1840
“Montréal and Vermont Railroad” chartered to build a line between Brattleboro, VT & Montréal, Québec.
1844
  • M&V builds from Iberville, Québec to Burlington, VT.
  • M&V negotiates trackage rights on the under-construction Vermont Central from Burlington to Montpelier
1845
“New London Northern Railroad” chartered to build from New London, CT to northern NH, VT.
1846
NLN & VC agree to build a joint line from New London to Fitchboro, CT.
1851
Unnamed logging railroad built from the Sandwich Mountains to the sawmill at Termite, NH (south of Wonalancet, NH) and log dump at Parsons Vale, NH (north edge of Squam Lake, about 10 miles west of Sandwich.)
1854
NLN builds line from New London, CT to Hartford, continuing north via Springfield, MA to Greenfield, MA
1855
The Parsons Vale & Termite Mill logging railroad decides to build east out of New Hampshire to the seaport at Portland, ME. (getting lumber to the Pemigewasset was slow in summer, virtually impossible in winter, and chartered railroads had much of the easily graded ROW in that direction locked up)
1857
  • “Parsons Vale and Termite Mill Rail Road” chartered.
  • built from Parsons Vale to Portland, ME.
1858
First train, Termite Mill to Portland.
1859
Manchester Northern builds Manchester to Concord
1860
MN builds Concord to Lowell.
1861
MN builds Lowell to Haverhill, Boston.
1865
  • Work begins on MN line to Thetford and Montpelier, VT (rope hauled inclines over Mount Cube & Thetford Hill)
1866
  • PV&TM exhausts Sandwich range timber supply, abandons old logging railroad north of Parsons Vale
  • PV&TM renamed to “Plymouth & Portland Railway”
  • P&P builds Parsons Vale to MN interchange at Plymouth, NH
  • First MN train to Thetford.
  • PV&T builds from Portland to Augusta.
1867
  • First MN train to Chelsea, VT.
  • MN begins work on on Manchester to Brattleboro line.
  • P&P merges with MN, renamed to “Boston & Vermont Railway”
1868
  • First train to Brattleboro.
  • B&V builds from Concord to Rochester (interchanging with Portland & Rochester RR, et al)
1869
  • B&V purchases NLN, renamed to “Parsons Vale & Termite Railroad”
  • M&V bankrupt, purchased by PV&T, renamed the “Montreal and Parsons Vale Railroad”
  • First train, Portland to Augusta.
  • Mount Cube inclines replaced with a Fell rack railway
1872
branch built from Thetford to Woodsville.
1875
M&PV starts building into Canada, but gets tangled in legal battles with “Canadian Northern”, other roads.
1877
5% Stock swap with CdFQ&TR.
1880
M&PV merges with Montreal and Southern Railway, selling all US trackage to the PV&T in exchange for stock.
1885
building starts from Brattleboro to Schenectady, Troy, and Albany, NY.
1888
First train, Brattleboro to Albany.
1891
PV&T, “Boston and Albany”, “Boston and Maine”, and “New York, New Haven and Hartford” form the South Loren Railroad in Boston.
1896
PV&T leases Portland & Rochester Railroad, introduces modern numbering scheme (#1 was an Baldwin 0-6-6-0 Fell Mallet)
1900
Joint PV&T – NYNH&H passenger trains from New York City to Portland start running.
1909
Parsons Vale Rapid Transit organized to build from Concord to Parsons Vale
1910
Terminal de Montréal electrifies their Montréal-Est industrial district at 2400VDC.
1912
Electrification at 2400VDC, Manchester to Brattleboro.
1914
World War 1; USRA administration.
1915
  • Flooding on the Pemigewasset destroys bridges & washes away much of the PV&T’s line from Plymouth to Franklin, NH.
  • PV&T negotiates trackage rights on the PVRT from Franklin to Holderness, NH
1918
TdM electrifies Montréal to Philipsburg at 3000VDC.
1919
Electrification changed to 3000VDC, extended to Portland.
1920
Electrification Manchester to Lowell & Boston.
1925
“Parsons Vale Line” starts being painted on rolling stock instead of “Parsons Vale and Termite”
1928
  • The Boston & Maine attempts a hostile takeover, which results in the PV&T forming a takeover-resistant railroad trust to control it.
  • PV&T HQ moved from Concord to Boston.
1929
  • Electrified Swanton to Montpelier, VT
  • (followed almost immediately by …) the Great Depression.
1930
Electrified Plymouth to Montpelier, VT
1931
1932
Electrification; Portland to Montpelier, VT
1933
Electrification: Portland to Augusta.
1936
Lincoln, Wonalancet & Conway Interurban Railway purchased, reorganized as the “Lincoln, Wonalancet and Conway Railroad”
1937
LW&C converted to 3000VDC.
1940
1941
World War 2
1942
  • PVRT converts Holderness-Franklin mainline to 3000vdc, abandons the Franklin to Concord and Holderness to Parsons Vale side of the road interurban segments in favor of PV&T trackage rights.
  • “Albany-Hudson Fast Line” abandoned.
1943
  • PV&T (with the assistance of the War Production Board) negotiates trackage rights on the B&M from Wells River to Plymouth.
  • PV&T negotiates trackage rights on the Montpelier & Wells River from those two named cities.
1946
  • SVT converted to 3000VDC.
  • Last New York to Portland passenger train.
1948
PV&T electrifies the B&M from Wells River to Plymouth (postwar industrial flight was starting to bite into the B&M’s more lightly trafficked lines, so the lease fees were worth cooperating with That Other Railroad.)
1949
PV&T electrifies the M&WR from Wells River to Montpelier
1950
SLR purchased.
1951
  • Blue and white paint scheme introduced.
  • PVRT discontinues Concord-Laconia passenger service.
1955
  • The B&M abandons Plymouth to Wells River, selling the trackage to the PV&T.
  • The PV&T line from Plymouth to Montpelier via Mount Cube & Thetford is abandoned.
  • Last steam operation on the PV&T (the Mount Cube mallets; all other steam was withdrawn in 1947.)
1961
  • Merger with LT&L, TdM.
  • Last Boston to Montréal passenger train.
1962
  • Electrification, Augusta to Bangor.
1963
  • Last TdM revenue steam.
  • LT&L subsidiary Bangor & Québec abandons Bangor, ME to Lynville, PQ.
  • All interurban passenger service in the United States withdrawn except for Portland to Montréal.
  • PRVT Winnisquam bridge collapses, isolating the Laconia branch.
1965
  • PVRT officially abandons the Laconia branch.
  • PV&T leases the PVRT.
1967
PV&T HQ moved from Boston to Montréal
1984
PV&T purchases the Delaware & Hudson, kicking off the acquisition spree that converts it into a modern class 1 railroad.
1989
PV&T purchases the Bangor & Aroostook
1993
PV&T purchases most of the Canadian Atlantic Railway from the Canadian Pacific.
  • Copyright © 2024 by Jessica L. Parsons (orc@pell.portland.or.us) unless otherwise noted
    Sun Nov 13 03:03:18 PST 2022