Pine Island and Bridgewater Railway

The Pine Island and Bridgewater Railway (Reporting Mark PIBR, stylized as Pine Island & Bridgewater Railway or PI&B) is a major regional railway in New Territories. As of March 2025, it is the only railroad in the country with direct interchanges with both other railroads in the country, the ASER and BIRM. Operating over 60 miles of track, it is the largest railroad by track mileage in the country. It is operated as a customer cooperative, the only railroad known in the world to be so.

History

The Franconia Charter (1901-1904)

The PIBR is the oldest continually operating railroad in the country, and the only major railroad that was not created as the result of a buyout, merger, or government takeover. New Territories Chancellor Sam Wendover chartered the railroad to run south out of Pine Island, the original colony of New Territories, and to reach Bridgewater Colony. The charter went into effect January 1st, 1901 to the original owner, Ennis Franconia of Franconia Logistics Corporation. New Territories militia construction teams constructed the original line from Pine Island to the logging outpost of Shady Grove, reaching said town by 1904. Regular operations began immediately in 1904.

Early Growth (1904-1910)

Logging operations in Shady Grove were proving quite lucrative for the Pine Island and Bridgewater Railway. Multiple trains of raw timber were sent to the port at Pine Island daily. New Territories militiamen continued construction south to Bridgewater, though challenging terrain and DeHatten Indian attacks made this a painfully slow ordeal. The crew reached Mountfield Colony by 1906 and Birdwell Colony by 1908. Finally, the railroad reached Bridgewater Colony in 1910. The line was promptly extended a kilometer east to Reno, where a connection was made with the Red Mesa & Sargent River Railroad (RMSR), now the Bridgewater and Red Mesa Railroad (BIRM).

Competition and PI&A Buyout (1910-1916)

Once the connection to the RMSR was completed, growth on the PI&B was turbocharged. Franconia Logistics Corp. began eyeing opportunities for expansion. The obvious target was the rapidly-growing Ashwood Colony. One company stood in the way, though: the Pine Island and Ashwood Railway (PIAR), which had been chartered in 1880 to connect the two colonies. Though the PIAR offered an extremely direct route to Ashwood, the PIBR decided to take a significant risk and build a competing line. This culminated in the construction of what is now the Copper Mountain District, a 7-mile east-west line straight through its namesake mountain range connecting Shady Grove to Ashwood.

Despite challenging grades, particularly on approach to Ashwood, the line was an immediate success. The PIBR began siphoning away carloads from the PIAR, causing it to file for bankruptcy in 1916. Their contract was transferred by the New Territories government to the PIBR, who took over operations. Most traffic between Ashwood and Pine Island was immediately moved to the former PIAR due to the gentler grades and shorter routing, making the new Copper Mountain Line redundant except for traffic from Ashwood to Shady Grove. This legacy of redundancy and deferred maintenance on what is now the Copper Mountain District continues to this day.

Maturing Operations and Signaling (1916-1941)

By now, the PIBR was a major player in the New Territories railroad network. In 1919, a signal system was established on what was then known as the Ashwood Line, being the PIAR trackage. This consisted of single-direction automatic block signaling and signal towers at Pine Island, Northeast Junction, Fauntleroy, Pine Lodge, and Newcastle. Semaphore signals were employed in this original system. This was joined in 1921 by bi-directional semaphore signaling between the new Sterry Town and Shady Grove. Track from Sterry to Northeast Junction and all track south and west of Shady Grove was still dark territory controlled by train orders.

The railroad remained fairly stagnant throughout the 1920s. Bi-directional automatic block semaphore signaling began to be installed north out of Bridgewater starting in 1927, reaching Birdwell by 1931. The 1930s began with the groundbreaking of construction on yet another new line in 1930. The Birdwell Line would run from its namesake colony northward to Ashwood by way of Fort Ash. Construction progressed rapidly, and was complete by 1933. This eased significant pressure on the Birdwell-Shady Grove section of track. A signal tower would be installed in Birdwell to dispatch trains in all directions. Construction of the new Westfalia Line to its namesake town would begin in 1933 and lasted until 1935 when the railroad reached said town.

The Wartime Era (1941-1966)

Though Ennis Franconia passed away in 1933, his son Ennis Franconia Jr. continued operating Franconia Logistics Corp. World War II saw increased United States interest in New Territories as a military position. The country began to address the numerous weak points of the railroad network. In 1942, bi-direction automatic block signaling was installed between Northeast Junction as well as Sterry and Shady Grove and Birdwell. This marked the first use of searchlight signaling on the PIBR. The majority of these 1942 signals remain in service as of 2025, though some locations near Mountfield and Birdwell have since received new hardware after various occurred.

