Narrow-gauge railways in Canada

Although most

narrow-gauge lines. These were generally less expensive to build, but were more vulnerable to frost heaving because vertical displacement of one rail caused greater angular deflection of the narrower two-rail running surface. Most of the longer examples were regauged

starting in the 1880s as the railway network began to be bought up by larger companies.

The largest systems in the country were the

Saint John River valley of New Brunswick

. Various mining and industrial operations in Canada have also operated narrow-gauge railways.

Almost all

standard gauge. By 2015, the only remaining narrow-gauge system in Canada was the White Pass and Yukon Route

, which used some of the rolling stock of the Newfoundland Railway which closed in the late 1980s.

Newfoundland

Construction on the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)

Canadian National Railways

when Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949.

After the

deregulated

its railway industry and allowed railways to abandon money-losing lines.

The Newfoundland Railway was the longest narrow-gauge system in North America at the time of its abandonment in September 1988. It was also the last commercial common carrier narrow-gauge railway in Canada, since the White Pass & Yukon had closed earlier in the decade.

Prince Edward Island

When the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)

conversion to 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) during the 1920s and early 1930s after the island's rail system was linked to North America by a standard-gauge railcar ferry

beginning in 1917. The entire standard-gauge system was abandoned by CN in 1989.

Nova Scotia

The first narrow-gauge railway in Canada was not a common carrier, but the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Lingan Colliery Tramway built in 1861 on Cape Breton Island north of Sydney. Cars were pulled by horses until a 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive arrived in 1866 for the final year of operation.^[1] The Glasgow and Cape Breton Coal and Railway Company operated the first Canadian 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge railway from 1871 to 1893 with 41 miles (70 kilometers) of branch lines linking several mines to Sydney.^[2]

New Brunswick

The

standard-gauged several years later. In 1890, the line was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific Railway

.

Quebec

The

converted to 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) (standard gauge) in 1881. The line was leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1887 and survived into the 21st century as part of the CPR Farnham Division.^[3]

Ontario

An artist's rendition of a Fairlie locomotive owned by the Toronto and Nipissing Railway.

In Ontario, the

narrow-gauge track.^[4]

Yukon

Yukon was formerly home to the Klondike Mines Railway.

The only narrow-gauge system still in operation in the country is the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge White Pass and Yukon Route. The WPYR was built as a common carrier but closed in 1982 only to reopen in 1988 to haul tourists from cruise ships docking at Skagway, Alaska through White Pass on the Canada–United States border to Bennett, British Columbia, and more recently onto Carcross, Yukon. It uses some rolling stock from the now-defunct 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Newfoundland Railway after changing the trucks.

British Columbia

BC has had a long history with narrow-gauge railways starting with the horse-drawn and gravity-assisted Seton Lake tramway in 1858, and then to the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge coal mine railways at Nanaimo. Coal was moved to the pier at Departure Bay. Other railways sprang up including the Kaslo and Slocan Railway, the Columbia and Western Railway near Trail, and the

List of historic BC Narrow Gauge railways

.

Alberta

There were several 3 ft (914 mm) mining systems in the Drumheller area. An extensive narrow-gauge line was built in the foothills to haul coal about 1890 but was soon

standard

and the equipment moved to the Kaslo and Slocan in BC.

The North Western Coal and Navigation Company, constructed a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge line which began operations from Lethbridge to Dunmore, Alberta beginning in the fall of 1885. In 1893 Canadian Pacific Railway, leased the line and later purchased it in 1897, and then converted it to standard gauge. Additionally the North Western Coal and Navigation Company constructed another 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge line which ran from Lethbridge to Great Falls, Montana, and was opened for use in the fall of 1890.

The line was later converted to standard gauge in 1901, and was soon afterwards sold to two different buyers;

Sweetgrass

.

This unique structure was used by North Western Coal and Navigation Company, and later on after selling the railroad by Great Northern Railway (U.S.) and Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1915, Canadian Pacific Railway split the Train Station in half and hauled their portion north across the Canada–United States border and continued to use it until the late 1960s when it was closed. At the same time, Great Northern Railway (U.S.) hauled their portion of the station south of the Canada–United States border, and used it until the early 1930s.

Currently the International Train Station Depot is located at the Galt Historic Railway Park, in the County of Warner No. 5, Alberta, and is open to the public.