The Tobique Valley Railway Company built the line between 1891 and 1894 from Perth Junction to Plaster Rock.
In 1897, the TVR leased the railway to the Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years.
The line deteriorated to the point that, at the time of abandonment, the maximum speed was 20 MPH over the entire line with three permanent slow orders down to 8 MPH at points on the line.
In March 1987, a storm destroyed part of the neighbouring Shogomoc Subdivision and isolated the Tobique Subdivsion. The majority of the traffic at that time was approximately 3700 carloads/year of wood chips from Plaster Rock.
On June 3, 1988, Canadian Pacific applied to the National Transportation Agency for authority to abandon the operation of the Tobique Subdivision from Perth Junction (mile 0.0) to Plaster Rock (mile 27.5). It was ordered to be abandoned by Order No. 1989-R-91 on May 12, 1989.