I really need to take more pictures (and will) of the Mad Island RR
A little history, Madelin Island is a verdant rocky outcrop in western Lake Superior. I can’t say weather it’s in the US or Canada. I don’t think either contry wants it and that’s just fine with the native Madeliners. I don’t think there’s any danger of a Falklin-esk dispute since the islands two exports are hardly critical to the military industrial complex. As far as we know the island has always been good fishing and the local tribe runs a healthy export of high quality lake trout and perch.
Lumbering is not allowed, as the small island would have been scraped clean over a hundred years ago. The mining however. has been practiced since the turn of the 20th century when prospectors started pulling copper out of the hills. The Mad Island mine was established in 1900 to exploite this. To get the oreto the rather nearby stone quay (only a quarter mile) a funicular was proposed, however the mining company owned a played out gold mine that had a small railroad and it was decided that it would be dismantled and shipped to the island. Rebuilt into a serpentine afair of switchbacks and loops, the narrow gauge shortline now serves the copper mine, the fishing industry and the small town of Celebration. The railroads roster is 2 locomotives and exactly 5 pieces of rolling stock, 2 hoppers, a tank car, flat and boxcar.
One more thing, Madelin Island is very haunted.