CPR Kimberley Subdivision

The Kimberley Subdivision is an 11.4 mile railway line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) running from North Star on the Cranbrook Subdivision to Kimberley.

The Kimberley Subdivision is part of the Kootenay Division of the CPR's British Columbia District.

= History = The British Columbia Southern Railway (BCS) was originally chartered in 1888 as the Crows Nest & Kootenay Lake Railway to build a railway from MacLeod, Alberta, Canada to Kootenay Landing, but the first stretch of line opened by the BCS was the 12.3 miles from Cranbrook to Kimberley in 1898, a year prior to the opening of the Cranbrook–Kootenay Landing mainline; the BCS was absorbed by the Canadian Pacific in 1910. The BCS built an engine house, turntable, and coaling, watering, and sanding towers at Chapman Creek.

Kimberley was named after the famous mine in South Africa, as the owners of the BCS had great hopes for mining in the area. Work on the Sullivan Mine site began in 1901, but extraction of lead, zinc, and silver didn't begin in earnest until 1916 until after the CPR's Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company bought the Sullivan interests out.

In 1904, the Otis Staples Lumber Company opened a sawmill at Wycliffe on the BCS, and built the St Mary & Cherry Creek Railway (StM&CC) from there into its forest holdings, eventually totalling 14 miles; the StM&CC had running rights over the BCS (and later CPR) from Wycliffe to Kimberley. The StM&CC was abandoned in 1927.

In 1953 Cominco opened a fertiliser plant to use by-products from the concentrator at Marysville; a new station was opened to serve this facility then, named Fertiliser Station.

When the CPR opened the present alignment of the Cranbrook Subdivision in 1966, the original starting point of this line was renamed Wardner Junction, and a new North Star Station was opened 0.9 miles closer to Wanklyn on the Kimberley Sub; this has been the starting point of the Kimberley Sub since then.

= Services =

Freight
Located in Kimberley is the Sullivan Mine opened in 1916, extracting primarily lead, zinc and silver - the world's largest lead-zinc mine; the mine is served by Chapman Camp Station. Traffic is heavy along the line, primarily moving ore from the mine to the concentrator at Marysville, before being shipped to points Trail. The mine is still operational over 100 years after its opening, though at reduced output since 2002; however since 2014 new explorations are being drilled on the Sullivan horizon and Sullivan sub-basin. Other freight shipped out includes fertiliser and forest products from the Western Forest Products (eventual successor to the Otis Staples Company) sawmill at Wycliffe.

Passenger
The only passenger service on the Kimberley Subdivision is a RailBus service between Cranbrook and Kimberley, operated by the CPR under contract to the Cranbrook Transit System. Service is every two hours from 05:30 to 23:30 Monday through Saturday; there is no Sunday service. The RailBus stops at all stations along the line; ticket prices are set by Cranbrook Transit.

= Route = Italic text indicates a closed connection.