The Mackenzie Northern Railway is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

operating in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. It is the northernmost trackage of the contiguous

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been officially known as the Meander Subdivision.

History

The majority of the tracks which the Mackenzie Northern Railway uses were built by the federal government as the

Great Slave Lake Railway Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, running from a point on the

Northern Alberta Railways Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 19 ...

(NAR) at

Grimshaw, Alberta Grimshaw is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of the Town of Peace River at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 2A and along Mackenzie Northern Railway. By virtue of being the original starting point of Highway ...

, to the southern shores of

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

Hay River, Northwest Territories Hay River (South Slavey: ''Xátł’odehchee'' ), known as "the Hub of the North," is a town in the Northwest Territories, Canada, located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake, at the mouth of the Hay River. The town is separated into two se ...

. The undertaking started in 1961 with a proposal to Parliament, and the line opened in 1964. This railroad was part of

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

's vision for the north, and facilitated shipment of lead-zinc ore from the

Pine Point Mine The Pine Point Mine is located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake between Hay River to the west and Fort Resolution to the east, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It produced lead and zinc ores from a Mississippi Valley Type deposit b ...

. The Great Slave Railway's operation was entrusted to

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

in 1966, which had been operating the line on behalf of the federal government since it opened. A spur line continued east from Hay River along the south shore of Great Slave Lake to the mine at Pine Point. This section was abandoned in 1988 after the mine closed and ore concentrate shipments ceased. The total mileage in the Northwest Territories from the border with Alberta to Hay River is approximately . The NAR had been jointly owned by CN and

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CP) since 1928. In 1981, CN purchased the other half of the NAR from CP, allowing CN to operate continuously from Edmonton to Hay River.

Sale to RailLink Canada

Between November 1997 and May 1998 CN sold its lines running from

Smith, Alberta Smith is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124. It is located on Highway 2A, approximately northwest of Edmonton, at the confluence of the Lesser Slave River and the Athabasca River. ...

, on the former NAR (north of Edmonton) to

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

and Grimshaw and on to Hay River to a shortline operator,

RailLink Canada Ottawa Valley Railway is a Canadian railway that operates of track in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and is owned by Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The railroad began operations on 30 O ...

. RailLink Canada consolidated these lines under the name Mackenzie Northern Railway. RailLink Canada was subsequently purchased by

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

, which operated the Mackenzie Northern Railway between Smith and Hay River. Commodities include agriculture and forest products from northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories, as well as fuel and supplies destined for

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

communities to be

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

d across Great Slave Lake and down the Mackenzie River to the

Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Fr ...

CN buys lines back

On January 19, 2006, CN announced the purchase from RailAmerica Inc. of the Mackenzie Northern Railway, the Lakeland & Waterways Railway, and the Central Western Railway (jointly known as RLGN/CWRL). CN came full circle by paying $26 million for the three northern Alberta rail lines it had sold nine years previously.

History

Sale to RailLink Canada

CN buys lines back

References

External links