the 1960s–80s. As passenger rail services were increasingly cut back, residents in the nearby blue-collar milling and railway towns began to rely on Greyhound coaches and personal automobiles to travel. Freight services retracted after improvements to and, with shifting economic factors, the branch line to Little Current on Manitoulin (a remnant of the Algoma Eastern Railway) was abandoned up to just south of the pulp and paper mill at Espanola. In keeping with its origins, the line's traffic was predominantly industrial, relating to nearby mining, lumber, and pulp and paper operations, as well other major industrial freight customers in the region such as Algoma Steel, and through traffic travelling between the CPR's transcontinental mainline and Michigan. The Webbwood Subdivision, the official railway subdivision where the crash took place, is still owned by the CPR. In 1997, it was leased to the Huron Central Railway (HCRY), which is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming. Under HCRY management, there have been several more recent derailments, none of which occurred near the Spanish River bridge. A 2014 derailment east of Nairn that resulted in the spilling of of diesel fuel caused concern for local residents with groundwater wells, as well as for the Spanish River. An investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada relating to one derailment in 2015 found that "a large number of rail joint defects were allowed to remain in service." The accident occurred when an HCRY freight train derailed while travelling at near the town of Spanish. In 2020, the HCRY filed for closure of the line. See also List of rail accidents (1910–1919) List of rail accidents in Canada 1910 in Canada References External links Soo train goes into the river, Evening Sentinel, Jan 22, 1910 ONTARIO TRAIN DISASTER, Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 20, 25 January 1910, Page 7 Train derailed on bridge, The Age, Jan 25, 1910 CANADIAN TRAIN DISASTER, Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1910, Page 10 100-year-old horrific rail crash recalled, SooToday, Jan 18, 2010 Accidents and incidents involving Canadian Pacific Railway Railway accidents in 1910 1910 in Ontario Derailments in Canada Espanola, Ontario Disasters in Ontario January 1910 events Rail transport in Greater Sudbury Passenger rail transport in Greater Sudbury 1910 disasters in Canada Railway accidents and incidents in Ontario Spanish River (Ontario)