The Kettle Falls International Railway is a

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

in the U.S. state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and the Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. This

OmniTRAX OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. state ...

subsidiary operates of track.

Former operators

The Chewelah– Waneta– Columbia Gardens common route and eastern fork was a section of the original

Spokane Falls and Northern Railway The Spokane Falls & Northern (SF&N) is a historic railroad that operated in northeast Washington state. The SF&N initially connected the city of Spokane (then called Spokane Falls) with the Canada–United States border at Waneta, British Columbi ...

and Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway. In 1899, the Great Northern Railway (GN) acquired these two railways. The

Kettle Falls Kettle Falls ( Salish: Shonitkwu, meaning "roaring or noisy waters", also Schwenetekoo translated as "Keep Sounding Water") was an ancient and important salmon fishing site on the upper reaches of the Columbia River, in what is today the U.S. ...

–

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

–San Poil western fork was a section of the original line built by GN under the VV&E charter for BC, and the Washington and Great Northern Railway (W&GN) charter for WA. GN was consolidated into the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1970, which merged to become the

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

(BNSF) in 1996.

KFR operation

In 2004, OmniTRAX leased to purchase the eastern fork, and purchased the western fork, from BNSF, while having running rights on the Chewelah–Kettle Falls section. In 2006, the KFR abandoned the San Poil– Danville section. It is unclear whether the rails across the border were removed at this time or during the subsequent years. In 2019, the St. Paul & Pacific Northwest Railroad (STPP) acquired the Chewelah–Columbia Gardens section. Initial interlining was with BNSF to the south at Chewelah and Kettle Falls, Grand Forks Railway (GFR) to the northwest at Grand Forks, and International Rail Road Systems (IRRS) to the northeast at Columbia Gardens. In 2010, ATCO Wood Products replaced IRRS, and was renamed the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway Corporation in 2012. After the 2019 STPP acquisition, two KFR interlines remained, a new one with STPP at Kettle Falls, and the existing one with GFR. In 2020, OmniTRAX announced the planned closure of the Grand Forks– Laurier section of the KFR line within three years. A similar proposal in 2008 did not eventuate.

Footnotes

References

* Washington (state) railroads Spin-offs of the BNSF Railway {{NorthAm-rail-transport-stub