Once a bustling rail line, a Moncton path tells a former railway's story

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Walking done Irishtown Nature Park, connected the bluish borderline of Moncton, the winding way abruptly straightens out.

According to historiographer and Roadside History columnist James Upham, it isn't a coincidence. 

"We could look astatine this arsenic similar a parkland plan attack to brutalism successful immoderate manner oregon another, which it's not," Upham said from the straight, level pathway wrong the park.

"It's a railway — it's an abandoned railway, and it's the railway that benignant of shaped this country that we're successful close now."

The Moncton and Buctouche Railway, arsenic it was called, was chartered successful 1883 and opened successful 1887, said Upham.

At that time, New Brunswick did person immoderate roads, but Upham said successful today's context, they would beryllium immoderate of the roughest ungraded roads you could imagine.

"It's truly hard to get our heads astir from a modern context, of sitting successful air-conditioned vehicles going on astatine 100 and immoderate unusual kilometres an hr down a highway," Upham told Information Morning Moncton. 

"There's benignant of a celebrated enactment from the aboriginal 1800s from New Brunswick to accidental that, you know, astatine that time, determination was little than 10 bully miles of roadworthy successful the province, and they weren't consecutive."

That's why, Upham said, if idiosyncratic needed to get determination efficiently oregon determination thing from 1 spot to another, the Moncton and Buctouche Railway did the job.

The railway made specified a large quality that successful the country that aboriginal became known arsenic Saint-Antoine, businesses moved to wherever the bid passed through. 

"The assemblage itself changed and adapted and benignant of molded itself astir this railway," said Upham.

"In Bouctouche itself, the railway presumption that was the terminus for this obstruction enactment there, it doesn't beryllium anymore, but it inactive has its ain historical site."

For decades, the bid chugged on, moving cargo and postulation from Point A to Point B. Upham said it didn't adjacent until 1965. 

He said trains revolutionized the quality to travel. What would present beryllium considered a abbreviated thrust would erstwhile much apt person been a travel that radical "might not needfully ever privation to repetition again."

"It utilized to beryllium that if you're wealthy, you didn't spell anyplace — radical came to spot you due to the fact that it was specified a symptom successful the butt," said Upham, adding that question for amusive oregon enjoyment didn't exist.

"People thin to benignant of deliberation of locomotives and steam engines and worldly and adjacent diesels, to a definite degree, arsenic being benignant of similar aged timey … and it was conscionable an perfectly monolithic measurement into the future."