St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
logo_filename=St Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad logo.pnglogo_size=
marks=SLR, SLQ
locale=western Maine, northern New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont
start_year= 1853| end_year= present| old_gauge=, (broad gauge until about 1873
hq_city=Auburn, Maine and Richmond, Quebec

The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad reporting mark|SLQ, SLR, known as St-Laurent & Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short line railroad operating between Portland, Maine on the Atlantic Ocean and Montreal, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the Canada-U.S. border at Norton, Vermont, and is owned by short line operator Genesee and Wyoming.

The line was originally 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 the International Boundary. Major communities served include Portland and Lewiston in Maine; Berlin, New Hampshire; Island Pond, Vermont; and Sherbrooke and Montreal in Quebec.

History

The line was first proposed as a connection between Portland and Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1844 by Portland entrepreneur John Alfred Poor. Portland was desperate to connect its ice-free port with Montreal and Maine was at risk of being eclipsed by a similar proposal running from nearby Boston, Massachusetts. 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 July 30, 1847 and Vermont October 27, 1848 to build a continuous line from Portland, Maine northwest into northeastern Vermont.

The first section, from Portland to Yarmouth, opened on July 4, 1846. Further extensions opened to Danville (now Auburn) January 1848, Paris June 8, 1850, [http://oldrailhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=80 (map)] and to Bethel March 10, 1851. Sections into and within New Hampshire opened to Gorham on July 23, 1851 and Northumberland July 12, 1852, and the full distance to Island Pond, Vermont on January 29, 1853.

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

The line was originally built to the Provincial Gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), and was converted to standard gauge about 1873.

The increased traffic from Portland and Point Levi to Montreal placed significant demands on the small car ferry service across the St. Lawrence River at Montreal, and this was replaced by the Victoria Bridge by 1860.

The GTR line to Portland 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.

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 a secondary mainline under CNR as traffic dropped significantly.

Despite the decline in traffic being handled over the line, its strategic connection to the Atlantic Ocean for Montreal saw another use arise during the 20th century when a Canadian company built a pipeline to carry oil from terminals in Portland to refineries in Montreal; the pipeline followed the GTR route along certain parts and is still in use today.

CN (acronym/name change post-1960) continued to operate the Portland-Sherbrooke line as its Berlin Subdivision but traffic continued to decline and 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, Vermont-Portland section and several years later this 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 Ste-Rosalie, where it connects with the CNR main line to Montreal.

External links

* [http://www.gwrr.com/default.cfm?action=rail&section=3B6a#sla Genesee & Wyoming - St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad]
* [http://www.sullboat.com/GT.htm The Grand Trunk in New England]
* [http://oldrailhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=80 Details and map of original railroad as of 1850]

References

* [http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp Railroad History Database]
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/steamtown/shs2b.htm Steamtown Special History Study - Berlin Mills Railway No. 7]