Huron Central Railway

HCRY train in Massey, Ontario
Overview
Parent company	Genesee and Wyoming
Headquarters	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Reporting mark	HCRY
Locale	Northeastern Ontario, Canada
Dates of operation	1997–
Predecessor	Canadian Pacific Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Length	196 miles (315 km)
Other
Website	Official website

v t e Huron Central Railway Webbwood Subdivision
Legend
CN Soo Sub 179.3 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Shell Sault Ste. Marie Terminal spur Garden River 170.7 Garden Echo Bay 164.3 Ekoba Highway 17 161.0 Bar River 158.1 Isbester 151.2 Desbarats 149.4 Potlock 143.0 Bruce 135.0 Nestorville 133.2 Sherwood Highway 17 130.8 Thessalon 126.7 Livingston 121.9 Dayton 112.8 Dean Lake Mississagi River Blind River 102.4 Blind River 95.1 Algoma 87.4 Spragge 83.4 Serpent Serpent River Serpent River quarry spur 78.3 Kenabutch 77.4 Cutler 71.6 Spanish 66.3 Walford Highway 17 Swift Railroad Contractors spur 58.4 Massey Highway 17 former CPR Little Current Sub 48.3 Webbwood Espanola Spanish River 41.9 McKerrow wye to Little Current Spur Spanish River Highway 17 Eacom Lumber Mill spur 32.6 Nairn 28.3 Turbine 25.1 Worthington 21.9 Victoria Mine Highway 17 18.3 Whitefish Vermilion River 11.1 Naughton Highway 17 Overpass R.R. 55 (Old Highway 17) Overpass 4.8 MP 4.8 4.5 Copper Cliff Vale Industrial Railway 2.1 Creosote 0.0 Sudbury CPR Cartier Sub

TheHuron Central Railway (reporting markHCRY) is a railway operating in northernOntario, Canada. It is operated by Genesee & Wyoming Canada, the Canadian subsidiary ofGenesee & Wyoming.

The Huron Central Railway was established in July 1997 to operate a 173-mile (278 km) route leased from theCanadian Pacific Railway (CPR) betweenSudbury andSault Ste. Marie, Ontario.^[1] The lease agreements encompass all but 4.8-mile (8 km) oftrack at the Sudbury end of the 181.2-mile (292 km) line, known within the CPR as the Webbwood Subdivision, as well as the 3-mile (5 km) Domtar Spur, which branchessouthwest from the Webbwood Sub at McKerrow. The CPR retains running rights over about 22-mile (35 km) of track at the east end of the Webbwood Subdivision, and the HCRY has running rights all the way into Sudbury.^[2]

Coil steel manufactured byAlgoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie and freight from theDomtar paper mill at Espanola account for 80% of freight traffic,^[3] althoughpulpwood,chemicals used by thesteel industry,slab steel,paper, and miscellaneous goods are also carried. In 2008, the railway handled 16,000 carloads a year,^[4] though carloadings have decreased in subsequent years.

The route has variable topography and parallelsOntario Highway 17 for much of its length.

One of the terms ofBritish Columbia entering into theCanadian Confederation in 1871 was the construction of atranscontinental railway connecting it with the original eastern Canadian provinces ofOntario,Quebec,New Brunswick, andNova Scotia; this would result in a route through the largely-uncolonized Prairies, including the restive province ofManitoba, which had only recently been the site of theRed River Rebellion in 1869–70. Around the same time, amid fears of American expansionism north of the49th parallel^[5] and border tensions resulting from theFenian raids, American companies such as theSt Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad were pushing northward to connect Manitoba with theAmerican Midwest and promoting cross-border trade along a north–south axis.^[6] One of the notable promoters of this effort was the Canadian-American railway industrialistJames J. Hill, known as the "Empire Builder" and namesake of the modern-dayAmtrakEmpire Builder passenger train. Hill was the general manager of theSt Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, and in 1880 became part of the Montreal-based five-man syndicate who were awarded the transcontinental railway contract by the Canadian federal government underJohn A. Macdonald'sConservatives, and subsequently formed the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Railway construction had already been ongoing at the time under the previousLiberal government ofAlexander Mackenzie, managed by thefederal Department of Public Works and led by the renownedScottish-Canadian engineerSandford Fleming, who was dismissed in 1880 and replaced byCollingwood Schreiber as chief engineer on the project. Under Fleming's direction, the symbolic "first spike" had been driven atFort William (now part ofThunder Bay) in 1875, and construction had commenced with the goal of connectingWinnipeg with theLake Superior Lakehead inNorthwestern Ontario.^[7]

Exploratory surveys had been conducted as early as 1871 along two prospective mainline routes connecting the Lakehead with the east: a direct inland route through the rugged terrain of theCanadian Shield (proposed bySandford Fleming), and a "water route" which would usesteamships to connect the Lakehead with a port on the north shore ofLake Huron, and then continue on via rail.^[8][9] The latter would pass through the newly formedAlgoma District, paralleling the historicvoyageur route through theNorth Channel ofLake Huron and connecting a number of pre-existing points or transportation corridors with the east:

• Sault Ste. Marie, which originated as a historic indigenous settlement populated predominantly byOjibwe people
• Bruce Mines, which was settled in acopper rush in 1846
• Thessalon, which was historically inhabited byFirst Nations people, appeared on French maps as early as 1670, and was settled by Europeans as a lumber mill town in the 1870s^[10]
• Blind River, which originated in 1789 as aNorth West Companyfurtrading post at the mouth of theMississagi River
• Spragge, the place of a meeting betweenSamuel de Champlain and local Ojibwe people, which developed into a mill town named Cook's Mills by 1882^[11]
• TheSpanish River, a historiccanoe route to the interior (with the CPR route bypassing theFort La Cloche trading post near its mouth)^[12]
• Slightly to the north of theHudson's Bay Company trading post atWhitefish Lake, which was established in 1824 at a keyportage route near theVermilion River^[13] and which marked a point alongSalter's Meridian^[14]

Additionally, by passing largely to the north of theLa Cloche Mountains, which divide the interior from the Lake Huron shoreline, the railway's route would pass through fertile lands with agricultural potential that were noted as early as the 1847 and 1848 surveys by theScottish geologist and explorerAlexander Murray.^[14][15]

Ultimately, Canadian Pacific would construct lines along both the northern inland and the southern lakeshore routes. At first, however, the company decided in favour of the southern route for its mainline, where the water route throughLake Superior was set to begin, and which was more accessible through existing means of transportation.^[9] This was supported byJames Hill, as a line through Sault Ste. Marie into the United States would benefit hisSt Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, and open up the possibility of a joint Canadian-American transcontinental mainline through the Midwest.^[9] It was also initially the more practical, as the CPR was being faced with the challenge of transporting construction materials to the Lakehead to complete the line through the Prairies. This was done initially withsteamships, which had already been operating on theGreat Lakes for decades.^[8] By 1881, a line had been surveyed westward toAlgoma Mills, where temporary port facilities were built out of expediency rather than using existing facilities at Sault Ste. Marie.^[8][9]

Construction work on the section began in 1882 under the supervision of CPR engineer Harry Abbott, but went slowly as crews carved a route through the ruggedLa Cloche Mountains; by the end of 1882, all 80 miles (130 km) had been graded, but only 5 miles (8 km) of track had been laid.^[9][14] It was completed in 1884, but was considered below standard by the CPR, with bridges constructed from local timbers rather than the steel necessary to support heavy freight.^[9] This was intended to be the temporary western terminus of CPR line fromMontreal, but construction on the eastern portion of the line north ofLake Nipissing had proceeded extremely slowly under engineer James Worthington, and only reached theVermilion River by the end of 1883, in the process passing through a concentrated pocket ofJesuit missionary activity which would coalesce into the parish ofSainte-Anne-des-Pins.^[16] Worthington also placed ajunction and construction camp at a place nearby, which he named Sudbury.^[17]

The CPR was not the only company pursuing a link between Southern and Eastern Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie. Another interested party was theMidland Railway of Canada, a conglomerate formed out of smaller lines aroundCentral Ontario. A shell company named theOntario Sault Ste. Marie Railway was incorporated in 1881, and a line was surveyed for it.^[18] The Midland Railway, however, was insolvent and involved in a set of complex structural maneuvers which would eventually result in its amalgamation with theGrand Trunk Railway in 1893,^[19] putting the Midland in a poor position for further construction and dooming the new line to being apaper railway.

Also in 1881, theNorthern Railway of Canada was going through its own complex reorganization, which would result in the incorporation of theNorthern, North-Western, and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, which was to reach Sault Ste. Marie via North Bay through an extension of the Northern's existing line, which terminated atGravenhurst. Construction began within several years, but the project lagged, and the line only reachedCallander, just south of North Bay in 1886. Financing issues for the line caused a public scandal, and the goal of reaching Sault Ste. Marie was abandoned. Instead,Nipissing Junction was created as the new terminus, joining it with the Canadian Pacific line just southeast of North Bay, and the whole line was renamed to theNorthern and Pacific Junction Railway.^[18] The Northern Railway of Canada collapsed soon after, and it was merged into the Grand Trunk Railway, which had, through agents and proxies, been involved in the operations of both it and the Midland Railway for some time.^[18] The Grand Trunk, seeing Canadian Pacific as its new rival following its own acquisition of theGreat Western Railway in 1882, acquired numerous railways around this time and "depleted its treasury" in an unsuccessful bid to keep Canadian Pacific out of Ontario.^[19] Ultimately, the line as it was built would later come underCanadian National ownership and most recently forms part of theCN Newmarket Subdivision.^[18]

Significantly, in 1883 and 1884 there had been a sea change at the CPR: an increasingly bitterJames Hill resigned from the company, and became a major opponent of the company and its future president,William Cornelius Van Horne.^[9] On 1 May 1884, Worthington also resigned from the company after a disagreement with Van Horne^[20] and was replaced with Abbott as supervising engineer on the remaining eastern section of the mainline.^[9] In preparation for the opening of the new terminus at Algoma Mills, three steamships, theAlberta,Algoma, andAthabaska, had been built in 1883 byCharles Connell and Company ofGlasgow. These ships began service in May 1884 fromOwen Sound toPort Arthur, pending the opening of the line. By the end of 1884, however, this new mainline section had been suddenly downgraded to abranch line thereafter known as the Algoma Branch.^[21] Surveying and construction began on a new mainline route starting from the junction at Sudbury along a new route around this time.

During blasting and excavation along the new mainline a short distance to the north of Sudbury, high concentrations ofnickel-copperore were discovered by Thomas Flanagan, ablacksmith working for the CPR, at the site of what would become theMurray Mine. Organizedcopper mining had occurred on the north shore since at least as early as the foundation of Bruce Mines in 1846. The use of copper byFirst Nations people had been documented bySamuel de Champlain in the early 17th century,^[22] and there issignificant archaeological evidence of copper working by theMississippian people among others, who largely sourced their copper from the Great Lakes region. The western Great Lakes were the epicentre of theOld Copper Complex as early as 4000 BCE, with evidence of indigenous copper mining onIsle Royale from around this time.^[23]Geophysically, the presence of magnetic anomalies around theSudbury Basin had been noted byAlexander Murray in his 1847–48 surveys. As well, in the course of charting his north–southmeridian,Albert Salter observed "severe compass needle deflections" about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of theHudson's Bay Company trading post at Whitefish Lake.^[13] This drew little attention at the time, as the Sudbury area was located well inland and composed of rough terrain, and was less desirable than locations such as Bruce Mines or inMichigan'sCopper Country. Within several years after the official discovery, however, mining activity had increased significantly in theSudbury Basin, mostly by small companies which struggled with limitations in mining and smelting technology of the time.^[24] Nevertheless, this development would ultimately shift the economic focus of the region away from Sault Ste. Marie and toward Sudbury.

With the new mainline still under construction, the Algoma Branch went disused until 1888, when it was brought up to standard and finally extended toSault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with a symbolic "meeting in the middle" of eastbound and westbound trains at Whitefish in 1889. Around the same time, the CPR acquired the financially strugglingMinneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM) through intermediaries.^[9] The MStP&SSM line had been extended up toSault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and it and the CPR had jointly funded the construction of theSault Ste. Marie International Railroad Bridge in 1887.^[8] This would provide a connection point with American railways in the Midwest, access to Sault Ste. Marie's industries, and the opportunity to open up the North Shore of Lake Huron to increased European settlement and natural resource extraction. Much like in other areas of Canada, townships were quickly surveyed and lots sold either to natural resource interests or to prospective settlers, includingQuébécois,Scots, andFinns.^[21] New or refounded settlements, concentrated heavily toward the east end of the line near Sudbury, sprung up along the line, including:

• Copper Cliff, which was officially founded in 1901 as a company town
• Naughton, which was founded in 1887 with the relocation of the Whitefish LakeHudson's Bay Company post northward to be closer to the line^[13]
• Whitefish
• Victoria Mines, which developed around a mine site located north of the line along a specially-constructed spur^[25]
• Worthington, which developed around the Worthington Mine, staked out whenCharles Francis Crean discovered copper traces when examiningtrack ballast along the line^[9]
• Turbine, formed in 1890 as a decentralized farming community around the junction between the main Algoma Branch and the spur line leading north toward theHigh Fallshydroelectric power dam^[26]
• High Falls, acompany town formed in 1904–5 around the nearbyHuronian Power Company dam
• Nairn, originally known as Nelson and grew informally in the 1890s as a CPR town until it became a lumber mill town^[27]
• McKerrow, originally known as Stanley Junction in 1908 and later Espanola Station, formed around ajunction station with the spur line diverging from the Algoma Branch south to Espanola
• Espanola, formed as a lumber mill town next to theSpanish River as acompany town of theSpanish River Pulp and Paper Company
• Webbwood, formed in the mid-1880s as the main CPRdivisional town along the line^[28]
• Massey, where a town coalesced around the CPR station within an existing decentralized farming community
• Walford, a CPR town formed within an existing decentralized farming community^[29]
• Spanish, originally known as Spanish River Station, which formed around the CPR line as a commercial centre in a mining and logging area^[30]
• Serpent River First Nation's Cutler Station area formed^[11]

In its first few decades, the line saw traffic primarily from the mining and logging industries, as well as local farmers in theBeaver Lake area exportingmilk to dairies inCopper Cliff and Sudbury for processing.^[31] It also saw passenger traffic, includingexpress trains connecting Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and Toronto; notably, in 1910 an express trainderailed while crossing the Spanish River near the town ofNairn, resulting in scores of deaths and going on record as one of the worst railway disasters in Canadian history.^[32]

The competingAlgoma Eastern Railway was built in 1914 by the Sault Ste. Marie-basedLake Superior Corporation, which served a more primarily industrial corridor largely north of the CPR line in the east, though it did operate some passenger services.^[8] During theGreat Depression, a number of dairy farms in the area were permanently shut down and mining and lumber operations reduced to skeletons or mothballed entirely.^[31] This drastically reduced traffic along both lines, and Canadian Pacific bought the Algoma Eastern line from the financially distressed Lake Superior Corporation. Over the next several decades, the Algoma Eastern line and rolling stock were gradually integrated into Canadian Pacific's operations and the Algoma Eastern name was retired. Much of the Algoma Eastern line was abandoned, and remaining portions were incorporated into the CPR Algoma Branch, which by that point had been reorganized as the Thessalon and Webbwood Subdivisions of the CPR, but was still known less formally as the "Soo Line".^[33] The decline along the eastern portion of the line was exacerbated by the Worthington mine disaster in 1927, when a mine shaft collapse destroyed a portion of the town of Worthington along with approximately 500 feet (150 m) of Canadian Pacific track, forcing the railway to permanently relocate its line around the crater left by the collapse as well as briefly rerouting its traffic along the Algoma Eastern line.^[34]

Starting in the 1920s, efforts were made to build a modern highway connecting Sudbury with Sault Ste. Marie. This route had been surveyed along with the rail line in the late 19th century, and was displayed on some maps as the "Trunk Road", which a number of pioneer roads and industrial access roads connected onto.^[21] It also incorporated portions of old trails and portage routes, such as the one running parallel to the Serpent River.^[11] This road was largely unusable in certain seasons, and for decades the only way to cross theSpanish River aside from the train bridge was a local ferry service run out ofNairn. This situation would change during the Great Depression as government public works funding was made available for unemployed labourers to work in road construction, and it became easier for modernautomobiles to travel through the area, especially after the highway was paved in 1931.^[14] This route became known as the "Soo Highway" and for several decades it was the primary highway connecting Sudbury with Sault Ste. Marie. During the 1950s, however, the Ontario provincial government began work on a new route running largely to the south of the Soo Highway, which would becomeOntario Highway 17.^[14] This permanently shifted traffic away from communities near the CPR line like Turbine, High Falls, and Worthington, which quickly becameghost towns after experiencing a brief postwar economic revival due to the presence of the Soo Highway.^[14]

Factors such as this, as well as the arrival ofGreyhound coach services,^[27] depressed passenger ridership and non-industrial freight along the line. Additionally, due to the lack of a north-south CPR corridor paralleling theAlgoma Central Railway (which had been built by the Lake Superior Corporation and was later acquired by theCanadian National Railway, or CN), the line was never used for through passenger services toNorthwestern Ontario andWestern Canada, as the CPR transcontinental mainline to the north was used instead. Passenger service was drastically cut in the 1960s and almost every remaining station was demolished by Canadian Pacific in the 1970s and 1980s,^[35] and the line never experienced thenationalization of passenger rail services underVia Rail starting in 1977. Toward the end of the 20th century, the line became almost exclusively an industrialfreight railway, serving a handful of high-volume customers such as the Espanola pulp and paper mill, the Nairn lumber mill andEssar Steel Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie.

With traffic declining, in 1997, Canadian Pacific leased the line to the Huron Central Railway, Inc., a subsidiary ofGenesee & Wyoming.^[36]

The railway had been asking the provincial government since 2006 for funding to improve track conditions, and in April 2009, Genesee & Wyoming warned that, due to the ever-deteriorating track and the resulting increased operational costs, it would be forced to shut down the railway, unless the provincial government would provide money with which to undertake the necessary upgrades.^[37] On June 15, 2009, Genesee & Wyoming announced that the railway's operations would be discontinued by October and that 45 people would be laid off. Due to theeconomic downturn, it suffered a significant reduction in carload volume (down by almost 50% from the previous year) which rendered the line insolvent.^[38][39]

This announcement, however, triggered a series of negotiations between the HCRY, theCity of Sault Ste. Marie,Essar Steel Algoma, and Domtar in order to keep the rail line open. A temporary agreement was reached which provided $15.9 million to cover operating expenses and maintain service until August 15, 2010.^[3][40]

On September 24, 2010, $33 million in funding was announced for the rehabilitation of the railway, with the provincial and federal governments each contributing $15 million and Genesee & Wyoming making up the remaining $3 million.^[41] Work began on August 10, 2011, with contracts going to Swift Contractors for tie replacement and track surfacing and M'Anishnabek Industries (a joint venture between B&M Metals of Sudbury andSerpent River First Nation) forballast distribution.^[42] Work continues through summer 2012.

