The (
AAR Reporting Mark s '''AC''', '''ACIS''') was a
Railway in
Northern Ontario that ran between
Sault Ste. Marie and
Hearst , with a branch line to
Michipicoten Harbour . The area served by the railway is sparsely populated, with few
Road s. The railway is well known for its
Agawa Canyon tour train. The railway was purchased by
Wisconsin Central in 1995 (which in turn was purchased by
Canadian National Railway in 2001) and is now operated as part of CN's Eastern Division.
The Algoma Central Railway was initially owned by
Francis H. Clergue , who required a railway to haul resources from the interior of the
Algoma District to Clergue's industries in Sault Ste. Marie; specifically, to transport logs to his
Pulp Mill and
Iron Ore from the
Helen Mine near
Wawa to a proposed
Steel Mill (which was later named
Algoma Steel ). The Algoma Central Railway was chartered on
August 11 ,
1899 . The railway's Dominion and provincial charters gave it authority to build north from Sault Ste. Marie to a
Junction with the
Canadian Pacific Railway 's main line, as well as a branch line to Michipicoten Harbour, on
Lake Superior near Wawa.
In 1901 Clergue acquired the charter of the
Ontario, Hudson Bay And Western Railway , who were intending to build a line between the CPR main line and
Hudson Bay and then changed the name of the Algoma Central Railway to the ''Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway'', anticipating a connection either to
Moose Factory on
James Bay , or to some point on Hudson Bay.
The Algoma Central fell victim to the bankruptcy of Clergue's
Consolidated Lake Superior Corporation in 1903. At that time, the line reached 56 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie with a 20 mile segment running east from Michipicoten Harbour that did not yet connect with the main line. Construction was stopped, but was resumed in 1909 and the line was extended northward through to junctions with the Michipicoten Harbour branch (at
Hawk Junction ), the Canadian Pacific Railway (at
Franz ) and the
Canadian Northern Railway (at
Oba ). In 1914 it finally reached Hearst, a town 296 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie that was a divisional point on the
National Transcontinental Railway . By that point, Clergue's dream of building a railway to Hudson Bay or James Bay had long been abandoned, and the railway's northern terminus remained at Hearst, around 150 miles from James Bay. However, the phrase ''and Hudson Bay'' was not removed from the railway's name until
June 30 ,
1965 .
The Algoma Central was the first
Canadian railway to fully dieselize, in 1952.
Tour Train]]
In the 1960s, the railway began to promote the natural beauty of the District of Algoma to
Tourist s, especially the
Agawa Canyon , a canyon around the
Agawa River , 114 rail miles north of Sault Ste. Marie that is not accessible by road. The Algoma Central developed a tourist stopover here, which was a great success for the railway. Due to the popularity of the Agawa Canyon excursions, the Algoma Central would run the longest
Passenger Train s in
North America , often up to 20 to 24 cars long. During the 1970s and 1980s around 100,000 people per year would tour Agawa Canyon.
The railway had been in the
Shipping business since 1900, when it had purchased four
Steamship s. Starting around the 1960s, the railway greatly expanded its marine operations and diversified into
Trucking ,
Real Estate ,
Forestry , and
Mining operations. These operations were more profitable than the railway operations, and on
April 30 ,
1990 , as part of a corporate reorganization, the name of the company was changed to
Algoma Central Corporation , and the Algoma Central Railway became a subsidiary of it. A few years later the Algoma Central Railway was put up for sale. On
February 1 ,
1995 , Wisconsin Central Ltd. purchased Algoma Central Railway Incorporated, operating the railway as a separate
Subsidiary , Wisconsin Central Canada Holdings. In 1998, Algoma Steel closed its iron ore mine in Wawa, and the branch line between Michipicoten Harbour and Hawk Junction was abandoned. Wisconsin Central Ltd. was acquired by Canadian National on
October 9 ,
2001 , whereupon the Algoma Central became part of CN's Eastern Division.
The railway is the subject of a song by
Stompin' Tom Connors .
