Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa Railway
| Reporting mark | IB&O |
|---|---|
| Locale | Ontario, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1880–1960 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 50.9 miles (81.9 km) |
The Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa Railway (IB&O) was a short line railway in Central Ontario, Canada. The line was originally opened in 1878 as the Myles Branch Tramway, a horse-drawn wagonway connecting the Snowdon Iron Mine to the Victoria Railway a few miles away. The line was taken over by a group looking to build a northern extension of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway (T&N) as the Toronto and Nipissing Eastern Extension Railway. This extension was never built; instead, the company rechartered as the IB&O and used the Tramway as the basis for a new line with the ultimate aim to connect Orillia to the Ottawa area.
The Tramway initially ran east from Howland to Furnace Falls, and the IB&O began pushing further northeast through Irondale, Gooderham, Wilberforce and Harcourt, then turning east for Bancroft. Construction stopped at Baptiste Lake when the owner died in July 1899. The line was eventually purchased by Mackenzie and Mann in 1909, who connected it to the Central Ontario Railway (COR) outside Bancroft in July 1910. The IB&O leased the COR, and then both were merged with Mackenzie and Mann's Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) in 1911.
CNoR's bankruptcy in 1916 led to the line ultimately becoming part of the Canadian National Railways (CN) in 1923. The route saw little use and was abandoned in March 1960, with the rails lifted by the end of July. Only a short section near Bancroft remained, operating as a spur on the COR serving a Domtar plant. The COR was abandoned in 1984. Due to its relatively early abandonment, the IB&O did not see conversion to rail trail, unlike the COR which is now a popular recreational trail. Some sections have been used for roads, but most of it has returned to bush.
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