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.
Montreal and Lachine Railroad The Montreal and Lachine Railroad opened on November 19, 1847, with service between Bonaventure Station in Montreal and the Saint Lawrence River. Built to bypass the Lachine Rapids, it was 12 km long. The railway merged with the Lake St. Louis and Province Railroad in 1850 under the name Montreal and New York Railroad. In 1857 it merged with the Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad as the Montreal and Champlain Railroad. It would eventually be absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway.