Alma & Jonquieres

Company History: The A&J was built in 1923 with two lines in Quebec. The first linked Herbertville and Lake St. John to the Grand Decharge and Petite Decharge areas. The second ran from St. Joseph d’Alma to Jonquires. Traffic from the aluminum business began to dominate and A&J was soon purchased by Alcan. In 1974, Alma & Jonquieres was merged into fellow Alcan stablemate Roberval Saguenay Railway with whom they connected.

Successor/Parent History: This line is often referred to as Roberval & Saguenay but you won’t find the & anywhere on an RS locomotive or car. The RS was launched in 1911 to build from a connection with the Quebec & Lake St. John Railway in Roberval, Quebec, around Lake St. John to Chicoutimi with a branch to St. Bruno. The line was owned by the Chicoutimi Pulp Company. In 1914, RS acquired the Ha! Ha! Bay Railway that ran from Jonquieres to Bagotville plus branches. A portion of the line was under trolley wire with steeple cab switchers moving the freight while steam was used on the rest of the system. RS settled in hauling forest products until the owners closed the mills in 1925.

A predecessor of Alcan bought the railroad to move raw material and finished products from their new aluminum smelters in Arvida. In 1929 the line was extended from Arvida northwest to a connection near L’Ascension. In 1974, the Alma & Jonquires Railway (also owned by Alcan) was merged into the RS.

Traffic today is dominated by raw material to and finished products from the aluminum smelters plus some forest products. A recent locomotive roster includes an S2, two RS-18’s, two RS-3’s, an RS-11, a C420, two B23-7’s, eight GP38-3’s and three SD70Ace’s.

Brief History: Canada is a North American country stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north. Major cities include massive Toronto, west coast film centre Vancouver, French-speaking Montréal and Québec City, and capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls, a famous group of massive waterfalls.