Crowsnest Southern Line

The Crowsnest Southern Line is a 271.0 mile (61.4 miles in BC) railway line of the North Western Pacific Railroad (NWP) running from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA on the NWP's Kootenay & Pend Oreille Line to Flathead, British Columbia. It connects to the Spokane International Railroad's Coeur d'Alene Division and to the Burlington Northern & Gulf Railroad's Spokane–Missoula line at Coeur d'Alene, to the Canadian Pacific Railway's Cranbrook Subdivision at Elko, and to the Outlier Ridge Line at Mount Broadwood Junction. Additionally, it connects to the BN&G's Seattle–Duluth transcontinental trunk line in four places. A 38.8 mile section from Elko to Michel was closed in 1929.

The Crowsnest Southern Line is part of the Eastern Division of NWP's British Columbia District.

= History = The Crow's Nest Southern Railway (CNS) was opened in 1901 by a local mining company, with its original line running parallel to the Canadian Pacific line from Michel to Elko via West Fernie, serving mines at West Fernie and Michel. Construction began in 1898, reaching Jennings, Montana in 1901, where it connected to the Great Northern.

In 1911, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul Railroad acquired a controlling interest in the CNS, and extended the line south from Jennings to its mainline at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; this was completed in 1914. The Milwaukee took complete control of the railway in 1928, and in the following year the section between Elko and Michel was closed, with the Milwaukee obtaining running rights over the CPR line to Michel. This was discontinued in 1948, when the Crows Nest Pass Coal Company discontinued its operations. The right of way of the closed section was later used in building the Crowsnest Highway.

The line connected to the Morrissey, Fernie & Michel Railway at two places: until 1908 at the Swinton Station, and until 1928 at Fernie.

After the Second World War traffic slowed down considerably, and by 1956, the Milwaukee wanted to abandon the line, but instead, continued to operate it for another five years with a subsidy from the BC government to operate a minimal service along the line - a daily mixed train in each direction between Elko and Coeur d'Alene. In 1961, the BC government decided to fund a large new coking-coal mine at Flathead east of Elko, which spurred the Milwaukee to revive the line. The existing line from Coeur d'Alene to Elko, was upgraded, and from Elko the new line to Flathead was built; the railway, and the mine, were (re)opened in 1966.

= Services =

Freight
Several local wayfreights are run each week to collect agricultural products from farming communities along the line between Elko and Coeur d'Alene and to deliver inbound goods, but most of the line's traffic is unit trains of coal from the mines.

Passenger
The only passenger service on the Crows Nest Southern Line is a Rapid (semi-express) train operated in conjunction with the Canadian Pacific between Cranbrook and Coeur d'Alene. Like an Express train, a Rapid makes a limited number of scheduled stops, but stops can be booked up to three hours in advance at any station on the route that has passenger service.


 * 681/682 (NWP/CP): Cranbrook – Coeur d'Alene
 * Daily service with a morning departure from each end, the trip takes about seven hours using one CP consist and one NWP consist; locomotive and crew changes take place at Elko. These trains feature first and second class chair cars and a cafeteria car; baggage handling is free of charge for first class passengers, and available with a surcharge for second class passengers. For travel between three or fewer domestic stops on the Cranbrook–Fort Steele section a surcharge is applied. BC customs checks take place at McDonald, US checks at Roosville, Montana. Scheduled intermediate stops:
 * BC: Fort Steele City, Elko, Grasmere, McDonald
 * Montana: Roosville, Eureka, Jennings, Libby, Bull Lake, Heron
 * Idaho: Clark Fork, Belmont, Hayden Lake

= Route = A grey background indicates a closed section of the line; italic text indicates a closed connection.

♦ - Scheduled Rapid stop • - Flag stop (requires advance booking) | - No passenger service