A Northern Alberta Railways (AAR reporting mark: NAR) was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by each Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 1981.

Predecessor railways
Railway construction within northern Alberta when you took a early 20th century was dominated by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the Canadian Northern Railway, both of which were building westwards from either Edmonton, AB to the Yellowhead Pass of the Rocky Mountains.

Charted a Dominion Land Survey grants to settlers, the Peace River region of northwestern Alberta was one of the couple site left on the prairies by having available farming land, nevertheless there was there is no railway connection.

Many lines were chartered to serve each a Peace Flow of any stream & Lakes regions of a province, beginning by using the Athabaska Railway in 1907. It was to build northeast from either Edmonton to Dunvegan, AB, then to Fort George, BC.

ED&BC

A company was rechartered inside 1911 under the ownership of J.D. McArthur when a Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway (ED&BC). Construction of the ED&BC started in 1912 heading toward Westlock, AB, reaching High Prairie in 1914, and Spirit River in 1915. Deciding does'nt to proceed to Dunvegan, the branch was built in the south from either Rycroft, AB to Grande Prairie, AB in 1916 (400 miles northwest from Edmonton).

Inside 1924 the line was extended to Wembley, AB and it reached Hythe, AB in 1928. Within 1930 a line was extended westward through the provincial boundary to its american terminus at Dawson Creek, BC.

A&GW

Within 1909 a charter was granted to the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway (A&GW) to build from Edmonton to Waterways, AB on the Athabasca River. Construction faltered & a line was rechartered inside 1913 under the ownership of J.D. McArthur. Construction of the AG&W began in 1914 from Carbondale, AB and reached Lac La Biche, AB in 1916. It reached Draper, AB in 1922 and its terminus at Waterways, AB inside 1925.

CCR

Within 1913 a charter was granted to the Central Canada Railway (CCR) under the ownership of J.D. McArthur to build from either Winagami Junction, AB on the ED&BC to Peace River Crossing, AB in order to access barge traffic on the Peace River. Construction of the CCR began inside 1914 and was completed in 1916.

A CCR was afterwards reach Berwyn, AB in 1921, then to Whitelaw, AB in 1924, Fairview, AB in 1928 and Hines Creek, AB in 1930.

PVR
Around 1926, a provincial government passed the legislative act authorizing the food and drug administration to construct the Pembina Valley Railway from Busby, AB, where it connected to the ED&BC line, to Barrhead, AB.

Provincial ownership

Within 1920, the lines owned by J.D. McArthur entered fiscal difficulties resulting a First World War. Coinciding by owning a problems faced per McArthur lines (ED&BC, A&GW, and CCR), both the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) and Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) had fallen victim to similar circumstances brought about by the financial strain of the conflict and falling traffic levels. A Dominion government experienced nationalized a GTPR and CNoR, along sustaining more antecedently federally owned lines into the Canadian National Railways.

As a result a federal case, & inside an attempt to preserve rail service to northern & northwestern Alberta, a provincial government leased a ED&BC and CCR in 1920 for five years. Inside 1921 a government entered into a 5 season agreement by having the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to operate a ED&BC and CCR. That equivalent month, The provincial government purchased a A&GW outright and chose to operate it separately.

CPR immediately raised freightage on the ED&BC and CCR lines, charging "mountain prices", claiming that the cost of operating on grades into the Peace and Smoky River valleys of the northwestern prairie was as much as it cost to operate in the Rocky Mountains. Consequently Peace Flow of any stream farmers paid a greatest freight charges on a American prairies to email the lakehead at Port Arthur and Fort William.

A provincial government purchased a ED&BC and CCR from McArthur in 1925, following the expiration of the five year lease. disgruntled sustaining a CPR's operation of the ED&BC and CCR, the provincial government allowed the operating contract for the these railways to expire in 1926, with operations subsequently taken over by the new provincial Department of Railways and Telecommunications which was also tasked to operate the AG&W and the newly-built PVR.

