The Québec Central Railway, 2003

A rural railway closed by Canadian Pacific but successfully reopened,
with some passenger trains

compiled by Richard Maund.

This page was updated on 5 September 2003.

It was reported in autumn 2004 that negotiations were under way for the sale of the QCR to a consortium of local governmental bodies. It seems these fell through and the junction at Sherbrooke with the MM&A was severed in March 2006. It was reported in summer 2006 that the following sections of the railway were to be closed and lifted: Vallée Subdivision Sherbrooke - Thetford Mines; whole of Chaudière Subdivision; Lévis Subdivision Sainte Hénédine - Harlaka. In practice, all operations (including all tourist train operations) seem to have ceased by November 2006, apart from the section between Charny and Saint Lambert (in use for grain traffic). From December 2006 the company was undergoing financial reconstruction under the bankruptcy laws, with the provincial Ministry of Transport negotiating terms to acquire the property. A government announcement in July 2007 of funding for track rehabilitation relates only to the section between Charny and Saint Lambert - this rather implies the remainder of the system will be abandoned and lifted, probably for use as cycle ways....

1] Sources include the Rinbad newsletter items R.0878, 1607, 1707, 2154. A useful article on the reborn QCR appeared in the US magazine Railfan & Railroad for March 2003. The website http://pages.globetrotter.net/burridge/QCR_Main.html (and adjacent pages) in August 2003 included a map, an employee timetable for 1972, and many other details, including the dates and reference numbers of Canadian Transportation Commission Abandonment Orders.

2] Closed by Canadian Pacific in 1994, the Québec Central Railway was bought and revived as a ‘short line’ by road-haulage entrepreneur Jean-Marc Giguère. The lines reopened are:

The QCR lines were incorrectly represented at their north end in the first (1991) edition of the Railway Association of Canada’s Canadian Railway Atlas, and they do not appear at all in the 1998 edition. They are described in more detail below. Compared with other short-line spin-offs from CP, which have rights to run only freight trains, the new QCR is unusual in having held out for rights to run all types of train, hence the tourist workings seen here but not elsewhere, both of them being ‘for-profit’ operations with some degree of QCR participation.

3] Trains Touristiques Chaudières-Appalaches (http://beaucerail.ca), based at Vallée Jn and associated with the railway museum there, began weekly passenger operation on the QCR on Saturday 24 June 2000, running Vallée Jn - Tring Jn in the morning, and Vallée Jn - East Broughton in the afternoon. TTCA use QCR train-crew and traction. Typical consist is, or was, QCR diesel locomotive U23B JMG-1, two former Long Island Rail Road commuter cars and an ex-LIRR FA-1 cab/power unit to supply electricity to the air-conditioned coaches. In summer 2002 and 2003 TTCA were normally running Vallée Jn - Tring Jn (16km), with runs Vallée Jn - Saint-Georges-de-Beauce (36km) and other occasional extended day-trips also advertised on their website.

4] Le Train de Haut-St.François [note: subsequently traded as Train Touristique du Haut-St-François, Chemin de fer des Cantons-de-l'Est], based at the vieille gare du papier in East Angus, have their own crew and equipment, comprising various elderly Budd Rail Diesel Cars. THSF began by running tourist trips on shorter sections between Thetford Mines and Sherbrooke, and in 2002 were running a variety of trips of which the longest was East Angus - Black Lake (75km). Not on the same days, THSF ran East Angus - Sherbrooke (27km), although trains turned back at Sherbrooke Rue Talbot, and did not continue through the junction to Sherbrooke’s old CP station building on the Montréal, Maine & Atlantic main line. On 13 October 2002 TTCA and THSF combined to offer ‘through’ excursions between Sherbrooke and Vallée Jn in both directions. The outward journey from each end was by train to a lunch-stop at Garthby. After lunch all passengers changed to the other train, and each train returned to its starting-point. Passengers later returned home by bus. In 2003, on specified Saturdays, THSF were offering an East Angus - Vallée Jn one-way rail trip with return by bus.

5] The new QCR company saw their first revenue freight train on 18 July 2000. Timber road-hauled from Scott Jn south-east to Tring Jn was loaded on a centre-beam bulkhead flat-car which left as a single-car train south-west to Sherbrooke, to be taken east on the (ex-CP, later Canadian American Railroad, now Montréal, Maine & Atlantic) Sherbrooke, QC - Brownville Jn, ME line into the USA, heading for Texas. Meanwhile, empty cars were readied for loading at East Angus, Tring Jn and Vallée Jn. Later in 2000 freight was to begin between Sherbrooke and the Cascades paper-mill in East Angus, and repairs to QCR’s Lévis and Chaudière Subdivisions were to permit freight service down the Rivière Chaudière from Vallée Jn via Scott Jn to Harlaka near Québec City, and upriver from Vallée Jn via Saint-Georges-de-Beauce to Lac Frontière on the Québec-Maine border.

