Woodland Rail, LLC is a non-carrier railroad company that owns an rail line located in the state of

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 ...

and province of

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 ...

. It was formed in 2012 as a subsidiary company of Woodland Pulp, LLC, which owns and operates a pulp mill in the

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

neighborhood of the town of Baileyville, Maine. Woodland Rail connects a pulp mill in Baileyville, Maine with the Milltown Spur, owned by the

New Brunswick Southern Railway The New Brunswick Southern Railway Company Limited is a Canadian 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 conglo ...

(NBSR), at the midpoint of the Salmon Falls Railroad Bridge, which crosses the St. Croix River and the Canada–US border between

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 ...

and St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Woodland Rail has contracted Eastern Maine Railway to operate the line.

History

In 2012 Woodland Rail, LLC was formed by its owner Woodland Pulp, LLC to purchase the Calais Industrial Track (former

Calais Branch The Calais Branch is a mothballed railroad line in Maine that was operated by the Maine Central Railroad Company (MEC). The Calais Branch is long and connects Brewer to Calais. It was constructed in 1898 and carried freight and passengers ove ...

and Woodland Spur) from

Pan Am Railways Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Pan Am Railways is primarily made up of former Cla ...

between Calais and Baileyville. This line was originally operated by the

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 ...

(MEC) and later by Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI). GTI had abandoned the Calais Branch west of Saint Croix Junction in 1985, leaving the remaining active rail line with a connection to Canadian Pacific Railway in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. The CP line to St. Stephen was sold to

(NBSR) in 1995.

Line description

Both ends of the line owned by Woodland Rail are located in the U.S.; the middle section measuring is located in Canada. The line runs in the St Croix River valley, crossing the Canada–US border at three locations. ;Calais Branch From its interchange with New Brunswick Southern Railway at the Salmon Falls Railroad Bridge in Calais, the line runs geographically southwest for approximately to St. Croix Junction. This portion was formerly part of the easternmost section of the Calais Branch. Another of the former Calais Branch between St. Croix Junction and Ayers Junction remains in place (see

rail banking A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

) but is not in service. This track is currently owned by the

Maine Department of Transportation The Maine Department of Transportation, also known as MaineDOT (occasionally referred to as MDOT), is the office of state government charged with the regulation and maintenance of roads, rail, ferries, and other public transport infrastructure in ...

in order to preserve the rail infrastructure should service be restored to the port of Eastport. ;Woodland Spur From St. Croix Junction, the line continues southwest up the St. Croix River valley as the Woodland Spur. at Baring, Maine, the line crosses from the south (west) bank of the St. Croix River to the north (east) bank at Upper Mills, New Brunswick on the Baring Railroad Bridge. The line then continues northwest for in New Brunswick to Mohannes, New Brunswick where it crosses back to the south (west) bank of the St. Croix River at Woodland Junction on the Sprague Falls Railroad Bridge. At Woodland Junction, an

industrial spur A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

runs south for to serve the Woodland Pulp, LLC thermo-mechanical pulp mill in Baileyville. The Woodland Spur continues northwest for to the current end of track at an

oriented strand board Oriented strand board (OSB) is a type of engineered wood similar to particle board, formed by adding adhesives and then compressing layers of wood strands (flakes) in specific orientations. It was invented by Armin Elmendorf in California in 1963 ...

mill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodland Rail LLC Maine railroads New Brunswick railways Railway companies established in 2012 Transportation in Washington County, Maine Transport in Charlotte County, New Brunswick

History

Line description

See also

References