The Cartier Railway (formerly CFC and QCM) is a privately owned railway that operates of track in the Canadian province of Québec. It is operated by the Cartier Railway Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, formerly Québec Cartier Mining Company. The railway connects the company's huge iron ore mine at Mont-Wright in Northeastern Québec with the company's processing plant and port at Port-Cartier, formerly Shelter Bay, which is located on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River. The Cartier Railway has 26 locomotives, over 950 ore cars, 300 utility cars, and various other pieces of maintenance equipment. The railway, along with other Northeastern Québec railways, including the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation line, the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway and the Arnaud Railway is completely isolated from any other railway network in North America. Although the other railways connect to each other, they do not have any direct connections to this railway, making this one completely isolated from any other railway, aside from rail ferry service via COGEMA to the CN Rail port at Matane, Quebec. Beginnings In 1958, United States Steel formed the Québec Cartier Mining Company to construct an iron-ore mine in the iron-rich Quebec-Labrador Trough, a long band which cuts through the vast Canadian Shield. Earlier exploration by mine geologists discovered a large deposit in the Trough near Lac Jeannine, about north of the small town of Shelter Bay, which was located on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River. In 1959, Shelter Bay, now renamed Port Cartier, was ready for use allowing easier delivery of equipment for the mine and railway, which were still under construction. Construction was completed on the railway line between Port Cartier and Lac Jeannine on December 19, 1960. The first trainload of iron concentrate left Lac Jeannine on December 16, 1960. Concentrate was stockpiled at Port Cartier while the mine and concentrator were gearing up for full production and the first shipload of concentrate departed the port on July 5, 1961. Railway The Cartier Railway is an engineering marvel, and was constructed using all the modern, state-of-the art techniques available at the time, including making extensive use of aerial mapping to select the best route through the very mountainous terrain. The initial rail line used natural drainage extensively by following the Rochers and Toulnustouc River valleys to keep the grades at a minimum. The ruling grade for southbound