Reporting mark NBPI | Dates of operation 1881–1914 | |
Locale New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Track gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | ||
The New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Railway, was first incorporated in 1874 as the Cape Tormentine Branch Railway Company to build a 32 mile long line from Sackville on the Intercolonial Railway line to Cape Tormentine from Sackville via Baie Verte. It was reincorporated as the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Railway in 1889.
Cape Tormentine is the closest port to PEI. The Dominion of Canada was required under the terms of Confederation to provide Prince Edward Island a year-round link with the mainland. The railway was built on a shoestring budget. The ground was level and was not ballasted, but the line was immediately profitable.
It came under the control of the Canadian Government Railways in 1914 and was then operated by the Intercolonial Railway until that railway was taken over by Canadian National. In 1917 the first railcar ferry arrived at the Borden terminal on Prince Edward Island from Cape Tormentine.
The line was abandoned in 1989, the same year as the Prince Edward Island Railway. Today the Confederation Bridge handles all the traffic to the Island once transported by the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Railway. The attractive railway station at Cape Tormentine, built in the late 1930s, continued to be used as an information centre for ferry and marine traffic. With the opening of the Confederation Bridge in 1997, the station was closed. Today remains include the abandoned station and a few other rail structures, and an abandoned lighthouse.