The rail line encouraged growth of the individual villages which it served, bringing new summer visitors to rural communities such as North Hatley, Quebec while facilitating the export of Canadian wood, produce and natural resources.

On April 8, 1895, a southbound Boston & Maine Railroad passenger train derailed upon striking a boulder on the track; the engineer and fireman, injured by burns from steam, were transported to Newport but did not survive.

[10] By 1909, Beebe Junction had become the main point of entry to the North Derby, Vermont / Stanstead, Quebec region for customs purposes, a rôle it would only relinquish in the late 1920s as U.S. Route 5 led to increased road traffic at the expense of the railways.

[15] While the rail line from Newport southward remains in operation as the Washington County Railroad, the only onward Canadian rail connection at Newport is westward through Richford, Vermont via a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway which joins that company's mainline between Cowansville and Farnham, Quebec.

Much of the former right-of-way is now a Shared-use path: The 1870 Massawippi Valley Railway station on the main street of Beebe Plain, Quebec still stands but is now a private residence.