The section west of Mattawamkeag to Brownville Junction was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway as part of its International Railway of Maine subsidiary, opening in 1889 to connect Montreal, Quebec with Saint John; this line made CPR a transcontinental railway system. The E&NA tracks from Bangor to Vanceboro via Mattawamkeag were leased in the 1870s and purchased in the 1950s by the Maine Central Railroad and later purchased in 1974 by CPR. As a portion of the Bangor and Aroostook line from Millinocket south through Brownville Junction was not part of MM&A's sale of track to the state, EMRY's track is not contiguous to Irving-operated Maine Northern Railway (MNRY). In the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway bankruptcy auction, EMRY had made a joint bid with Pan-Am's Springfield Terminal Railway for the former MM&A trackage in Maine - a move which could have re-unified the Bangor and Aroostook under Irving's banner. An initial Radio-Canada report that this bid was successful was quickly contradicted by other sources (including the English-language Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Press news wire) which indicate all of the former MM&A rails went to Fortress Investment Group subsidiary Railroad Acquisition Holdings. According to a statement from Wayne Power, vice president of J.D. Irving’s transportation and logistics division, "In the end, the trustee went forward with a single buyer of the entire MMA railway line. We look forward to working with Fortress Investment Group of New York as they assume operation of the MMA railway." Today most locomotives hauling trains that operate over EMRY are owned and carry the reporting marks of NBSR. Some maintenance of way equipment is owned by EMRY but the majority of the company's assets are the physical tracks and right of way from Vanceboro to Brownville Junction, as well as the running rights in New Brunswick to McAdam.