The Northern New Brunswick and Seaboard Railway is often cited as having operated the shortest length of standard-gauge track of any railway company. In 1904, the province authorized the railway to construct a 26-kilometre line between Nepisiguit Junction and Grand Falls to serve the Drummond Iron Mines, which had been discovered in 1897 by William Hussey. By 1903, the Austin Brook Iron Mine had been established and operated under the name Drummond until its closure in 1913.