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Sherbrooke - Tring-Jonction - Vallée-Jonction - Scott Jn - Walsh
Vallée Subdivision
Sherbrooke (km0 = milepost 0.0; now QCR’s junction with MM&A’s Sherbrooke, QC - Brownville Jn, ME line)
Newington (km2.2 = milepost 1.4)
East Angus (km27 = milepost 16.9)
Garthby (km76 = milepost 47.6)
Black Lake (km102 = milepost 63.5)
Thetford Mines (km113 = milepost 70.8)
East Broughton (km136 = milepost 84.8)
Tring Jn (km144 = milepost 90.3)
Vallée Jn (km160 = milepost 100.0)
Scott Jn (or Scotts Jn; km179 = milepost 111.6)
Saint/Ville Lambert (km196 = milepost 121.6)
Breakeyville (km204 = milepost 127.3)
Walsh (km209 = milepost 130.4; now QCR’s junction with CN’s Joffre Yard, QC)

Sherbrooke - Walsh freight (all traffic) ceased 1989
Sherbrooke - Walsh was formally abandoned three months after CTC Order #1994-R-340 of 10 August 1994, though Sherbrooke - Newington was worked [?during the period 1994-2000] by Québec Southern who retained some rights after Québec Central reopened in 2000.
Walsh - Joffre: in early 2000 QCR built a new link at Walsh north to a private siding already served by CN, thus enabling through running from QCR to CN’s nearby Joffre yard, close to Charny. The present Walsh end-point of the new QCR is therefore not the same as Walsh on the original QCR.
Sherbrooke - Walsh (- Joffre CN) reopened for freight July 2000. In 2003 freight trains worked three times a week, with a Vallée Jn - Joffre transfer freight on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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Vallée Jn - Saint-Georges-de-Beauce - Daaquam - Lac Frontière, QC
Chaudière Subdivision
Vallée Jn (km0 = milepost 0.0)
Saint-Georges-de-Beauce (km36 = milepost 22.8)
Daaquam (km112 = milepost 70.0)
Lac Frontière (km126 = milepost 78.5)

Vallée Jn - Lac Frontière freight (all traffic) ceased 1986-87.
Vallée Jn - Lac Frontière was formally abandoned three months after CTC Order #1994-R-340 of 10 August 1994.
Vallée Jn - Daaquam reopened to freight for timber mill in November 2001, worked Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Daaquam - Lac Frontière is used only for passenger specials.
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Scott Jn - St.Anselme - Harlaka, QC
Lévis Subdivision
Scott Jn (km0 = milepost 0.0)
Sainte Hénédine
St.Anselme (km18 = milepost 11.4)
Carrier (km35 = milepost 21.6)
Harlaka (km44 = milepost 27.5)

Scott Jn - Harlaka freight (all traffic) ceased by 1989.
Scott Jn - Harlaka formally abandoned three months after CTC Order #1994-R-340 of 10 August 1994.
Scott Jn - St.Anselme reopened late 2001 for grain traffic as required.
St.Anselme - Harlaka has not reopened.
The physical junction for the Lévis Subdivision, c.1km north of Scott Jn station, is the only one on the present QCR system that is triangular. All three sides were traversed by a railtour on 9 and 11 August 2002.
At Carrier, north of Joffre yard, the QCR diamond crossing over the CN (and VIA) Montréal, QC - Saint John, NB main line is believed to have been removed.
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(Sherbrooke -) Lennoxville - Beebe Jn, QC - CA/US border (- Newport, VT)
Beebe Subdivision (NOT REOPENED)
Sherbrooke (km0 = milepost 0.0)
Lennoxville (km4.6 = milepost 2.9)
Beebe Jn (km54 = milepost 33.9)
Canada/USA border (km56 = milepost 34.99)
Newport, VT (km64 = milepost 40.2)

Sherbrooke - Lennoxville was CP and CN (not QCR) track. In east Sherbrooke, to the east of the bridge carrying the QCR over the CN, a north-to-east chord formerly gave QCR freight trains a direct run between the Vallée and Beebe Subdivisions. Passenger trains seem to have run via, and reversed at, Sherbrooke CP station, then used also a short section of CN track south of Lennoxville to the junction giving access to the Beebe Subdivision.
Milepost 2.9 to 32.9, just short of Beebe Jn, was formally abandoned 30 days after CTC Order #1989-R-384 of 30 November 1989.
Milepost 32.9 to 34.99 was formally abandoned 30 days after CTC Order #1991-R-570 of 11 December 1991.
Has not reopened.
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Beebe Jn - Rock Island and Derby Line, QC
Stanstead Subdivision (NOT REOPENED)
Beebe Jn (km 0 = milepost 0.0)
Rock Island and Derby Line (sic) (km3.8 = milepost 2.4, treated as within Beebe Jn yard-limits)

Beebe Jn - Rock Island and Derby Line was formally abandoned 30 days after CTC Order #1989-R-385 of 30 November 1989.
Has not reopened.
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Tring-Jonction - Courcelles - Mégantic, QC
Tring Subdivision (NOT REOPENED)
Tring Jn (km0 = milepost 0.0)
Courcelles (km51 = milepost 32.0)
Mégantic (km95 = milepost 59.1)

Milepost 0.0 to 1.0 was formally abandoned three months after CTC Order #1994-R-340 of 10 August 1994.
Milepost 1.0 - Courcelles was formally abandoned after CTC Order of 29 December 1987.
Courcelles - milepost 57.7 was formally abandoned after CTC Order of 20 November 1987.
Milepost 57.7 - Mégantic was formally abandoned one year after CTC Order #1993-R-269 of 23 August 1993.
At Tring Jn a very short stub was retained as a siding, but the rest of the track was lifted, and the line has not reopened.