1

The Southampton Railway Company was incorporated in 1910 to build a 13 mile branch line from somewhere near Millville on the old New Brunswick Railway line, by this time part of the Canadian Pacific system, to the banks of the St. John River near Pokiok. One of the last branch lines built in the province, the line was built to help move timber and agricultural products to market. Another reason for building this line was that Canadian Pacific wanted manufacturers from the opposite side of the St. John River to use this line to connect into Canadian Pacific lines and move their goods across CP lines rather than the Saint John and Quebec Railway line. Construction began in 1911 and by October of the following year eight miles of track had been laid. The line was completed the following year after a bridge which had been destroyed in a spring freshet was replaced. That same year Canadian Pacific negotiated a lease for usage of the line. The line originally terminated at Crockett, which was renamed Otis in 1915 to avoid confusion with another station also called Crockett located near Edmundston. Nackawic replaced Otis as the terminus of the line after Otis was flooded by the head pond created by the building of the Mactaquac Dam in 1967. Canadian Pacific never made much money on the line and it was finally abandoned in 1994.

2

Southampton Railway line
20th Century
New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum

3

Southampton Station
8 July 1981
Southampton, New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum