Midland Railway of Manitoba

Company History: This railway opened in 1906 with a line from Portage la Prairie to Neche, North Dakota. The following year, they opened another line between Walhalla and Morden. Great Northern purchased a controlling share in 1909 under a new subsidiary, Manitoba Great Northern (although some reports claim The Midland to have been a GN stalking horse from the beginning.) GN intended to use the MRwyM as an instrument to reach Winnipeg. In 1913, they began laying track and leasing terminal space and trackage rights in “The Peg” from already entrenched Canadian lines. Most important, they arranged for trackage rights on the Canadian Northern (later part of Canadian National) to a connection with parent Great Northern in Emerson. By 1936, the original two lines in North Dakota had been abandoned. The Midland walked a fine line between a “real” railroad and a “paper” railroad for many years. While Great Northern management called the shots, a small fleet of Canadian built locomotives were purchased to operate the line in compliance with Canadian law. As those regulations were relaxed, Midland receded into the status of paper railroad. In 1999, Midland was renamed “Burlington Northern Santa Fe (Manitoba)”.

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.