The Canadian American Railroad was a railroad that operated between Brownville Junction, Maine and

Lennoxville, Quebec Lennoxville is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lennoxvi ...

. The railroad later expanded west to

Farnham, Quebec Farnham is a city in Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10,149, making it the second most populated community in the RCM. History The city of Fa ...

and then St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec with running rights on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. CDAC was established in 1994 and operated as a railroad between 1995 and 2002. It was owned by transportation holding company

Iron Road Railways Iron Road Railways Incorporated (IRR) was a railroad holding company which owned several short line railroads in the U.S. state of Maine, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. IRR was formed in 1994 and headq ...

History

Beginning in 1993, CP announced its intention to abandon or sell its

Canadian Atlantic Railway The Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a Canadian and U.S. railway that existed from 1988 to 1994. The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail (CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces and state of Maine. Its creation wa ...

(CAR) subsidiary due to declining traffic levels. In early January 1995 the eastern portion of the CAR mainline from

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 K ...

to Brownville Junction, Maine was sold to industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) which created 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 ...

(NBS) and Eastern Maine Railway (EMR) as subsidiaries. Owning this section gave JDI access to interchange points with

CN Rail 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 ...

(CN) at

, Guilford Rail System at

Mattawamkeag, Maine Mattawamkeag is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, located where the Mattawamkeag River joins the Penobscot River. The population was 596 at the 2020 census. The village of Mattawamkeag is in the southwest part of the town. Rail ...

, and

Bangor & Aroostook Railroad The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives ...

(BAR) at Brownville Junction, ME. Also in early January 1995, the western portion of the CAR mainline from Brownville Junction to

saw operation transferred to the Canadian American Railroad (CDAC) which was a joint venture of

and Fieldcrest Cannon Inc. established in mid-1994. In March 1995, CDAC completed purchase of this portion of the CAR mainline from CP; at that time, Iron Road Railways bought out the interest of Fieldcrest Cannon to assume complete control. Also in March 1995, Iron Road Railways purchased the BAR, creating a T-shaped system focused on the interchange point at Brownville Junction. Iron Road Railways also entered into an agreement with J.D. Irving to market the entire line from Lennoxville to Saint John, however EMR and NBSR remained the operator for the line east of Brownville Junction. CDAC 454

For the remainder of the 1990s, CDAC was able to dramatically increase the amount of freight traffic handled from what CP had carried, largely due to aggressive marketing and customized service, particularly for the forestry industry. After several years CDAC operations extended west from Lennoxville to a junction in

after Iron Road Railways purchased a former CP route in northern

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. CDAC trains also handled traffic from BAR and intermodal traffic from Saint John. The growth of intermodal traffic saw CDAC receive trackage rights over CP from Farnham to

where trains terminated at Cote St. Luc Yard. CDAC's physical plant suffered due to deferred maintenance, as the holding company Iron Road Railways encountered financial difficulties by the early 2000s. Plans to improve infrastructure for Brownville Junction to Farnham during 1999 never stalled: CDAC and BAR and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in 2001. On 8 October 2002, the

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway was a Class II freight railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec between 2002 and 2014. It was headquartered in Hermon, Maine. Its Canadian subsi ...

(MMA) acquired all of the assets of Iron Road Railways' operations in Maine, Quebec, and Vermont including CDAC and BAR. CP has since regained ownership of the former Canadian Atlantic rail lines, through the 2019 acquisition of MMA's successor,

Central Maine and Quebec Railway The Central Maine & Québec Railway was a Class II freight railroad operating in the U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec with headquarters in Bangor, Maine. It was owned by Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, ...

References

{{Maine railroads Regional railroads in the United States Defunct Maine railroads Defunct Quebec railways Companies operating former Canadian Pacific Railway lines Predecessors of the Canadian Pacific Railway 2002 disestablishments in Maine 2002 disestablishments in Quebec 1994 establishments in Maine 1994 establishments in Quebec