Sydney Coal Railway
| Reporting mark | SCR |
|---|---|
| Locale | Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia Canada |
| Dates of operation | 2003– |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Victoria Junction, Nova Scotia |
The Sydney Coal Railway (reporting mark SCR) is a Canadian short-line railway operating in the eastern part of Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia.
SCR operates from the international coaling piers on Sydney Harbour in Sydney to the Lingan Generating Station, a coal-fired electrical generating station near New Waterford. The railway's trackage, the piers, and the generating station are owned by Nova Scotia Power, a subsidiary of Emera Inc.
The railway line was completed in 1895 by the Dominion Coal Company (DOMCO) between Sydney and Louisbourg. The trackage was organized as the appropriately named Sydney and Louisburg Railway (S&L) in 1910.
The S&L, along with other assets of the corporate successor to DOMCO, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO), were expropriated by the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) on March 30, 1968. DEVCO operated the railway as an unincorporated department of its Coal Division, however it was informally known as the Devco Railway. DEVCO built a coal preparation and coal wash plant and storage facility, along with new locomotive shops at Victoria Junction, a location midway between Sydney and the Lingan Generating Station near New Waterford.
On November 23, 2001, DEVCO closed its last underground coal mine, the Prince colliery, after the company failed to entice any private sector investors to purchase the mine. DEVCO was out of the coal mining business, however for a period of approximately 1 month, it was in the coal importation business, with trains operating from the international coaling piers to the storage facility and on to the Lingan Generating Station.
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