Coal handling at Midland

For anyone under 60 years of age walking along the waterfront at Midland, Ontario these days, it's hard to imagine the railway and shipping history of that Great Lakes port. Granted, there are clues: one of the four sets of transfer grain elevators is still standing, occasionally a Great Lakes freighter calls with a load of wheat or stone. There are few people around today, however, who recall the tremendous coal storage facility at Midland. This was the Century Coal Company, which was a subsidiary of Canada Steamship Lines.

This time of year, every year in the steam era, a flurry of bulk cargo ships called at Midland. They sailed from places such as Toledo and Sandusky on Lake Erie, and Chicago on Lake Michigan. The latter point was where the Canadian National Railways loaded coal into ships such as the Alexander Leslie for furtherance to Midland. There, the railway made use of the Century Coal storage dock for their locomotive fuel.

The operation of the Century Coal Company at Midland is a fascinating one, and I spent several days going through Canada Steamship Lines archives to piece it together. As that aspect of the CNR steam train history in Ontario is of particular interest to me, I gave it extended coverage in Steam Memories of Lindsay. If you would like to learn more about the railway and shipping history of Midland, Ontario, I invite you to purchase the book.