It was created in 1996 to assume the operations of the Havelock and Nephton Subdivisions of the Canadian Pacific Railway which serve the Peterborough, Ontario area.
The line originally had 19 employees and it is now a Canadian Pacific internal shortline railway, with a unique collective agreement and employee-managed operation.
The railway primarily serves the nepheline syenite mines owned by Unimin Canada at Blue Mountain and Nephton.
In September 2012, Canadian Pacific announced that it were considering closing the former Grand Junction Railway of Canada/CN spur because of deteriorating condition of the track and swing bridge.
The City of Peterborough is buying the former CN lines, as well as the section crew office on Rink St., for use as recreational trails once the abandonment process is finalized.
The location is now the current office for local section and rail crews since GE closed the shop, and the train station was sold off.
In 2008, the federal government announced plans to restart passenger rail service to Peterborough from Toronto.