Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway

The Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway (N&FS) is a historic Canadian railway that operated in the southern interior of British Columbia.

The N&FS connected the city of Nelson with the Canada–United States border at Waneta, near Trail. The line was acquired by the Great Northern Railway in 1898.

The railway was built by Daniel Chase Corbin, an American financier. In 1888, he built north from Spokane, Washington with his Spokane Falls and Northern Railway(SF&N) to Little Dalles (near modern Northport) in the United States by 1890.

The British Columbia government resisted granting him a charter to build across the border into Canada because of concerns the government was concerned that the railway would only be a feeder railway to the American interests in Spokane, especially the Great Northern Railway. With the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company provider boat access along the Columbia River to his railway he had indirect access to the rich mining areas of the Kootenays. Concerned with this development, the Canadian Pacific Railway reacted by building the Columbia and Kootenay Railway (C&K) between Robson (near Castlegar) and Nelson in 1891 along the unnavigable section of the Kootenay River between Kootenay Lake and the Arrow Lakes.

In 1891, Corbin received a charter from the Canadian government for the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway by promising to connect the railway to the coast and by using a group of Canadian businessmen as a front for the railway. The connection to the coast was never built but the railway did reach Nelson in 1893. The railway's name comes from the former Hudson's Bay Company fort, Fort Shepherd, on bank of the Columbia River on the United States border, even though the spelling is different. With an all rail route to the United States and direct access to the Great Northern, the N&FS could provide more direct access to markets than the CPR could with its C&K.

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