The maturing PIB acquired its first diesel locomotives in 1950. This brought in an era of significant modernization to some sections of the railroad. The passenger-focused Ashwood Line was quickly becoming overcrowded by passenger and local freight operations, so the Copper Mountain Line was given a major overhaul. It became the first section of trackage in New Territories to receive Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) technology in 1958. Bridgewater also received an experimental CTC control point in 1961. Most of this original hardware remains in service to date.

Despite this modernization, the railroad began to struggle into the 1960s. Automobile competition caused a sharp decline in passenger numbers at the beginning of the decade as significant investment was poured into the country's highway network. Additionally, the PIBR was experiencing major mechanical issues with their new diesel locomotives. Those factors coupled with the extensive upgrades to signal systems led to a major drop in capital and maintenance funds. Track conditions system-wide dropped significantly, to the point where a run from Pine Island to Bridgewater took "the majority of a day" according to some employees. Funding for the railroad system was also at an all-time low in the mid-1960s as money was secretly being diverted to Daisy's Rebellion, a major plan to topple United States rule following a series of restrictive laws imposed upon New Territories.

Post-Rebellion and the Co-Op (1966-1974)

Daisy's Rebellion brought massive changes to New Territories. The newly independent country needed to wholly fund its own infrastructure. The railroads, an extremely critical part of the nation's infrastructure, needed particular attention. Just days after 1966, Chancellor Daisy Lemieux personally ordered Ennis Franconia, Jr. to "fix up your damn railroad by New Year 1967 or else." Threatened by likely revocation of their operating charter, Franconia Holdings began earnestly pouring capital into the railroad, though their overzealousness was ultimately in vain. Franconia Holdings filed for bankruptcy in June of 1966.

Despite Daisy's commands, she and Ennis Jr. maintained an extensive working relationship and they worked desperately to save the beloved PIBR. They ultimately crafted a plan which would structure the PIBR unlike any other railroad in the world; a co-op. On August 1st, 1967, the new PIBR Co-Operative became operational. A five-person board of directors was established, with Ennis Franconia, Jr. occupying one seat while other railroad executives initially occupied the others. Customers would pay dues per carload, which would be put into a general fund for operations, salaries, maintenance, and capital improvement. No profit would be accrued, excess funds not allocated for capital improvements were to be paid back to the customers. Daisy and the New Territories Rail Link, the newly formed railroad land trust, agreed to give the PIBR co-op two years. If operations failed to improve, the railroad would lose its charter.

The railroad updated its nomenclature. The lines were renamed as follows:

PIBR Line Names

Line Location	Pre-1967 Name	Post-1967 Name
Ashwood-Pine Island	Ashwood Line	North District
Northeast Junction-Reno	Main Line	Wolf River District
Shady Grove-Ashwood	Copper Mountain Line	Copper Mountain District
Birdwell-Ashwood	Birdwell Line	South District
Ashwood-Westfalia	Westfalia Line	West District

This new operating model was an instant and massive success. The high-carload Broken Back Iron Ore and Co. eagerly funded improvements to the Bridgewater-Pine Island mainline. By 1974, CTC was installed and operational between Reno and Birdwell, as well as at Sterry and Northeast Junction. Iron ore traffic increased during this period to three daily round trips, a figure which holds constant to date.

New Territories Passenger Rail (1974-1980)

Traffic congestion in New Territories reached an all-time high in the early 1970s. As such, the New Territories government began searching for alternative transportation options. Inspired by Amtrak in the United States, New Territories Rail Link began funding passenger service. Two routes were planned on the PIBR, Ashwood to Pine Island and Ashwood to Sterry via Shady Grove. Work began immediately on sweeping upgrades to the North District to accommodate the Ashwood to Pine Island route. Work began to double track the line from Fauntleroy to Newcastle in 1974. Simultaneously, track from Northeast Junction to Fauntleroy was converted from single-direction to bi-directional signaling during which the semaphore signals on the line were removed. Installation of continuous welded rail began across the entire line, the first time such technology was deployed on the PIBR. All interlocking towers were removed and cut over to CTC in 1978. Work was completed in 1979, and after a testing period, the new North Regional passenger service began operation. This used a set of three Budd RDC diesel multiple units previously owned by PIBR. These units remain in service on the route as of 2025, with no suitable replacement being available in the New Territories rolling stock market.

Work did not progress as smoothly on the proposed Ashwood-Sterry Line. Local pushback as well as a declining population in Shady Grove led to the slow-moving project being tabled permanently in 1978. The only work done specifically for the project was the re-signaling of Shady Grove. This led to the PIBR's last interlocking tower being taken offline in 1979 when the new signal hardware was cut in, after much delay. Ultimately, a passenger service to Sterry and beyond was provided by the Ashwood Southeastern Railroad instead.