The Wabush Lake Railway (formerly WABL and NLCL) is a

short line railway In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US ...

operating in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, Canada. The railway was built in 1960 from the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway to Wabush, initially called the Northern Lands Company Railway (reporting mark: NLC).http://www.quebec511.info/images/fr/carte_routiere/PDF/c06_carton_Duplessis_4M.pdf Opened in 1963, the railway operates a line running between

Labrador City Labrador City is a town in western Labrador (part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador), near the Quebec border. With a population of 7,412 as of 2021, it is the second-largest population centre in Labrador, behind Happy Valley-Go ...

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, and

Wabush Wabush is a small town in the western tip of Labrador, bordering Quebec, known for transportation and iron ore operations. Economy Wabush is the twin community of Labrador City. At its peak population in the late 1970s, the region had a population ...

, where it interchanges with the

Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway The Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway is a private Canadian regional railway that stretches through the wilderness of northeastern Quebec and western Labrador. It connects Labrador City, Labrador, with the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec, on the ...

. The Wabush Lake Railway is owned by the Wabush Mining Company, which mines

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

near Labrador City. The ore is transported from the mine to the

connection at Wabush. The Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway transports the ore between Wabush and Arnaud Jct., Quebec using Wabush locomotives, currently a mix of power leased from CEFX and QNS&L. At Arnaud Junction, the ore is transferred to Wabush Lake Railway's sister company, Chemin de fer Arnaud (Arnaud Railway), for the final journey to ship loading facilities at nearby

Pointe-Noire, Quebec Pointe-Noire is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is within the city of Sept-Îles in the Sept-Rivières regional county municipality and the Côte-Nord region of eastern Quebec. It is a shipping port and ...

. In 2010,

Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based company that specializes in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. It is the larges ...

opened the Bloom Lake Mine, just west of Labrador City, Newfoundland, and the Bloom Lake Railway to transport

from the mine to a connection with the Wabush Lake Railway. The Wabush Lake Railway began acting as a middle man, taking the Bloom Lake Railway trains, and transporting them to Wabush Junction for the

(QNS&L) to transport to the Chemin de fer Arnaud just as they would Wabush trains. The Arnaud then takes the trains to the Consolidated Thompson's dock at

. Consolidated Thompson has since been purchased by Cliffs Natural Resources. In 2011,

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

began control of operations on behalf of the owners under the name

WLRS WLRS may refer to: * WLRS (AM), a radio station (1570 AM) licensed to serve New Albany, Indiana, United States * WLRS FM, a radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, with frequency 102.3 FM, now WXMA, which held the call sign WLRS fro ...

. The new operation encompasses the Arnaud Railway, Bloom Lake Railway, and Wabush Lake Railway. This railway (along with the Arnaud Railway, Bloom Lake Railway, QNSX, and Tshiuetin Rail Transportation line) forms an isolated railroad network, as it does not interchange with any other rail lines on the North American network.

References

External links

* * {{Canada railways Newfoundland and Labrador railways Industrial railways in Canada Railway lines opened in 1963 Companies based in Newfoundland and Labrador