Manitoulin & North Shore

Company History: Construction of the M&NS began in 1900 with a the goal of building a railway from Sudbury, Ontario southwest to Little Current on the north shore of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron (it holds the distinction of being the largest freshwater island in the world.) They then hoped to build across the island to a carfloat dock so trains could be delivered to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula to the southeast of the island. Alas, Little Current was as far as the line would be built. Traffic consisted of copper, sulphur and paper products. The sulphur was a byproduct of copper smelting and was used in the paper making process. Since the original owners of the railroad were in the paper business, it was actually copper that was the byproduct to them. The name change to Algoma Eastern came in 1911 because the new owners Lake Superior Corporation called all of their subsidiaries “Algoma” – something. In 1913, a 600’ swing bridge was completed to reach Little Current and with that the railroad was completed. The AER locomotive fleet included a single 4-6-0, two 2-6-0’s and six 2-8-0’s. The crash of 1929 brought an end to most of the copper traffic and the parent company sought to unload the AER. In 1930, AER was leased to Canadian Pacific for 999 years. The copper traffic later returned. Short segments of this line are still in operation today.

Successor/Parent History: Construction of the M&NS began in 1900 with a the goal of building a railway from Sudbury, Ontario southwest to Little Current on the north shore of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron (it holds the distinction of being the largest freshwater island in the world.) They then hoped to build across the island to a carfloat dock so trains could be delivered to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula to the southeast of the island. Alas, Little Current was as far as the line would be built. Traffic consisted of copper, sulphur and paper products. The sulphur was a byproduct of copper smelting and was used in the paper making process. Since the original owners of the railroad were in the paper business, it was actually copper that was the byproduct to them. The name change to Algoma Eastern came in 1911 because the new owners Lake Superior Corporation called all of their subsidiaries “Algoma” – something. In 1913, a 600’ swing bridge was completed to reach Little Current and with that the railroad was completed. The AER locomotive fleet included a single 4-6-0, two 2-6-0’s and six 2-8-0’s. The crash of 1929 brought an end to most of the copper traffic and the parent company sought to unload the AER. In 1930, AER was leased to Canadian Pacific for 999 years. The copper traffic later returned. Short segments of this line are still in operation today.

Brief History: Canada is a North American country stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north. Major cities include massive Toronto, west coast film centre Vancouver, French-speaking Montréal and Québec City, and capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls, a famous group of massive waterfalls.