Salisbury and Albert Railway

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The Salisbury and Albert Railway was a railway company in New Brunswick ( Canada ). It was founded on April 13, 1864, initially as the Albert Railway . The line should connect mines at Hillsborough and Albert to the main line of the European and North American Railway . The start of construction was delayed and so the section from Salisbury to shortly after Turtle Creek (just under 18 kilometers) was opened on November 11, 1876 . On January 27, 1877, the extension to Hillsborough went into operation, where two horse-drawn trams connected that served nearby mines. The remaining section to Albert was officially opened on October 4, 1877. The total length of the standard-gauge line was 72.03 kilometers.

In 1878 local investors founded the Harvey Branch Railway , which was supposed to extend the line beyond Albert to Harvey . This approximately five kilometer long run went into operation in the mid-1880s. On October 10, 1889, the two companies merged to form the Salisbury and Harvey Railway (S&H). From 1888, the Albert Southern Railway was connected in Harvey , which at least until Albert shared the S&H track.

A black day for the railway was June 29, 1894. On that day, the bridge over the Shepody River between Albert and Harvey Junction collapsed under a passenger train, slightly injuring a passenger. As a result, the Albert – Harvey line was shut down and in 1909 the company name was finally changed to Salisbury and Albert Railway . Since the condition of the line deteriorated due to a lack of maintenance resources, but a rail connection was necessary due to the mines, the Canadian Government Railways acquired the train in 1918 , which was incorporated into the Canadian National Railways that same year . In 1920 the dilapidated bridge over the Petitcodiac River near Salisbury was replaced and the rest of the route repaired.

After passenger traffic between Hillsborough and Albert was reduced to a weekly mixed train in 1936 , this section was completely shut down on March 31, 1955. There was also no more passenger traffic on the rest of the route. On May 28, 1982 the end for the section from Price to Hillsborough came. Between Baltimore and Hillsborough, however, the tracks remained intact and the Salem and Hillsborough Railroad operates a tourist train on this section. Finally, on July 17, 1987, the Canadian National also closed the remaining section to Price.

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