16 to 30 cars. Passenger train service included the Seaside and White Mountains Special (later called

2450-652: The Great Western Railway routing instead. CN continues to use the "Grand Trunk" name for its holding company the Grand Trunk Corporation . The corporation was created in 1971 to provide autonomy in operation for CN's US subsidiaries: Grand Trunk Western Railroad ; Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway ; and the Central Vermont Railway . The main goal of the corporation, headquartered in Detroit ,

2520-520: The IRC's construction of a more direct line from Lévis to Saint-Hyacinthe in 1899 saw most of this traffic transferred to that line. As the dominant railway in British North America, GTR was reportedly asked by the federal government soon after Confederation to consider building a rail line to the Pacific coast at British Columbia but refused, forcing the government to enact legislation creating

2590-509: The St. Lawrence River on August 25, 1860, with the opening of the first Victoria Bridge at Montreal (replaced by the present structure in 1898); the bridging of the Niagara River between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York ; and the construction of a tunnel beneath the St. Clair River, connecting Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan. The latter work opened in August 1890 and replaced

2660-456: The St. Lawrence at Montreal, and this was replaced by the Victoria Bridge by 1860. The locomotives burned wood exclusively until the cost of seasoned firewood increased during the winter of 1871–72 to make other fuels competitive. Peat from Quebec was used briefly before coal became the standard. Coal was used exclusively between Portland and Gorham by 1879, but use of wood continued for

2730-571: The United States. Many citizens thought that the only way to finish the Grand Trunk – and protect the country – would be to unite all the colonies into a federation so that they could share the costs of an expanded railway system. Thus the British North America Act, 1867 included the provision for an Intercolonial Railway to link with the Grand Trunk at Rivière-du-Loup. The end of the American Civil War saw British North America on

2800-627: The United States. Passenger trains were usually pulled by locomotives working out of Montreal. Canadian National class E-7 2-6-0 #713 worked the Lewiston branch, and was preserved at the Canadian Railway Museum when 16 class GR-17 EMD GP9 diesel locomotives replaced steam power in 1957. Five of the GP9s were equipped with steam generators for passenger service, while the other eleven had dynamic brakes for freight service. Paper mills remained

2870-706: The building. The current tenant on the lower floor is The Original London Tour Centre at 17–19 Cockspur Street. In Series 3, Episode 1 of Downton Abbey , which takes place during the spring of 1920, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham learns that he has lost most of the fortune that he received from his wife Cora , which Lord Grantham had largely invested in Grand Trunk Railway stock. Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad ( reporting mark SLR ), known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec ( reporting mark SLQ ) in Canada ,

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2940-513: The company to float new bond issues to replace existing debt and to issue securities in lieu of interest. Charles Melville Hays joined the Grand Trunk in 1895 as general manager (and in 1909, president, based in Montreal). Hays was the architect of the great expansion during a colourful and free-spending era. He upgraded the tracks, bridges, shops and rolling stock, but was best known for building huge grain elevators and elaborate tourist hotels such as

3010-557: The deep-water, all-weather port of Providence, Rhode Island . The company was incorporated on November 10, 1852, as the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada to build a railway line between Montreal and Toronto . The charter was soon extended east to Portland, Maine and west to Sarnia, Canada West . In 1853 the GTR purchased the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad from Montreal to the Canada East – Vermont border, and

3080-610: The full distance to Island Pond, Vermont , on January 29, 1853. Construction began with three locomotives built in Britain, but John Poor had organized the Portland Company with locomotive erecting shops adjacent to the railroad yard and wharves at Portland. Approximately half of the early Portland Company production was 25 Portland-gauge locomotives built for the Atlantic & St. Lawrence. These 4-4-0 locomotives weighing 20 to 25 tons were augmented by locomotives built elsewhere when

3150-422: The giant Union Army and faced terrorist attacks during the mid-19th century in the form of Fenian raids . Such security concerns led to demands for a year-round transportation system that British reinforcements could use should their territory be attacked during winter when the St. Lawrence River was frozen, and the only railway for British reinforcements to use would be the Grand Trunk connection at Portland, in

3220-553: The government would build and own the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) from Winnipeg to Moncton , New Brunswick via Quebec City , which the GTR would also operate. As part of this program, the federal government encouraged the GTR to purchase the Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) with lines southeast from Ottawa to Vermont, and west from Ottawa to Georgian Bay . The GTR took effective control of

