Random fact: it’s because of a rich entrepreneur from Portland that my small native town in Québec got a railway in 1850. The first international railway was between Portland and Montréal. It still exists.

The line was proposed as a connection between Portland and Sherbrooke, Canada East, in 1844 by Portland entrepreneur John A. Poor. Portland was desperate to connect its ice-free port with Montreal, and Maine was at risk of being eclipsed by a similar proposal running from nearby Boston, Massachusetts.