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In 1974, Quebec & Lake Saint John Railway was formed out of the remains of the short-lived wooden-railed Quebec & Gosford Railway, and built a conventional railway from Québec to Roberval. This railway was built with the aid of large subsidies from the federal government, Québec, and municipalities along the line, and did not prove to be a disappointment to any of them.

In the late 1880s, the LT&L started to purchase stocks in this railroad, as did the promoters behind the Canadian Northern Quebec Railway (a subsidiary of the Canadian Northern Railway) and by 1903 both railways controlled approximately 100% of the available stock. The LT&L offered to buy out the Canadian Northern, but the CNoR would have nothing to do with that plan. The CNoR offered to buy out the LT&L, but the LT&L said they weren’t interested either.

This dance went round and around for a few years before the railways agreed to jointly own the line and to – in 1908 – lease the line to the CNoR.

The next 99 years went by uneventfully, with the LT&L paying for trackage rights and both railways growing fat off the mineral traffic the Q&LSJ was carrying, but when the lease expired the (now) CNR and LT&L could not agree on what terms would be good for renewing the lease. And in the end, the Q&LSJ resurfaced as the 50/50 joint line it was 100 years previously.

As of 2026, the line is operating as a neutral carrier for both the LT&L and CNR; some of the unprofitable branches out from Québec have been abandoned, the mainline from Québec out as far as Saint-Raymond has been electrified (and operates with LT&L motive power leased to the Q&LSJ) and the plans are to keep the rest of the railway running with diesel power.

The Q&LSJ does not own any motive power, and does not operate any trains of its own except on the electrified section of its mainline between Québec and Saint-Raymond.