The first railway in British North America, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, was built when to track gauge, However the promoters of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, (intended to connect Montreal to the ice-free port at Portland, Maine) decided to use , setting a precedent for the colony for several decades, The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad (reporting mark SLR) , known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec (reporting mark SLQ) in Canada, is a short line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River?
Track gauge in Canada The first railway in British North America, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, was built in the mid-1830s to track gauge. This was followed by the Albion Colliery tramway in and the Montreal and Lachine Railroad in . However the promoters of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, (intended to connect Montreal to the ice-free port at Portland, Maine) decided to use , setting a precedent for the colony for several decades. The first section from Longueuil to St. Hyacinthe opened in 1847 and at the end of that year there were 30 mi of broad gauge and 22 mi of standard gauge in Canada.
Strasburg Rail Road The Strasburg Rail Road (reporting mark SRC) is the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere and the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road continues to operate under its original charter and original name (Strasburg Rail Road Company). Located just outside of the town of Strasburg, Pennsylvania, the railroad is a heritage railroad offering excursion trains, hauled by steam locomotives, through the heart of world-famous Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Strasburg currently has five (5) serviceable historic steam locomotives (Canadian National 7312, Canadian National 89, Great Western 90, N&W 475, Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 15 (rebuilt as Thomas the Tank Engine) on its roster and has the nation's largest fleet of historic wooden passenger coaches in operation. The Strasburg Rail Road is also one of the few railroads in the United States to occasionally use steam locomotives to haul revenue freight trains. It hosts 300,000 visitors per year.