Inverness and Richmond Railway

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The Inverness and Richmond Railway was a railway on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. It opened in 1901 and ran from Port Hawkesbury to Inverness, mainly to haul coal from Mabou and Inverness to a pier at Port Hastings. The line was built by the Inverness Railway and Coal Company and connected with the Intercolonial Railway at Port Hawkesbury. It was named for Inverness and Richmond counties, but it never reached Richmond County, and plans to extend to Orangedale were never built.

The railway and coal company went bankrupt in 1901. William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, builders of the Canadian Northern Railway, bought the mines and railway and reorganized the property, but the Inverness and Richmond Railway was never formally merged into Canadian Northern.

Peak activity came in 1908, when about 322,000 short tons of freight were moved (mostly coal, with some lumber). The line also carried passengers, averaging around 26,500 per year in the early years (1901–1906).

During World War I, finances deteriorated. When the Canadian Northern was absorbed by the Canadian National Railway (CN), CN began operating the Inverness and Richmond in 1920 and bought it in 1929. Passenger service ended in 1959, and by 1975 freight service was down to a weekly schedule, hauling coal from St. Rose in the northern part of the island.

Today, the route is a rail trail for snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and people, known as the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail.