The Montreal, Portland and Boston Railway was an international
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
located in northern
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and southern
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. In 1871 it was formed as the Montreal, Chambly, and Sorel Railway Company, a company which constructed their line from
Saint Lambert opposite Montreal to
Chambly. Upon merging with the Missisquoi Junction Railway Company in 1874, it retained its name.
In 1875 it became the Montreal, Portland and Boston Railway Company, with the intent of creating a new Montreal to Boston route via the
Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad
The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad was a railroad planned to connect Portland, Maine to Ogdensburg, New York. The plan failed, and in 1880 the Vermont section was reorganized and leased by the Boston & Lowell Railroad. In 1886, the Maine and Ne ...
. To achieve this, the MP&B extended their line from Chambly to
Frelighsburg, Quebec
Frelighsburg is a municipality in the Estrie region of southern Quebec, Canada, on the border with Vermont. It is at the foot of Mount Pinnacle, part of the Appalachian Mountains.
Administratively, it is within the Brome-Missisquoi Regional Coun ...
, and to
Sheldon, Vermont
Sheldon is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,136 at the 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated community of Sheldon Springs.
Geography
Sheldon, named for Revolutionary War colonel Elisha Sheldon, in 1881; at Sheldon Junction it connected with the P&O.
The failure of the P&O also marked the downfall of the MP&B, and in 1883 traffic had declined enough that the tracks south of
Farnham
Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...
were abandoned and removed, only a year after the line's completion. In 1886 and 1888, the company and its former management were involved in litigation in Montreal concerning debts and possible fraud.
The line was sold to the Central Vermont Railway and reorganized as the Montreal and Province Line Railway in 1898, which restored the line north of Frelighsburgh in 1901.
See also
*
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad , known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean, and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the Can ...
References
* Jones, Robert C., ''Railroads of Vermont, Volume II'', 1993.
*
Defunct Quebec railways
Defunct Vermont railroads
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