Big Chute Marine Railway – A Lift to the Trent-Severn Waterway
In the township of the Georgian Bay, near lock 44, you will find a relic of Canada’s “Canalisation”. The Big Chute Marine railway is in fact a patent slip linking two sections of differing elevations on the Trent Severn Waterway, a massive feat of engineering spanning from Port Severn on the Georgian Bay to the west to the city of Trenton on Lake Ontario to the East, via Lake Simcoe. This Parks Canada operated site is considered to be the only operating marine railway of its kind still in use in North America.
***Note: If you are in the area, I recommend a visit to the nearby McCrae Lake Conservation Area***
Table of Contents
- Arriving at Big Chute and the Six Mile Channel
- Parking and Exploring the Site
- The Old Marine Railway
- The New Marine Railway and the Big Chute
Arriving at Big Chute and the Six Mile Channel
Taking Highway 400 north towards Sudbury, you will want to exit at Roadway 34 (Whyte’s Falls Road), where the windy sideroad will take you through the beautiful rock filled northern landscape towards your destination. On your way you will drive across the Six Mile Channel, a small dam controlling the water level in the upper Six Mile Lake.
Parking and Exploring the Site
On your right hand side, before you enter the Big Chute, you will see a sign for a Parks Canada Visitors lot. Here you can leave your vehicle and proceed on foot to read the various historic markers.
The Old Marine Railway
Originally envisioned as a canal lock in 1914, Big Chute quickly became a temporary marine railway as the First World war zapped local manpower needed for the construction of a full lock system. The first of these can be seen on the west side of the property and was completed in 1917. After the war, construction on a set of locks was planned but the scheme was dropped as the country was hit by recession, paving the way for a new marine railway to replace the lock scheme. It was constructed in 1923 and used until 2003. You can find the original marine carriage at the top of the hill!
From the original operating post you can see the original track leading down into the Six Mile Channel, as seen before.
From the bottom of the ramp you will find a power generating central consisting of the older 19th century structure and a newer square station.
From the edge of the Six mile Chanel you will see the power distribution equipment appearing in the landscape.
The New Marine Railway and the Big Chute
Just next door you will find the more modern of the two marine railways. Although still functioning, the old lift could not take the larger sized vessels and was considered to be outdated. Again a canal scheme was considered but this time was passed on due to environmental concerns.
In fact at this time the Sea Lamprey, an invasive species was taking over the great lakes and the creation of a lock here would almost certainly have allowed them to march inland. Thus it was decided to build an even larger marine railway, one that would not transport this invasive fish to the next lake, and boy did they succeed!
Note: As of 2019 the Sea Lamprey have almost been eradicated due to the careful efforts of conservationists.
At the top of the hill you will see the latest carriage technology, a much more impressive beast of a machine. The modern control building allows you to climb to the top for an overhead view of the site, something worth doing when the system is operational.
To its side you will see a massive concrete spillway controlling the fast running waters of the “Big Chute”.
This area is fenced off due to the danger of falling in but one may be able to catch a glimpse in sections where the barbed wire gives way.
If you continue down to the base of the railway, you will find a concrete dock as well as a view of the old generating station mentioned earlier.
Walking back up to the top of the hill you may be able to get a view of the Big Chute itself. It is amazing to see just how long the channel is!
From the Roadway 19 bridge you will get a better view of this channel! In the spring the currents rather are strong but it can look rather sad in the summer when it is mostly devoid of water.