3290-523: The international border. Major communities served include Portland and Lewiston in Maine; Berlin, New Hampshire ; Island Pond, Vermont; and Sherbrooke and Montreal in Quebec. The line was proposed as a connection between Portland and Sherbrooke , Quebec , in 1844 by Portland entrepreneur John A. Poor . Portland was desperate to connect its ice-free port with Montreal, and Maine was at risk of being eclipsed by

3360-531: The last Portland gauge train from Island Pond arrived at 2:00 am September 26, and the main line was ready for standard gauge trains by 9:00 am the same day. The change resulted in nearly complete replacement of locomotives on the New England line, since most of the Portland gauge locomotives were sold or scrapped. Five new "Burnside" 2-6-0 locomotives from Rhode Island Locomotive Works had arrived in Portland from Boston to resume service. The GTR line to Portland

3430-481: The majority of trains on the line continue to originate and terminate here. The International Limited was operated jointly by Via Rail and Amtrak between Chicago and Toronto. The service operated from 1982–2004. The two mainline tracks are used jointly by Canadian National , Via Rail, Goderich-Exeter and GO Transit. On the north side of the station a yard provides four layover tracks and an island platform used for GO Train service. Via trains operate from

3500-613: The original route of the T&;G and extended the line to Sarnia, a hub for Chicago -bound traffic. In October of 1856, the section from Montreal to Toronto opened, while the line from Toronto to Sarnia was finished in November of 1859. Also in 1859, a ferry service was established across the St. Clair River to Fort Gratiot (now Port Huron, Michigan ). The Grand Trunk was one of the main factors that pushed British North America towards Confederation . The original colonial economy structured along

3570-411: The parent company Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad through to the harbour facilities at Portland. A line was also built to Lévis , via Richmond from Montreal in 1855, part of the much-talked about " Maritime connection" in British North America . In the same year it purchased the Toronto and Guelph Railroad , whose railway was already under construction. But the Grand Trunk Railway Company changed

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3640-546: The pipeline followed the GTR route along certain parts and is still in use today. Wharves at Portland were used by the United States Navy as Casco Bay became destroyer base Sail during the Battle of the Atlantic . Grand Trunk Piers housed a Navy supply pier and training schools for combat information center (CIC), night visual lookouts , surface and aircraft recognition , search and fire control radar operators, gunnery spotting , anti-aircraft machine guns , and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) attack. CNR (CN after

3710-406: The railcar ferry at the same location. Common during 19th century railway construction in British colonies, GTR built to a broad gauge ( Provincial Gauge ) of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ); however, this was changed to the standard gauge of 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) between 1872 and 1885 to facilitate interchange with U.S. railroads. To overcome

3780-404: The railway industry in Canada and the United States, CN has abandoned or sold many former GTR and GTW branch lines in recent decades, including the former Portland–Montreal main line which had instigated the development of the system to a large degree. As well, a part of the original Toronto–Sarnia routing via St. Mary's Junction and Forest to Point Edward, Ontario , was sold or abandoned, using

3850-412: The return trip. Daily except Sunday passenger trains 16 and 17 continued to carry a railway post office between Portland and Island Pond through the 1950s. These trains remained popular with summer vacationers from Montreal, and summer weekend service continued until 1967 after daily train service ended in 1960. Passengers were transported by bus from Portland station to Old Orchard Beach. Portland station

3920-406: The road was completed to Montreal. The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway was chartered to build the part of the line in Quebec , and on August 4, 1851, agreed to meet the Atlantic and St. Lawrence at Island Pond. Regular operations began April 4, 1853 between Montreal ( Saint-Lambert ) and Portland. Four months later, on August 5, 1853, the Grand Trunk Railway leased the two companies, giving

3990-419: The three northern New England states, and much of the southern areas of the new provinces of Quebec and Ontario. By 1880, the Grand Trunk Railway system stretched all the way from Portland in the east to Chicago, Illinois, in the west (by means of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad between Port Huron and Chicago). Several impressive construction feats were associated with the GTR: the first successful bridging of

4060-459: The twice-weekly Maine Coast Special from Montreal left the Grand Trunk at Yarmouth Junction to follow the Maine Central Railroad to Portland's Union Station and then the Boston and Maine Railroad to the beach communities of Old Orchard Beach and Kennebunkport during July and August. The CNR class U-1 4-8-2 locomotives pulling as many as 17 car trains around Dominion Day would be serviced at Rigby Yard in South Portland before making

4130-459: The various jurisdictions it crossed and as such had the choice of geography in selecting the most direct routes. As a result, significant sections of GTR mainlines in Canada and Grand Trunk Western routes in the U.S. are still in active use by Canadian National (CN) today, particularly the Quebec City–Chicago corridor by way of Drummondville , Montreal , Kingston , Toronto, London, Sarnia /Port Huron, and Battle Creek . Following deregulation of

4200-419: The verge of uniting in a single federation, and the GTR's financial prospects improved as the railway was well-positioned to take advantage of increased population and economic growth. By 1867, it had become the largest railroad system in the world by accumulating more than 2,055 km (1,277 mi) of track that connected locations between its ocean port at Portland, Maine , its river port at Rivière-du-Loup,

4270-444: The water route from the Maritimes up the St. Lawrence River and the lower Great Lakes was greatly expanded by the duplicate route of the Grand Trunk. The explosive growth in trade during the 1850s within the United Province of Canada and further east by water to the Maritimes demanded that a railway link the entire geopolitical region. During this time the GTR extended its line to Lévis further east to Rivière-du-Loup . By 1860,

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4340-432: Was built during the boom period for New England textile mills , and various mill towns in northern New England soon saw an influx of French Canadian workers who quickly found work in the region. Grain elevators were constructed at Portland to facilitate storage and loading of Canadian wheat for export. The first elevator was built on Galt Wharf in 1863. The elevator with capacity for 150,000 bushels burned in 1873, and

4410-436: Was extended to the border at Norton . In 1998, following Canadian deregulation, the short-line operator formed a subsidiary St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad (Quebec) to operate the remaining line from the border at Norton through to Sainte-Rosalie , where it connects with the CNR main line to Montreal. In April 2012, the Maine Department of Transportation put a project out to bid which would "purchase, design, and construct

4480-474: Was far north of major population centres and had too little traffic. Nearing bankruptcy in 1919, the entire system was nationalized: the government merged the Grand Trunk, the Grand Trunk Pacific, and the National Transcontinental lines into the new Canadian National Railways. The process was completed in 1923. The Grand Trunk lines in the United States, however, kept their distinctive name. The Grand Trunk legacy seeped into late 20th century popular culture, when

4550-489: Was never profitable because of competition from shipping and American railways. (In 1880 40% of the Grand Trunk traffic was from one or another American city to and from Chicago, taking a shortcut across Ontario.) Inflated construction costs, overestimated revenues, and an inadequate initial capitalization threatened bankruptcy for the Grand Trunk. Sir Joseph Hickson was a key executive from 1874 to 1890 based in Montreal who kept it afloat financially and formed an alliance with

4620-403: Was operated from headquarters in Montreal , Quebec, with corporate headquarters in London , United Kingdom (4 Warwick House Street). It cost an estimated $ 160 million to build. The Grand Trunk system and the Canadian Government Railways were precursors of today's Canadian National Railway . The original charter was for a line running from Montreal to Toronto mostly along the north shore of

4690-448: Was razed in 1966. Despite the decline in traffic being handled over the line, its strategic connection to the Atlantic Ocean for Montreal saw other use arise during World War II . Bauxite from British Guiana was shipped via rail from Portland to avoid shipping losses to U-boats during the Battle of the St. Lawrence . The Portland–Montreal Pipe Line was built to carry oil from terminals in South Portland to refineries in Montreal;

4760-438: Was replaced with a larger elevator in 1875. Portland Elevator Company built an elevator with capacity of one million bushels in 1897, and New England Elevator Company built the largest elevator on the Atlantic coast at the time, with capacity of 1.5 million bushels, in 1901. By 1881, all wooden bridges had been replaced by iron and stone structures, and steel rail had replaced early iron rail. Fourteen steamship lines were serving

4830-436: Was standard-gauged in September 1874. During the week preceding the change, each section foreman made sure all ties on his section were properly adzed and clear of gravel. Spikes were laid out beside each tie, and some sidings were re-gauged before the main line. Two eight-man squads were assigned to each five-mile section. They slept by the track with their tools on the night of September 25, 1874. Work began at Portland when

4900-429: Was to make GTW profitable and keep parent CN from having to subsidize GTW's losses. CN sold off the Central Vermont in 1995 when CN became a public traded company instead of a crown corporation. CN continued to place its US acquisitions as subsidiaries under the Grand Trunk Corporation which includes Illinois Central , Wisconsin Central , and Great Lakes Transportation . The Association of American Railroads considers

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