 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Belleville, Ontario |
| Locale | Hastings County, Ontario, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1880–1984 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 33 km (21 mi) |
The Belleville and North Hastings Railway (B&NHR) was a short-line railway in Hastings County, Ontario, Canada. It branched off the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) north of Belleville and ended on the Central Ontario Railway (COR) outside Eldorado for a total distance of 33 kilometres (21 mi). In spite of its name, the line did not reach either Belleville or the northern part of Hastings County.
The line was completed in January 1880 and leased to the GJR in June that year. Both companies were merged into the Midland Railway of Canada in 1881, part of the Midland's efforts to consolidate a number of unprofitable lines east of Toronto. The section north of Madoc offered nothing the COR lacked and closed in 1893. The section from Madoc remained in use until the 1980s as a branch line of CN known as the Madoc Subdivision. This section eventually closed in 1984.
Like many railways dismantled since the 1970s, the Madoc Sub right-of-way has been turned over to rail-trail use, and now forms the "Trail of Two Lakes", with the views around Moira Lake considered particularly noteworthy. The section north of Madoc was abandoned years earlier and has returned to bush, but is still navigable for the adventuresome.