In May 2018, G&W announced that operations would cease by the end of 2018, citing a lack of provincial funding.^[43] Temporary funding was secured, but in October 2019, G&W announced the line would close in early 2020.^[44][45]

In early 2020, it was announced that G&W itself was being sold toBrookfield Infrastructure Partners andGIC Private Limited, the latter of which is the country ofSingapore's sovereign wealth fund.^[46] Not long after this, in February, the closure of the Huron Central was officially postponed pending the possibility of further bailouts from the provincial and federal governments.^[47]

With no further government funds, G&W announced in September 2020 that the railway would be shut down on December 18, filing official notice to do so.^[48] In October, layoff notices were issued to all 43 railway employees, to take effect after the end of operations.^[49] It was announced on December 11, 2020, that due to ongoing negotiations with the Canadian federal government and the province of Ontario, that the deadline to close the line would be extended to June 30, 2021. All present employees with lay off notices, have had their notices rescinded for the time being.

G&W rescinded its plans to end its operation of the Huron Central Railway in the end of May 2021, following agreements with the provincial and federal governments to support the company viaTransport Canada's National Trade Corridors Fund.^[50] Another threatened shutdown was averted by $21 million provided by the provincial and federal governments in January 2023, each matching a $10.5 million commitment by G&W towards infrastructure improvements. Both the provincial and federal governments had previously requested a plan from the railroad for business development to justify their funding. The investments are intended to support running heavier trains on the line.^[51]

The most notable derailment on the line, the 1910Spanish River derailment, occurred when the line was still operated by Canadian Pacific. A westboundSoo Express passenger train derailed while crossing the Spanish River bridge near Nairn, causing the deaths of 44 passengers and crew.

On June 12, 2006, 15 cars carrying generators derailed nearWebbwood. No injuries were reported, and no dangerous materials were involved, but a small brush fire had started from the derailment. The fire was later put out by the Sables-Spanish Rivers Fire Department.^[52]

On April 14, 2014, three locomotives and one flatcar were derailed likely due to collapsing infrastructure atmilepoint 30 (about 3 km fromNairn Centre). There were no injuries; however, the spilled diesel from the locomotives required the issue of a drinking water advisory for the small community.^[53] The locomotives that derailed were QGRY 800, QGRY 3800, and HCRY 3011. QGRY 800 made it over the washout and sat upright with its rear truck off the tracks, QGRY 3800 ended up off the track and rolled onto its side, while HCRY 3011 remained upright, but sitting on its fuel tank at a 90° angle to the track with its rear truck hanging by the electrical cables.

On June 13, 2015, 15 cars left the tracks near Fairbanks Provincial Park inWorthington, which spilledsteel coil. Ontario Transportation MinisterSteven Del Duca requested a meeting with the federal Minister of TransportLisa Raitt about rail safety in Ontario following the derailment.^[54] On November 1, 2015, 13 cars jumped the tracks nearSpanish. There were no dangerous goods and no injuries.^[55] TheTransportation Safety Board of Canada released a report two years later on March 8, 2017, citing drainage issues and rail joint defects as the cause of the derailment.^[56]

On January 1, 2017, 13 cars carrying steel coil derailed nearBlind River. No injuries were reported, and no hazardous materials were involved during the derailment. The line was closed due to the incident until January 5.^[57]

Several locomotives lettered for Genesee and Wyoming affiliateOttawa Valley Railway also populate the roster.

• Genesee & Wyoming
• Algoma Eastern Railway
• Soo Line Railroad
• List of Ontario railways
• Rail transport in Ontario

• Wilson, Dale (September 2001).Sudbury Electrics and Diesels. Sudbury, Ontario: Nickel Belt Rails.ISBN 0-920356-12-5.

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• Rail transport in Sudbury District
• Rail transport in Algoma District
• Rail transport in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
• Railway lines opened in 1997
• 1997 establishments in Ontario
• Standard-gauge railways in Canada

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