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In its earliest years Canadian railroading was influenced by British rail practice, but after a decade of experience with North American economic and geographic realities, American practice began a fairly rapid rise to dominance that has remained to the present. The first transborder line was completed between Portland, Maine, and Montreal in 1852; it was known as the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad in the three northern New England states and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic in Quebec. At the behest of the Maine promoters of this line, a gauge of 5 feet 6 inches (1,676 mm) was adopted to ...(100 of 20134 words)