With the growth of the
American Midwest and
Upper Canada, transportation between those areas and the outside world became an issue. The natural connector was the Great Lakes and St Lawrence River, but the river had rapids in some areas and froze in the winter. Alternative transportation to an
ice-free port by rail was possible, and Boston increased in importance as a result, but Boston's monopoly position proved bothersome to Great Lakes and especially Montreal interests, who began to look for alternatives. Portland, Maine, was the most northerly ice-free port on the east coast of North America, and attracted attention as an outlet. The problem was building a railroad from a lake or river port to Portland. Montreal's solution was the
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, but this left Great Lakes interests out. The Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad was chartered on February 11, 1867 to run from Portland to Fabyan, a
junction at
Carroll, New Hampshire in the
White Mountains, where the
Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad would continue west. In the summer of that year
John Neal and other
Portland business representatives traveled to
Oswego, New York to determine the route's feasibility and determined it so. The two companies' track joined in a ceremony at the summit of
Crawford Notch on August 7, 1875, then opened on August 16, 1875. In 1864, the Essex County Railroad was chartered to run from
St. Johnsbury, Vermont, on the
Connecticut & Passumpsic Rivers Railroad, east to
Lunenburg on the border with New Hampshire. The Montpelier & St. Johnsbury Railroad was chartered in 1866 to run west from St. Johnsbury to
Montpelier. The Lamoille Valley Railroad was chartered in 1867 to run from
West Danville on the planned M&SJ northwest to
Swanton. The three companies were consolidated on August 7, 1875 to form the Vermont Division of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, and the construction that had started was continued, except that the part of the M&SJ west of West Danville was never built. Construction on the Vermont Division began in 1871, and was complete in 1877. To connect between the two divisions, the company at first used
trackage rights over the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad from Fabyan to
Dalton, New Hampshire, but soon built its own alignment. West of Swanton, the P&O was allied with the
Ogdensburgh & Lake Champlain Railroad, running west from
Rouses Point, New York to
Ogdensburg, and used the
Vermont & Canada Railroad to access it. The
Montreal, Portland & Boston Railway opened in 1876 from
Montreal,
Quebec to the national border, and was planned to continue into
Vermont as a branch of the P&O. Just after completion of the Vermont Division the company went
bankrupt, was taken over by the receiver on October 19, 1877. The Vermont Division was reorganized as the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad on January 31, 1880. On August 9, 1882 the Montreal, Portland & Boston Railway leased it, but it was soon taken over by the Boston & Lowell Railroad. , "the Big Cut", looking northwest c. 1880s The main division was reorganized on June 8, 1884 as the
Portland & Ogdensburg Railway, and on August 20, 1888, the Maine Central Railroad leased it as their
Mountain Division (some of which survives as the
Conway Scenic Railroad, a
heritage railroad). In July 1912, the Maine Central Railroad leased the old Vermont Division, but on August 1, 1927 the lease was terminated, and a new lease was made on only the part east of
St. Johnsbury. The remainder of the Vermont Division operated as the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad until reorganized as the
St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad in 1948. ==Locomotives==