The following material was produced by Christian Moes.
Location: The railway was constructed between the north shore of Lake Huron at Bruce Mines, across the ex CPR Sudbury-Soo branch at "Bruce" (now Huron Central), then north to Rock Lake.
History: Having received its charter in 1899, the Bruce Mines & Algoma Railway Company was formed with the intent of accessing a promising copper mine at Rock Lake. A railway was needed to ship concentrated ore from the stamp mill at Rock Lake (located near the mine site) fifteen miles south to the ex CPR line at “Bruce” (now Huron Central) and/or two miles further south to Bruce Mines. The charter also included an extension to points north, as far as the main transcontinental lines and onwards to James Bay. Development at the Rock Lake mine site preceded the construction of the railway by two years. Much of the heavy equipment to be used at the mine and stamp mill, including several stationary boilers, a small Baldwin engine, ore cars, and 1 ½ miles of track to connect the mine and mill, had to be hauled by horses overland and across the ice of Rock Lake.
Construction of the railway started in the fall of 1901, and by the end of 1902, seventeen miles of track, including several wooden trestles and one major rock cut, were ready for service between the mill at Rock Lake and the Bruce Mines harbour. Very little copper was actually hauled, as the mine closed shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1903. The railway now relied on passenger service (a regular passenger schedule was published between 1904 and 1905) and freight in the form of lumber, firewood, and hay. In 1904, a coal dock was built at Bruce Mines to try to generate some traffic, but with little success.
On a hot July day in the summer of 1905, as the passenger train was heading south from the CPR junction, it collided head-on with the northbound coal transfer train. The crew on the coal train jumped for their lives as the trains came together. Sadly, the engineer of the passenger train was killed in the mishap, though no other crew or passengers were seriously injured.
In 1906, the BM&A went into receivership, and everyone thought they had seen the last of the old "Nip and Tuck", as the line was (and still is) referred to by local residents. However, in 1913, the company was reorganized as the "Lake Huron & Northern Ontario Railway". Repairs to the existing trackwork and trestles were completed, and a new engine was purchased. Once again, the railway's promoters had high hopes of extending the line further north, into the rich timber country of the Mississaugi River Valley. But with the outbreak of war in 1914, investment capital was simply not available and the railway extension was put on hold. At war's end, the arrival of the automobile, and the established practice of driving logs down the fast flowing rivers into neighbouring communities of Thessalon and Blind River, dictated the end of the railway's career. Other than the odd weekend picnic or fishing trip up to Rock Lake (early tourist railway!) the last revenue traffic on the line was in 1921.
Approximate Mileage: The line was 17 miles from Bruce Station to Rock Lake.
Current Status: Abandoned in the twenties, the last of the track and motive stock disappeared during the second world war, probably ending up in the blast furnaces of Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie. Little trace remains of the railway today, other than the remains of a few cedar trestles, a few earth cuts and embankments, and the rock cut at Rock Lake.
Principle Stations: (north to south) Rock Lake, Aberdeen Crossing, McLeod's, McLarty's, Rydal Bank, Bruce CPR, and Bruce Mines.
Remaining Stations: There are no remaining stations. The ex CPR station at Bruce, which served both railways, was replaced in 1924. Even the second station is now gone, having been dismantled in 1977.
Last Updated: June 25, 2003
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