The New Brunswick Railway was initiated by Alexander ‘Boss’ Gibson of Nashwaak, N.B.  Alexander Gibson owned extensive woodlands on the Nashwaak and was looking for a better means of transporting timber.  In 1866, Gibson promoted a survey from the Nashwaak to Edmundston with a branch to Woodstock.  The survey report was favourable, and in 1870 the New Brunswick Land and Railway Company was formed to carry out construction of railway lines.  The company commenced immediately by building two lines, namely the Newburg Junction to Gibson line which opened in1873, and Aroostook to the International Boundary which opened in 1876.

In 1878, the New Brunswick Railway completed the Woodstock to Edmundston line, and also leased the Tinker, N.B., to Caribou, Maine, line of the Aroostook River Railroad which had been built in 1876.   In 1882, the New Brunswick Railway took over the New Brunswick and Canada Railroad, and through this subsidiary company acquired the lease of a line between the International Boundary and Houlton, Maine, in 1883.  In the same year, the New Brunswick Railway took control of the Saint John and Maine Railway Company.  In 1885, the Aroostook River Railroad leased the line it had built from Caribou to Presque Isle, Maine, in 1881 to The New Brunswick Railway.  

In 1890, the Canadian Pacific Railway had reached the Maritime Provinces and negotiated the lease of all of The New Brunswick Railway lines; the New Brunswick Railway’s final acquisition was the lease of the Fredericton Railway in 1892.

Source:
Phillips, Fred H.  “Railways of New Brunswick Article No. 3”.  The Maritime Advocate and Busy East 30, 11 (June 1940).

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