The New Brunswick East Coast Railway was created out of part of Canadian National’s (CN) divestiture of its northern New Brunswick branch, and began operations on January 26, 1998.
The NBEC was purchased back by CN in early November 2008. Since that time, all of the NBEC units have been sold or sent away to CN’s shops in Woodcrest, Illinois for disposal.
NBEC owned track from Pacific Junction (just outside Moncton – running rights into Moncton) to Tide Head, on the border with Quebec, and was a subsidiary of the Quebec Railway Corporation. Major centers served were Miramichi, Campbellton, Bathurst, Dalhousie, and Belledune.
NBEC’s roster contained three different families of engines – ex-CN SD40s, ex-CP RS-18s, and ex-CP C-424s. On rare occasions NBEC has leased other units. Maintenance and inspection of the NBEC units was done by Eastern Railway Services/Services Ferroviaires de l’Est (a subsidiary of the Quebec Railway Corporation) in Campbellton, NB. Units serving on NBEC and CFMG (Chemin de Fer de Matapedia et Golf) were owned by ERS and assigned to NBEC and CFMG as they become available.
