Nakusp and Slocan Railway

The Nakusp and Slocan Railway (N&S) is a historic Canadian railway that operated in southeastern British Columbia.

Its line ran between Nakusp, New Denver, British Columbia and Sandon, British Columbia in the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

The railway operated a steamship service on the Arrow Lakes at Nakusp, which connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) mainline at Revelstoke). It also operated a steamship service on Slocan Lake at Rosebery, which connected with the CPR's Columbia and Kootenay Railway (C&K) at Slocan City.

The line was extended to Kaslo with the purchase of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway in 1912.

The original route started at a boat slip on the Arrow Lakes near Nakusp. The railway climbed steeply up to the pass and Summit Lake and descended to Slocan Lake at Hills. The railway followed the lake's eastern shore to Rosebery where another boat slip and yard was constructed. Further along the lake shore, the railway started climbing just before New Denver and worked its way up the steep Carpenter Creek to Three Forks. The line was extended in 1895 using a steep 4.5% grade to Sandon. The line totalled 65 km in length.

The railway route was built during the mining boom in the Kootenays during the 1890s. A major silver find on Payne Mountain immediately grew into the city of Sandon (now a ghost town) and the CPR wanted to connect the region with their mainline. The Great Northern Railway, its big competitor in the region was backing the Kaslo and Slocan Railway (K&S) that was building a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railway from Kaslo on Kootenay Lake west to Sandon.

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