Quebec Central Railway

The Quebec Central Railway (reporting mark QCR) was a railway in the Canadian province of Quebec, that served the Eastern Townships region south of the St. Lawrence River. Its headquarters was in Sherbrooke. It was originally incorporated in 1869 as the Sherbrooke, Eastern Townships and Kennebec Railway, and changed its name to the Quebec Central Railway in 1875. In 1894, it built a line southward to Mégantic to connect to Canadian Pacific Railway's east-west line, the International Railway of Maine. It would eventually own around 300 miles (483 km) of track. In 1912, the Canadian Pacific Railway leased the Quebec Central for 99 years but continued to operate as Quebec Central Railway, including passenger service to American cities.[1] The Quebec Central in turn leased the Massawippi Valley Railway, a short line from Lennoxville to Newport, in 1926; this allowed passenger service from Quebec City via Sherbrooke to the United States.

A map of the railroad from 1942
Quebec Central Railway
Overview
HeadquartersSherbrooke
Reporting markQCR
LocaleQuebec and Vermont
Dates of operation1869 (1869)–1994 (1994),
2000–2006

The company operated passenger trains on several long and short routes. Its longest route travelled from Quebec City to Sherbrooke, to then to Newport, Vermont. There, passengers could transfer to Boston and Maine trains, Alouette or Red Wing bound for Boston, Massachusetts. Branch sections from the latter served passengers bound for Portland, Maine.[2]:Table 1 The Boston & Maine and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad operated the Connecticut Yankee from New York City's Grand Central Terminal, up Connecticut River Valley, to Newport and along Quebec Central territory to Sherbrooke and Montreal.[2]:Table 70

Passenger service ended in April 1967, and freight service ended in November 1994. The Massawippi line's track was entirely removed in 1992. The Quebec Central was abandoned on December 23, 1994. However, because the CPR only owned 10% of the Quebec Central's stock, it could not tear up the track and dispose of the right-of-way. In December 1999, a local resident who owned a trucking company (Express Marco Incorporated) bought the railway from the CPR and revived it, with trains running starting in June 2000. The railway operated tourist excursions in addition to regular freight service. However, the company went out of business in 2006 once more ending railway traffic on the line.[3][4] The remaining portions of the line currently belong to the Ministère des Transports du Québec.[5]

Locomotive roster
NumberBuilderModelSerialBuild DateLocomotive conditionRemarks
JMG1GEU23B High Nose400871975-05Acquired by local preservation group le Groupe TRAQ in 2015Ex-NS 3944, Nee SOU U23B 3944
SG2EMDGP11166841952-06Scrapped at CN Joffre Yard in 2015Ex-IC 8722, Nee ICG 8722
GG3EMDGP11221231956-08Scrapped at CN Joffre Yard in 2015Ex-IC 8732, Ex-MBTA GP9 7543, Nee NH 1213
DG4GEU23B368111968-09Scrapped at East-Broughton in 2016Ex-MEC 288, Ex-D&H 2309, Nee D&H 309
RG5EMDGP7u123651950-10Scrapped at CN Joffre Yard in 2015Ex-GRS 470, Ex-B&M 470, Ex-MEC 470, Nee MEC 564
GS9ALCOS2744651946-05Scrapped at East-Broughton in 2016Ex-Newburg & South Shore 13A
1300GMDFP7AA3711952-10In Poor Condition in East-Broughton in 2020Ex-AMT 1300, exx-MUCTC 1300, nee-CP 4070/1426
1302GMDFP7AA3731952-10Scrapped at East-Broughton in 2016Ex-AMT 1302, exx-MUCTC 1302, nee-CP 4072/1428
1305GMDFP7AA3761952-10Scrapped at Vallée-Jonction in 2009Ex-AMT 1305, exx-MUCTC 1305, nee-CP 4075/1431

References
  1. "Quebec Central Railway". The Independent. 1914-07-06. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
  2. "Northern New England Travel Guide" (PDF). Boston and Maine Rail Bus. 1946-04-28. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-12.
  3. Morin, Pascal (2006-08-10). "Le Québec Central démantelé?". Journal de Sherbrooke (in French). Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  4. Parks, Richard (2009-04-30). "A Canadian Regional Railroad: Quebec Central Railway". Archived from the original on 2019-12-20.
  5. "On espère maintenir la vocation du Québec Central". Édition Beauce. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2013-07-28.

Bibliography
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