The New Brunswick Southern Railway Company Limited is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

short line railway owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company Limited, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglomerate

J.D. Irving Limited J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) is a privately owned conglomerate company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a subsidiary of the parent company, Irving Group of Companies, along with Irving Oil Refinery, Canaport, Irving T ...

. Together with its sister company Eastern Maine Railway , NBSR and EMRY form a continuous main line connecting Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, with Brownville Junction,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

. NBSR also operates an additional of branch lines in New Brunswick. Today most locomotives hauling trains that operate over NBSR and EMRY are owned and carry the reporting marks of NBSR. Some maintenance of way equipment that operates exclusively in the state of Maine is owned directly by EMRY. A sister company

Maine Northern Railway The Maine Northern Railway Company Limited is a U.S. and Canadian short line railroad owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglomerate ...

operates a separate railway system connecting

Millinocket Millinocket is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,114 at the 2020 census. Millinocket's economy has historically been centered on forest products and recreation, but the paper company closed in 2008. History ...

, with Van Buren,

History

NBSR was established as a corporate entity in November 1994 by J.D. Irving Ltd. to purchase 131.7 miles of physical railway assets of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

within the province of

; these being the 84.4 mile McAdam Subdivision, the 5.6 mile section of the Mattawamkeag Subdivision within Canada, as well as the West Saint John Spur, Milltown Spur, and the St. Stephen Subdivision. The actual land forming the right of way that CPR's tracks were located on was actually already owned by J.D. Irving Ltd. CPR sold all of its land holdings in New Brunswick (but not the tracks and buildings) in 1941 when it reached an agreement that saw industrialist K.C. Irving purchase the New Brunswick Railway Company Limited. This arrangement allowed J.D. Irving Ltd. to use New Brunswick Railway Co. Ltd. as a holding company to own both the NBSR as well as its U.S. sister EMRY. Ownership of the tracks in New Brunswick extends to the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: ...

at the midpoints of two crossings of the St. Croix River; these being the

Saint Croix-Vanceboro Railway Bridge In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

at St. Croix shared with the EMRY, as well as an unnamed railway bridge at

St. Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

shared with Pan Am Railways . Both NBSR and EMRY began operations on January 6, 1995, approximately one week after Canadian Pacific Railway abandoned operations of its Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) subsidiary on December 31, 1994. In spring 1995 Irving Transportation Services consolidated its railway operations as Eastern Maine Railway Company Limited came under NBSR operational control and NBSR trains and crews operate over both short lines in a seamless operation.NB Southern Railway history
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Route

;Main line NBSR's main line begins at Mile 0 of the McAdam Subdivision at Mill Street in Saint John, extending 84.4 miles to the yard at McAdam. This trackage continues another 5.6 miles on the Mattawamkeag Subdivision from McAdam to the International Boundary at the

where it continues into the United States as the EMRY. East of Mill Street are the tracks of CN with which the NBSR interchanges daily. The tracks between Saint John and St. Croix were built as part of the

European and North American Railway The European and North American Railway (E&NA) is the name for three historic Canadian and American railways which were built in New Brunswick and Maine. The idea of the E&NA as a single system was conceived at a railway conference in Portland, M ...

's "Western Extension" which was part of a project that connected

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of ...

with

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, opening in 1869. This line ended up becoming part of the

New Brunswick Railway The New Brunswick Railway Company Limited (NBR) 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. Irvin ...

in 1883 and in turn part of the

in 1890. One distinctive section of NBSR's main line is its crossing over the Saint John River approximately west of Mill Street where it crosses the

Reversing Falls The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where the river runs through a narrow gorge before emptying into the Bay of Fundy. The semidiurnal tides of the bay force the flow ...

gorge on the

Reversing Falls Railway Bridge The Reversing Falls Railway Bridge is the name given to two different steel truss bridges crossing the Saint John River at the same location in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The original bridge was constructed in 1885 immediately upstrea ...

. The current bridge structure dates to 1922. ;Branch lines NBSR has three branch lines: * West Saint John Spur, running approximately from the main line at Fairville in the western part of the city of Saint John. The West Saint John Spur serves the west side of the Port of Saint John, including the Rodney Container Terminal, the Forest Products Terminal (FORTERM), and several industrial customers. The tracks forming the West Saint John Spur were built as the Carleton, City of Saint John Branch Railroad in the early 1870s and acquired by CPR in the 1890s. * St. Stephen Subdivision, running approximately from the main line at McAdam to the town of

. The tracks between McAdam and St. Stephen were built as part of both the St. Andrews & Quebec Railway, New Brunswick & Canada Railway and the Grand Southern Railway; all were acquired by NBR or CPR at various times through to 1911. * Milltown Spur, running approximately from the St. Stephen Subdivision in the town of

and loops around the town to end at the halfway point of an unnamed railway bridge over the St. Croix River at the International Boundary. The other half of this bridge is owned by Woodland Rail LLC which owns a small portion of a former

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to ...

line from

Calais, Maine Calais is a city in Washington County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,079, making Calais the third least-populous city in Maine (after Hallowell and Eastport). The city has three Canada–US border cro ...

to Woodland, Maine; this line is a remnant of the Calais Branch and is landlocked from the rest of the United States rail network and only connects to NBSR's Milltown Spur for interchange. NBSR is contracted by Woodland Rail LLC to operate this line between Calais and Woodland. ;Interchange points NBSR directly interchanges with other railways at the following locations: * St. Stephen, NB, with Woodland Rail LLC (operated by NBSR) *

Saint John, NB Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, with

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

Through its sister company Eastern Maine Railway , NBSR also interchanges at the following locations: * Mattawamkeag, ME, with Pan Am Railways * Brownville Junction, ME, with

;Yards NBSR operates three yards: * Dever Road Yard ( Lancaster, NB - western part of the city of Saint John) - former CP yard owned and operated by NBSR * McAdam Yard ( McAdam, NB) - former CP yard owned and operated by NBSR * Island Yard (

) - owned by CN but operated by NBSR under contract In 2002 NBSR entered into a 10-year agreement with CN that saw NBSR extend its operations onto CN's industrial trackage in the east end of Saint John including the Island Yard in exchange for J.D. Irving Ltd directing a certain portion of rail traffic from its various subsidiary companies onto CN's network. This agreement was in response to the bankruptcy of

Canadian American Railroad The Canadian American Railroad was a railroad that operated between Brownville Junction, Maine and Lennoxville, Quebec. The railroad later expanded west to Farnham, Quebec and then St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec with running rights on Canadian Pa ...

and the possibility of the direct link from Saint John to Montreal being severed beyond Brownville Junction.

References

External links

New Brunswick Southern Railway - official websiteNew Brunswick Southern Railway - unofficial site
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Brunswick Southern Railway New Brunswick railways Companies operating former Canadian Pacific Railway lines Spin-offs of the Canadian Pacific Railway Standard gauge railways in Canada

History

Route

See also

References

External links