South Porcupine, Ontario,-site of the end of the Ontario
Northland Network. It was from this point that ground work began to build
a line to help out business that were facing high cost by shipping with
transports. This line would begin in South Porcupine, North to Northwark,
then West to North Cove.
In 1995, the ONR went
and built a line from South Porcupine to North Cove. There was a huge
demand at the time for this line, from people who wanted passenger service and
freight, due to the cost of transport hauling rates. This line was named
the Fellowbrook Subdivision.
The ONR at the time
had an interchange with CN, which allowed the ONR to transport more and get
peoples freight to new areas. During this time, Northwark became an
important connection between the ONR and CN.
Northwark underwent
extensive track work. An agreement with Ontario Northland and CN was made
to haul directional traffic on each others line at the time. After this
was agreed upon, track work took a big change on the Suez Sub as both track crews
installed two 90 degree crossings to accommodate the traffic and also installed
two connecting track for the Duel Running Zone and a double switch over.
There is a passenger station at Northwark to provide people with passenger
service to and from South Porcupine and North Cove. There use
too be two points originally to access the east side of the ONR line-but
because of the directional running agreement with CN and ONR it was decided
that this line would no longer be needed, and was pulled up with the ties left
in place and the switches pulled for direct travel. This is accompanied
by another set-up that was added a double crossover in the event of
derailment trains still could be kept running.
Since the
creation of the Fellowbrook Subdivision, was installed, the ONR was not limited
as to what power could travel on this line compared to some other
subdivisions. Six axle engines were often seen running freight to and
from North Cove and South Porcupine.
After a while of
the ONR running & building the Fellowbrook Subdivision, the ONR had lost
the ability to maintain and service the line due to cost and travel distance,
and lack of capacity needed on the line. It was decided at that point to
file for abandonment of this line. This took place in 1999.
In the summer of 2000,
two men got together and begin talking about their favorite past
time-trains. By the end of supper, the two men came up with a plan and a
strategy to launch a new train system along with passenger service to enhance
service in Northern Ontario. Based out of South Porcupine, Ontario, the
two men got working. A year later things started to become reality as
track work that was required was being installed and equipment began
arriving. B & B Railways brought used equipment from CSX as the paint
scheme was very similar, so only slight modifications were needed. At
first B & B Railways also had to get into passenger service and offing a
service like no other and filled holes where Ontario Northland had
service. B & B and ONR had gotten together, and had worked out
running rights. This would allow the South Porcupine Adventure to start
and run from South Porcupine to Hearst and Northwark on the CN line.
B & B Railways put
in a bid as did Canadian National. It was decided that B & B
Railways, would better serve the area because of location and existing
agreements with the ONR with those business that were served on this
line. At this point B & B took over service of the Fellowbrook and
the maintenance of the track. Along with this, B & B approached CN to
obtain running rights over the Suez Subdivision to gain better access to and
from Northwark. The only condition set out was that B & B had to
maintain the former CN/ONR interchange at Northwark and to take cars back to
the ONR as far as the new ONR Interchange with B & B Railways.
B & B Railway
provided new agreements with the towns & business serviced by the
Fellowbrook Subdivision that passenger and freight would be maintained and
Freight would be improved in some areas. B & B would do track
maintenance with their crews and trucks. There would be regular freight
that travels daily (Mon-Fri) on this line picking up and dropping cars off for
the lumberyard along this line and the other business that have come to rely on
this line to ship their products.
As the years went by,
B & B Railways became a strong competitor to the ONR, and started taking
more tasks and work alongside the ONR. The two companies relied on each
other and valued their agreement.
In 2007, the South
Porcupine Adventurer was absorb by B & B Railways and then begin running
the passenger train under the B & B flag. B & B Railways created a new
passenger train which was required after taking over the line. With that
in mind, it was deemed fitting that, RDC Budd cars would be used on this line
from South Porcupine to North Cove. The passenger service would run every day-except
Sundays. These Budd cars were brought used from VIA Rail and a couple
other areas, and were refurbished at IRS (industrial Rail Service) and then
once re-built, were transferred over the CN network to our Interchange with CN
and were brought back to Venta, South Porcupine and North Cove.
The
company took its logo in spring of 2009, and made a slight change to it.
In May of 2010,
B & B Railways undertook a feasibility study to try and change the way the
line ran, and how to distribute supplies. They looked at breaking down
the line into three subdivisions. The old ONR line would be better served
by us, if we can maximize our resources and equipment. It was determined,
that the break down would be:
Fellowbrook Subdivision South Porcupine to Venta
McWhirter Subdivision Venta to Lancashire
Waterloo Subdivision Lancashire to North Cove
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