The economic downturn of the 1980s, coupled with the departure of heavy industry from northern Maine, forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003.

[10] Pulpwood and wood chip shipment to the paper mills became increasingly important as potato loadings declined.

A less-expensive oxide red paint scheme with large white reporting marks was adopted during the Vietnam War.

[14] Into the 1950s, the Bangor and Aroostook operated an afternoon train, the Aroostook Flyer, on the company's mainline from Bangor (where a connection could be made from the Boston & Maine's Penobscot from Boston[15]), to Brownville, Sherman, Oakfield, Presque Isle, Caribou and concluding in Van Buren (opposite St. Leonard in New Brunswick).

A morning train making local stops, the Potatoland, ran from Bangor, using the same route, but after Van Buren continued west to St.

[16] Service (#9 north/#12 south, and also scheduled to meet the Penobscot) operated from Bangor to Derby, leaving the main route heading west to Greenville, whereupon it joined Canadian Pacific trackage to Megantic, Quebec on Lac Mégantic.

[17] Greenville served as a transfer point for connecting with east-west Atlantic Limited and other Canadian Pacific Railway service from Montreal to Saint John, New Brunswick, via Sherbrooke, Quebec.

[18] The company also offered service on an interior branch from Oakfield directly north to Fort Kent, a stop on the route to St.

In 2002, the company was declared bankrupt; the next year its lines were sold to Rail World, which initially incorporated them into its newly-formed Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway subsidiary.

In 2019 it was sold by CMQ to Canadian Pacific, as part of expanding its rail service into New England and the Maritime Provinces.