"The railroad was a major construction project in the late 1800’s in the River Inhabitants area, for it involved the construction of a huge trestle bridge over a fairly wide part of the Inhabitants River, near the mouth.  During the construction of that bridge, a donkey engine steam engineer was drowned in the river, when his engine toppled of its tracks. Both the engine and his body were recovered many kilometers down the river, which shows the strength of that current.  My late uncle, Percy James Proctor, also claimed that a Chinese immigrant worker also died during the construction and was buried in an unmarked grave beside the railway."
​                                                                                               excerpt from Lester Morgan, "A Brief History of River Inhabitants," rev 2017.

Cape Breton Railway Extension Company Limited   (1884-1902)
Cape Breton Railway Company Limited   (after 1902) 
On 24 November 1890, the Cape Breton Railway was officially opened for regular traffic. [National Post, 24 November 2000] 
 Though once intended to connect the Canso Straight with the port of Louisbourg, the line never went beyond St. Peter's. When taken over by the Canadian National Railways in the 1920s, the Cape Breton Railway became known as St. Peter's Branch. The Cape Breton Railway ran from St. Peters, Richmond County, to its junction with the main line track of the Intercolonial Railway at​ Point Tupper, a distance of 31.0 miles (49.9 km). 

Distance from St. Peters to Pt.Tupper (miles)
0.0    St. Peters station
6.0    Sporting Mountain station
12.0   Grande Anse station
16.3   Whiteside station
19.0   Basin Road station (summit)
21.0   Evanston station
23.0  Chapel Road station
31.0   Point Tupper
switch at junction with the Cape Breton Branch of the Intercolonial Railway 
Source:
History of Railway Companies in Nova Scotia website:
http://ns1758.ca/rail/railways.html#cbcns-rail