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New Brunswick residents living along the St. John River had long argued in favour of building a railway that would follow along the river in order to tap into the growing communities of the St. John River Valley. This route had been proposed as a possible route for the Intercolonial Railway line by the Provincial Government. As the years passed, other lines were constructed near the "Valley line" but none of them provided cost effective rail transportation for most businesses along the St. John River Valley. The Western Extension route was too far south with connections only at Fredericton and Saint John. It would cost too much for most business owners to transport their goods to these connections before they could be moved by rail. At the same time the New Brunswick Railway only benefited the communities along the north side of the St. John River above Fredericton. Spurred on by the passing of a bill to create the National Transcontinental Railway line through the center of the Province local residents began to demand subsidies to build the "Valley Line". Originally the line was supposed to be built through Maine to connect with Canadian Northern Railway lines as part of Canadian Northerns National Transcontinental Railway, however, this never happened. In 1911 a deal was struck to build a line from Saint John to connect with the National Transcontinental line in Grand Falls. Construction began in 1912 and by 1914, 120 miles of track from Centerville to Gagetown were completed and as per the original agreement the Federal government assumed the responsibility of operating the line. The start of World War One in 1914 ended any further construction of the line. In fact, rails already laid from Gagetown to Westfield Beach, where the line connected with the Canadian Pacific line near Saint John, were taken up and shipped to Europe to help in the war effort. It is interesting to note that the original line was supposed to cross the St. John River near Evandale and connect with the Intercolonial Railway line near Quispamsis in order to avoid the Canadian Pacific line. The line from Westfield Beach was eventually completed in 1919, but the Centreville to Grand Falls section was never completed. In 1929 Canadian National purchased the line for $6 million. All passenger service on the line was ended in 1952. In 1967 flooding from the Mactaquac Dam eliminated freight service between Fredericton and Woodstock. By 1976, the track from Westfield Beach to Gagetown was no longer being used and the track was officially abandoned in 1984. The section from Fredericton to Gagetown continued to operate until it was abandoned in 1995. Canadian National continued to operate the line from Centreville to Woodstock and then to Fredericton over Canadian Pacific's Gibson division line, formerly the New Brunswick Railway line, until 1987 when this section was also abandoned. The Saint John and Quebec Railway line turned out to be doomed from the start. It was too long compared with other lines that offered shorter trips from Saint John to Fredericton and Grand Falls. Another reason for its failure was that above Fredericton and around Woodstock it competed with Canadian Pacific for the same small amount of business, the lines often only miles apart. As for tapping into business along the St. John River Valley below Fredericton the line never did spur on growth in the manufacturing industries of the area. If the line had been built 70 years earlier it might have worked, but by the time the line was completed it was no longer needed.

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Saint John and Quebec Railway line
20th Century
New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum

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City of Fredericton railway lines
19th Century
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum

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Gagetown Station
20th Century, Circa 1930
Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum

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Hampstead Station
20th Century, Circa 1917
Hampstead, New Brunswick, Canada


Credits:
New Brunswick Railway Museum