Winnipeg To Churchill

Ok, so after a short stay in the "Peg" we move on to the main objective, Churchill Manitoba. 40 hours by train. The train is the "Hudson Bay" and is small compared to "The Canadian". Two coach cars, a diner and one sleeper car. It was nice and cozy and you meet a lot of people and you get some good stories.

This is Union Station in Winnipeg.

 This is the dome at Union Station in Winnipeg.

Here's Barbara & I awaiting breakfast on the Hudson Bay.

Trains are a great place to meet train people. One old dude we met had a few good stories. He told the history of the trans continental railroad of Canada. He said the prettiest stretch of tracks is the North shore of Lake Superior. All waterfalls and spectacular vistas. That was on  the CP right of way and they didn't maintain it well enough to allow passenger traffic so now the passenger rail goes on the CN line farther to the North.  

No more CP, no more Kicking Horse Pass, no more spiral tunnel. (google it, you tube it)

So this oldster he lives in Toronto, eh but spends Christmas with his son in Vancouver. Takes the train every year. He said a couple of years ago he's headed back from Vancouver after Christmas. They get to a spot where the track had split and a freight train had dreailed so the train had to back up 60 miles to Thunder Bay Ontario to take the CP line along the North end of Lake Superior..

So for a VIA train to operate on a railroad's right of way they need to have an engineer from that line. By the time they arrived in Thunder Bay it was 10:00 AM on New Years Day. It was a daunting task to find a sober engineer at that moment in time. He said the wait was long but it was really nice to take that CP right of way along the North shore of Lake Superior again. Now there's a train dude.

There was some big water up there.

Big water indeed.

The Hudson Bay stopped in Thompson Manitoba. Thompson is a great town although it is a bit out of the way. The train takes a 2 hour jaunt off the main line to get to Thompson. Each way. Then it has to wait for the Southbound to come. We stopped in Thompsom for 4.5 hours. Riding on a train isn't about keeping on schedule, it's about seeing the sights at a reasonable speed at 10 foot elevation instead of 35,000.

Thompson, beautiful Thompson.

Here's a shot towards the front:

Here's a look towards the rear. When the train is here it leaves to go up a wye in order to turn around. Then it backs into the station pointed the other way. Since we had 4.5 hours in Thompson I went into town. When I came back the train was gone. I knew it was coming back but it was cold & windy and the station was small and contained 50 high school students waiting for the train to Churchill. Sports teams. There had been an empty coach car on this train. It was along for the kids.

Here's the kinder car before it was occupied.

So me and a French dude we met stood outside the station in the cold. I had had gear on, he did not. George was his name. He was on his honeymoon with his wife Olivia. We saw George & Oliva several more times at mealtime and they will be on our upcoming Tundra Buggy tour.

Here's a shot of the VIA Hudson Bay from our room.

Strange old snow machine.

Through the Boreal Forest which rings the planet at this lattitude. I saw a Red Fox from the train.

Water everywhere up there.

So here we are at Churchill Manitoba on the Hudson's Bay. This is the recently restored historic train station.

Churchill has roads but none that connect with the rest of Canada. Access is by train, plane or boat (boat access three months a year). The airport's runway is super long, enough to land the space shuttle just in case. Jeez, something pretty bad would have to happen to make the shuttle land in Churchill. Brrrr.