Railways of Southern Quebec, Volume II, continues the study, begun in Volume I, of various railway companies that operated in Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River. The featured railways illustrate the many diverse elements of 19th century railway construction. Also covered are aspects of the railway network rationalization resulting from railways having lost their transportation primacy to cars and trucks. Volume I dealt with the earliest railways in southern Quebec, including the St. Lawrence & Atlantic (later Canadian National's Grand Trunk New England line to Portland), as well as railways lying west of the Richelieu River in southern Quebec. Volume II focuses on the central Eastern Townships with the histories of the Waterloo & Magog Railway, the Missisquoi & Black Rivers Valley Railway, and the Orford Mountain Railway. Also covered are other associated lines, including the Canadian Pacific Railway's 'Short Line' which continued from Megantic, Quebec to Saint John, New Brunswick through Maine. There are overviews of several other railway companies, all of which, together, formed the extensive network of railways that lay south of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Volume III examined the history of the Quebec Central Railway. Operating in the eastern and northern margins of the Eastern Townships, the QCR - primarily a resource railway - emerged as the largest regional carrier in Quebec by the beginning of the twentieth century.

A retired Professor of Geography at Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Derek Booth is a historical geographer with a special interest in the roles that railways played in the creation of human and economic landscapes in Canada. A graduate of McGill University, he is a Quebecer with deep family roots in the Eastern Townships and in the Ottawa Valley. In addition to Railways of Southern Quebec, Volumes I, II, & III he has written and lectured extensively on transport issues in the Eastern Townships. His current research interests focus on elements of the region’s cultural, military, and economic geography. Derek lives with his wife, Sandy, in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

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