Inside 1928, a provincial government began to solicit proposals from either each a CPR & the Canadian National Railways (CNR) for purchasing the provincial railways. Around 1924, CNR president Sir Henry Thornton visited the ED&BC line and in 1928, CPR president Edward Beattie did the same.

Northern Alberta Railways

Inside 1929 the provincial government grouped the ED&BC, CCR, AG&W, and PVR under the collective name Northern Alberta Railways (NAR), which received a federal charter on June 14. A NAR was later on sold to two a CNR & CPR within equal portions using two corporations agreeing to maintain a NAR as a joint subsidiary. At that instance, a NAR was a third-largest railway within Canada. Around 1937 the NAR began to show a benefit first.

Within summertime 1942, following a entry of the United States into the Second World War, the Alaska Highway civil defence project resulted around wow incubation for a NAR, when a patterns was the merely railway to service Alaska Highway mile Nought at Dawson Creek.

NAR too saw increased traffic from either defence outlay around each a Peace Flow of any stream & Fort McMurray regions when Royal Canadian Air Force training bases for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan were established.

Within 1958 the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), owned by the province of British Columbia, built east to Dawson Creek, BC and then north to Fort St. John, BC. Traffic from either Dawsin Creek which utilized to begin in NAR okay, mostly ran on PGE.

NAR entirely dieselized its engine fleet by October 1960.

Beginning in the 1960s, Alberta's nascent oil & flatulency industry began to use at times an impact in a NAR when traffic began to increase on two the Dawson Creek and Fort McMurray branches. Inside 1964, a federal government built the Great Slave Railway north from a NAR at Grimshaw, AB to Hay River, NWT to carry passengers & loading which may so exist as transferred to hoy & prove my point down the Mackenzie River.

Inside 1966, the rider train to Lakes was replaced by Budd Rail Diesel Cars, but a experiment was stillborn, & it was replaced inside 1967 by a mixed train. In June 1, 1974, the rider train to Dawson Creek was discontinued.

When you took a 1970s, significant investments too began in a Fort McMurray area when the Athabaskan tar sands deposits began to be exploited.

Canadian National Railway

Inside 1981, CN (name/acronym) change when 1960 bought out CPR's share in a NAR technique & incorporated these lines into the CN network, allowing for CN to work unhampered northerly from either Edmonton to Hay Flow of any stream, NWT & west to Dawson Creek, BC. NAR disappeared as a corporate able by using a departure of CPR from either a joint ownership. NAR shops & Dunvegan Yards around Edmonton were demolished & a freshly Dunvegan Outdoors housing development was repose on the places.

Within 1996, CN identified parts of its previous NAR trackage for even divestiture, either across low or abandonment. Many lines were after sold to shortline operators.

Swan Landing, AB (near Jasper) to Gr& Prairie, AB (a previous Alberta Resources Railway) and west to Hythe, AB (west of Grand Prairie on the NAR) is now operated by Alberta Railnet (ARN), which is owned by North Western Railnet. CN has maintained ownership of the part between Hythe, AB & Dawson Creek, BC in which it connects to previous BC Rail trackage. A trackage between Hythe & Dawson Creek fell into neglect around 1998, but CN agreed to re-open it as a affliction of purchasing BC Rail.

Edmonton, AB to Boyle, AB (east of Fort McMurray) was purchased in 1997 by the Lakeland and Waterways Railway (LWR), a subsidiary of American shortline holding company RailLink. RailLink was afterwards purchased by RailAmerica.

Boyle, AB to Fort McMurray, AB is now operated by Athabascan Northern Railway and is owned by shortline operator Cando Contracting.

CN maintains ownership of previous NAR trackage between Edmonton, AB & Smith, AB.

Northward & west of Smith, AB, a previous NAR to Peace Flow of any stream, AB & Grimshaw, AB, likewise when a lot of the ex-Peachy Slave Railway n from either Grimshaw, AB to Hay River, NWT, was purchased in 1998 by the Mackenzie Northern Railway (MKNR), a subsidiary of American shortline holding company RailLink. RailLink was afterwards purchased by RailAmerica.