By the 1980s, the Aroostook Valley Railroad had shrunk down to a stub of a line in Presque Isle (the mainline between northern Presque Isle & the new shops at Presque Isle Junction (the old shops were in downtown Presque Isle, but were sold when the city track was abandoned), the Canadian Pacific interchange track from Presque Isle Junction down to the CP’s branch from Aroostook, NB, and the industrial branch at the Presque Isle airport.) The AVR still had trackage running north to an interchange with the BAR Washburn, but after the Selkirk potato disaster traffic along that line vanished and it never saw revenue freight again.
About half of its interchange was to the CP, and when the 1987 ice jams on the St John River took out the CP’s bridges at at Woodstock & Perth-Andover, that traffic immediately vanished (some of it ended up being rerouted on the BAR down to the CP’s international line to St John, but the bulk went to trucks) and tipped the marginally profitable railway over the edge.
The owners did what they thought was a pro-forma attempt to sell the railroad and were surprised when the LT&L stepped forward, bought the entire railroad, and continued running it as it was (renamed to the Aroostook Valley Railway, but otherwise unchanged.)
It took several years to coax the fickle shippers back to the rails, but by 1995 (helped by the PV&T’s purchase of the BAR, which provided seamless shipping across the entire Parsons Vale system) the railroad tipped back to being marginally profitable.
At which point the LT&L re-electrified what was left of the railway – the BAR interchange, Presque Isle airport branch, and the old mainline up to Presque Isle Junction– at 1200vdc, leased one of the ORRC’s Baldwins, and it was once again operating as a (very short) interurban.
In 2008, the AVR became a subsidiary of the BAR, which continued to operate it as an interurban. It continues to operate today, but the Baldwin went back to the ORRC in 2025, replaced by a new class O2 steeplecab.
Roster (post 1987)
| number | builder | acquired | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | GE | 1945 | GE 44t switcher; sold after electrification in 1996 |
| 11 | GE | 1945 | GE 44t switcher; parts unit, scrapped in 1996 |
| 12 | GE | 1949 | GE 44t switcher; sold after electrification in 1996 |
| 53 | GE | 1911 | GE 40t motor (converted to a snowplough in 1945, (re)motorized in 2000) |
| 1074 | B-W | 1996 | Baldwin class D steeplecab; leased from the H&B 1996-2025 |
| 1735 | Portland | 2025 | Portland class O2 steeplecab |