Canadian Atlantic Railway
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) is a historic 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 System
(CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces
and state of Maine
. Its creation 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. In 1994, the CAR was shut down, and the Canadian American Railroad
took over operations on the line.
Nova Scotia
The Dominion Atlantic Railway
was a wholly owned CPR subsidiary which was operated by CAR. It included the following lines:
, New Brunswick Railway
, International Railway of Maine and the Dominion Atlantic Railway
.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CAR abandoned almost all of its branch lines in New Brunswick and Maine except for the St. Stephen Sub, leaving the railway with its core industrial lines in western Saint John and the mainline McAdam, Mattawamkeag and Moosehead Subs. connecting the Maritimes to Montreal.
All branch lines in northern New Brunswick and Maine were abandoned except for a small industrial spur in Grand Falls, NB
.
In Nova Scotia, the CAR abandoned the western part of the Dominion Atlantic Railway from Kentville to Yarmouth following cancellation of Via Rail
services in January 1990.
By 1993, traffic had declined on 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 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 Farnham, QC
. An abandonment date of December 31, 1994, was established should no purchaser be found in the interim.
Meanwhile, in August 1994 the CAR sold the track of its Dominion Atlantic Railway
subsidiary to Washington, DC-based short line operator 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 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 and crews 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 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.
J.D. Irving established two companies to operate its lines:
Iron Road Railways established one company to operate its line:
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
railway that existed from 1988 to 1994.
The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail System
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
and state of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. Its creation was predated by several years of declining traffic during the 1980s on CPR's eastern mainline from Montreal to Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
and its supporting branchlines. In 1994, the CAR was shut down, and the Canadian American Railroad
Canadian American Railroad
The Canadian American Railroad was a railroad that operated between Brownville Junction, Maine and Lennoxville, Quebec between 1994 and 2002...
took over operations on the line.
Lines
The CAR included all lines operated by CPR east of Megantic, Quebec on the following routes:- Edmundston Subdivision (Aroostook-Edmundston, NB)
- Fredericton Subdivision (Fredericton Junction-Fredericton, NB)
- Gibson Subdivision (Newburg-South Devon, NB)
- Southampton Spur (Southampton, NB-Nackawic, NB)
- Minto Spur
- Mattawamkeag Subdivision (McAdam, NB-Brownville Junction, ME), now EMRY
- McAdam Subdivision (Saint John-McAdam, NB), now NBSR
- West Saint John Spur (Saint John-Lancaster, NB)
- Moosehead Subdivision (Brownville Junction, ME-Megantic, QC), now MMA
- Shogomoc Subdivision (McAdam-Aroostook, NB)
- St. Stephen Subdivision (McAdam-St. Stephen, NB), now NBSR
- St. Andrews Spur (Watt-St. Andrews, NB)
- Champlain Spur
- Milltown Spur, now NBSR
- St. Andrews Spur (Watt-St. Andrews, NB)
Nova Scotia
The Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
was a wholly owned CPR subsidiary which was operated by CAR. It included the following lines:
- Halifax Subdivision (Windsor Junction-Kentville), now WHRC
- Truro Spur (Windsor-BrooklynBrooklyn, Hants County, Nova ScotiaBrooklyn is a Canadian rural community located in western Hants County, Nova Scotia.Originally called Nelegakumik by the Mi'kmaq Nation , Brooklyn is unique in that its community post office is called Newport....
); formerly extended to Truro until 1986, now WHRC- Fundy Gypsum Spur
- Kentville Spur
- Kingsport Spur
- Truro Spur (Windsor-Brooklyn
History
The routes comprising the CAR system were created by the European and North American RailwayEuropean and North American Railway
The European and North American Railway is the name for three historic Canadian and American railways which were built in New Brunswick and Maine....
, New Brunswick Railway
New Brunswick Railway
The New Brunswick Railway was a historic Canadian railway operating in western New Brunswick. Its headquarters were in Woodstock.The original NBR lines were built to the narrow gauge of...
, International Railway of Maine and the Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the CAR abandoned almost all of its branch lines in New Brunswick and Maine except for the St. Stephen Sub, leaving the railway with its core industrial lines in western Saint John and the mainline McAdam, Mattawamkeag and Moosehead Subs. connecting the Maritimes to Montreal.
All branch lines in northern New Brunswick and Maine were abandoned except for a small industrial spur in Grand Falls, NB
Grand Falls, New Brunswick
Grand Falls is a Canadian town located in Victoria County, New Brunswick.Situated on the Saint John River, the town derives its name from a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 metres.-Geography:Grand Falls is located in the valley of the St...
.
In Nova Scotia, the CAR abandoned the western part of the Dominion Atlantic Railway from Kentville to Yarmouth following cancellation of Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
services in January 1990.
By 1993, traffic had declined on 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 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 Farnham, QC
Farnham, Quebec
Farnham is a town located in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 7,809, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.- History :The...
. An abandonment date of December 31, 1994, was established should no purchaser be found in the interim.
Meanwhile, in August 1994 the CAR sold the track of its Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
subsidiary to Washington, DC-based short line operator Iron Road Railways
Iron Road Railways
Iron Road Railways Incorporated was a railroad holding company which owned several short line railroads in the U.S. state of Maine, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia....
, which owned the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad is a defunct United States railroad company, that brought rail service to Aroostook County, Maine. Brightly painted BAR box cars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces...
; the new operation was called the Windsor and Hantsport Railway
Windsor and Hantsport Railway
The Windsor and Hantsport Railway is a railway operating in Nova Scotia between Windsor Junction and New Minas with a spur at Windsor which runs several miles east, serving two gypsum quarries at Wentworth Creek and Mantua....
.
As the abandonment date for its lines in New Brunswick, Maine and Quebec drew nearer, it became apparent that CP Rail did not have 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 and crews with its Ocean
Ocean (passenger train)
The Ocean is a Canadian passenger train operated by Via Rail between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is currently the oldest continuously-operated named passenger train in North America. The Oceans schedule takes approximately 21 hours, running overnight in both directions...
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 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.
Sale
The resulting sale of the line from Saint John to Farnham was divided as follows:- J.D. Irving
- West Saint John Subdivision
- McAdam Subdivision
- St. Stephen Subdivision
- Mattawamkeag Subdivision
- Iron Road Railways
- Moosehead Subdivision
J.D. Irving established two companies to operate its lines:
- Eastern Maine Railway owns the lines in Maine
- New Brunswick Southern RailwayNew Brunswick Southern RailwayThe New Brunswick Southern Railway and Eastern Maine Railway form a 189-mile railway system operating a former Canadian Pacific Railway mainline between Saint John, New Brunswick and Brownville Junction, Maine....
owns the lines in New Brunswick
Iron Road Railways established one company to operate its line:
- Canadian American RailroadCanadian American RailroadThe Canadian American Railroad was a railroad that operated between Brownville Junction, Maine and Lennoxville, Quebec between 1994 and 2002...