- 1840
- “Montréal and Vermont Railroad” chartered to build a line
between Brattleboro, VT & Montréal, Québec.
- 1844
- M&V builds from Iberville, Québec to Burlington, VT.
- M&V negotiates trackage rights on the under-construction
Vermont Central from Burlington to Montpelier
- 1845
- “New London Northern Railroad” chartered to build from
New London, CT to northern NH, VT.
- 1846
- NLN & VC agree to build a joint line from New London to
Fitchboro, CT.
- 1851
- Unnamed logging railroad built from the Sandwich Mountains
to the sawmill at Termite, NH (south of Wonalancet, NH) and log
dump at Parsons Vale, NH (north edge of Squam Lake, about 10
miles west of Sandwich.)
- 1854
- NLN builds line from New London, CT to Hartford, continuing
north via Springfield, MA to Greenfield, MA
- 1855
- The Parsons Vale & Termite Mill logging railroad decides
to build east out of New Hampshire to the seaport at Portland,
ME. (getting lumber to the Pemigewasset was slow in summer,
virtually impossible in winter, and chartered railroads had
much of the easily graded ROW in that direction locked up)
- 1857
- “Parsons Vale and Termite Mill Rail Road” chartered.
- built from Parsons Vale to Portland, ME.
- 1858
- First train, Termite Mill to Portland.
- 1859
- Manchester Northern builds Manchester to Concord
- 1860
- MN builds Concord to Lowell.
- 1861
- MN builds Lowell to Haverhill, Boston.
- 1865
- Work begins on MN line to Thetford and Montpelier, VT (rope
hauled inclines over Mount Cube & Thetford Hill)
- 1866
- PV&TM exhausts Sandwich range timber supply, abandons old
logging railroad north of Parsons Vale
- PV&TM renamed to “Plymouth & Portland Railway”
- P&P builds Parsons Vale to MN interchange at Plymouth, NH
- First MN train to Thetford.
- PV&T builds from Portland to Augusta.
- 1867
- First MN train to Chelsea, VT.
- MN begins work on on Manchester to Brattleboro line.
- P&P merges with MN, renamed to “Boston & Vermont Railway”
- 1868
- First train to Brattleboro.
- B&V builds from Concord to Rochester (interchanging with
Portland & Rochester RR, et al)
- 1869
- B&V purchases NLN, renamed to “Parsons Vale & Termite Railroad”
- M&V bankrupt, purchased by PV&T, renamed the “Montreal and
Parsons Vale Railroad”
- First train, Portland to Augusta.
- Mount Cube inclines replaced with a Fell rack railway
- 1872
- branch built from Thetford to Woodsville.
- 1875
- M&PV starts building into Canada, but gets tangled in legal
battles with “Canadian Northern”, other roads.
- 1877
- 5% Stock swap with CdFQ&TR.
- 1880
- M&PV merges with Montreal and Southern Railway,
selling all US trackage to the PV&T in exchange for stock.
- 1885
- building starts from Brattleboro to Schenectady, Troy, and
Albany, NY.
- 1888
- First train, Brattleboro to Albany.
- 1891
- PV&T, “Boston and Albany”, “Boston and Maine”, and “New
York, New Haven and Hartford” form the South Loren
Railroad in Boston.
- 1896
- PV&T leases Portland & Rochester Railroad, introduces
modern numbering scheme (#1 was an Baldwin 0-6-6-0 Fell Mallet)
- 1900
- Joint PV&T – NYNH&H passenger trains from New York City to
Portland start running.
- 1909
- Parsons Vale Rapid Transit organized to build from Concord to
Parsons Vale
- 1910
- Terminal de Montréal electrifies their Montréal-Est industrial
district at 2400VDC.
- 1912
- Electrification at 2400VDC, Manchester to Brattleboro.
- 1914
- World War 1; USRA administration.
- 1915
- Flooding on the Pemigewasset destroys bridges & washes away
much of the PV&T’s line from Plymouth to Franklin, NH.
- PV&T negotiates trackage rights on the PVRT from Franklin
to Holderness, NH
- 1918
- TdM electrifies Montréal to Philipsburg at 3000VDC.
- 1919
- Electrification changed to 3000VDC, extended to Portland.
- 1920
- Electrification Manchester to Lowell & Boston.
- 1925
- “Parsons Vale Line” starts being painted on rolling stock
instead of “Parsons Vale and Termite”
- 1928
- The Boston & Maine attempts a hostile takeover, which
results in the PV&T forming a takeover-resistant
railroad trust to control it.
- PV&T HQ moved from Concord to Boston.
- 1929
- Electrified Swanton to Montpelier, VT
- (followed almost immediately by …) the Great Depression.
- 1930
- Electrified Plymouth to Montpelier, VT
- 1931
-
- 1932
- Electrification; Portland to Montpelier, VT
- 1933
- Electrification: Portland to Augusta.
- 1936
- Lincoln, Wonalancet & Conway Interurban Railway
purchased, reorganized as the “Lincoln, Wonalancet and Conway Railroad”
- 1937
- LW&C converted to 3000VDC.
- 1940
-
- 1941
- World War 2
- 1942
- PVRT converts Holderness-Franklin mainline to 3000vdc,
abandons the Franklin to Concord and Holderness to Parsons
Vale side of the road interurban segments in favor of PV&T
trackage rights.
- “Albany-Hudson Fast Line” abandoned.
- 1943
- PV&T (with the assistance of the War Production Board) negotiates
trackage rights on the B&M from Wells River to Plymouth.
- PV&T negotiates trackage rights on the Montpelier & Wells River
from those two named cities.
- 1946
- SVT converted to 3000VDC.
- Last New York to Portland passenger train.
- 1948
- PV&T electrifies the B&M from Wells River to Plymouth (postwar
industrial flight was starting to bite into the B&M’s more lightly
trafficked lines, so the lease fees were worth cooperating with
That Other Railroad.)
- 1949
- PV&T electrifies the M&WR from Wells River to Montpelier
- 1950
- SLR purchased.
- 1951
- Blue and white paint scheme introduced.
- PVRT discontinues Concord-Laconia passenger service.
- 1955
- The B&M abandons Plymouth to Wells River, selling the trackage to the PV&T.
- The PV&T line from Plymouth to Montpelier via Mount Cube & Thetford is abandoned.
- Last steam operation on the PV&T (the Mount Cube mallets; all
other steam was withdrawn in 1947.)
- 1961
- Merger with LT&L, TdM.
- Last Boston to Montréal passenger train.
- 1962
- Electrification, Augusta to Bangor.
- 1963
- Last TdM revenue steam.
- LT&L subsidiary Bangor & Quebec abandons Bangor, ME to Lynville, PQ.
- All interurban passenger service in the United States
withdrawn except for Portland to Montréal.
- PRVT Winnisquam bridge collapses, isolating the Laconia branch.
- 1965
- PVRT officially abandons the Laconia branch.
- PV&T leases the PVRT.
- 1967
- PV&T HQ moved from Boston to Montréal
- 1984
- PV&T purchases the Delaware & Hudson, kicking off the
acquisition spree that converts it into a modern class 1
railroad.
- 1989
- PV&T purchases the Bangor & Aroostook
- 1993
- PV&T purchases most of the Canadian Atlantic Railway from the
Canadian Pacific.