Canadian Railroads > CN's old Monk Subdivision

The Monk Subdivision was once part of CN's mainline freight route to the Maritimes running from Diamond at Joffre Yard (across from Quebec City) to Edmundston NB and then continuing on as the Napagogan Subdivision across New Brunswick to Pacific Jct.....11.9 miles west of Moncton.

Most of the Monk Subdivision is now abandoned. Back in 1977 CN built a completely new 19 mile line from Pelletier (67.9 miles west of Edmundston) down to St. Andre Jct on the Montmagny Subdivision (15.3 miles west of Riviere-du-Loup) This new line along with the remaining portion of the Monk Sub became the new Pelletier Sub. This got the fast freights and intermodals off the old Monk Sub with it's heavy grades and curves up in the Notre Dame/Appalachian Mountains down to the straight, fast level track of the Montmagny Sub in the St. Lawrence River Valley.

See the map below. Yellow is the new line built in 1977. Red is the portion of the old Monk Sub that's now abandoned.

The Pelletier along with the Napadogan Subdivisions are still CN's mainline freight route to the Maritimes. Fast, CTC signaled......and with some high fills and impressive trestles. It is also 40 miles shorter than the ICR (Intercolonial Railway) route that is still CN's main passenger route to the Maritimes via Campbellton that the Ocean, Scotian, Chaleur, Maritime Express etc once followed and the Ocean (Covid aside) still follows today. Most of the ICR also lacks CTC signaling.

The Monk Sub and the NTR had a very limited passenger service except when the 'Cabot' and 'Ocean' took this route for a brief period in the late 1960s. Just prior to the inaugural run of the 'Cabot' in June 1967....there had only been a tri-weekly coach train between Edmundston and Moncton......and a tri-weekly Mixed (passenger & freight train) between Edmundston-Monk-Joffre. Earlier in the '60s there was also a tri-weekly 'Railiner'......and in winter only there had been a thru sleeper twice weekly between Edmundston and Montreal.

After the 'Ocean' was rerouted back to the ICR in Jan 1970. CN began daily Moncton-Edmundston and Edmundston-Charny 'Railiners'. Thru passengers had to stay overnight in Edmundston.

The final run of the VIA Railiner between Edmundston and Ste-Foy was in October 1979. By that time the remaining portion of the old Monk Sub saw little service. The mainline freights were now using the Pelletier cut-off. The CTC signals on the old Monk had been deactivated and it wasn't long before it was abandoned in the early '80s

The Edmundston-Moncton 'Railiner was discontinued in November 1981 but returned tri-weekly in 1984 and lasted until January 1990. The NTR is still occasionally used for VIA 'Ocean' detours.

Here's a link to a great site on following along portions of the old Monk Subdivision.


https://hedley-junction.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-former-cn-monk-subdivision.html



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 06:58 by ghCBNS.

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The now Pelletier Subdivision portion of the old Monk heads northeast up and over the very northern tip of Maine and couldn't get any closer to the Can/US Border than it does at Estcourt.....and a good spot to watch trains running on a high fill on a narrow strip of land between the lake and the border it shares with the highway. Most CN freights and container/intermodals all take this route to Moncton and Halifax. (the Ocean (when it running!) does not.....it uses the ICR via Campbellton)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/21 07:00 by ghCBNS.

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Thanks for pulling this lesson together.

Very interesting material -- good insight/context for those not familiar with the line history.