BWCA OT: Churchill Boundary Waters Listening Point

Chat Rooms (0 Chatting) | Search | Login/Join

* BWCA is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum

Listening Point - General Discussion

OT: Churchill

Forum Sponsor

Author

Text

missmolly

08/31/2017 07:40AM

This isn't utterly off-topic, as for those who love those rivers that flow into Hudson Bay, it's on point.

I will paddle eternal, Kevlar and carbon.

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

ozarkpaddler

08/31/2017 08:28AM

Missmolly, lost your e-mail address, could you e-mail me?

"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." Mark Twain

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

missmolly

08/31/2017 08:36AM

Sent, Oz.

I will paddle eternal, Kevlar and carbon.

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

arctic

08/31/2017 08:40AM

Yeah, that's too bad. I'm surprised that this news didn't show up in the mainstream American media. I've been to Churchill twice--both times coming back from arctic canoe trips. The train moves slowly and sways a bit as it crosses the vast, muskeg-covered permafrost that extends south from town. Sadly, I don't think that the town ever has lived up to its promise of being a viable shipping port to European markets.

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” -Edward Abbey

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

thebotanyguy

08/31/2017 10:54AM

It has been 35 years since I rode the train from Thompson to Churchill. I remember the top speed was about 25 mph due to the railbed being subject to numerous frost heaves. I spent a week at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre . It was quite rustic back then, and located south of Churchill. I feel badly for the people in Churchill. They are lovely folks living in a challenging place. I hope the railroad can be re-opened in the not to distant future.

"Said one of these men, long past seventy years of age: 'I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with any man I ever saw. I have been twenty-four years a canoe man, and forty-one years in service; no portage was ever too long for me. Fifty songs could I sing. I have saved the lives of ten voyageurs. Have had twelve wives and six running dogs. I spent all my money in pleasure. Were I young again, I should spend my life the same way over. There is no life so happy as a voyageur's life!'"

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

rtallent

08/31/2017 11:32AM

Thank you for the post. That train route has a famous history.... Mentioned in Oberholzer's trip diary in 1912, when the route was just getting started up from La Pas (?). I hope they repair it and keep using it (have never been on it, but maybe one day...).

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

paddlefamily

08/31/2017 11:45AM

Thanks for sharing. Such a bummer..I always had dreams of paddling a river, heading down the coast and landing in Churchill to catch a train home.

Print Top Bottom Previous Next

LindenTree3

08/31/2017 11:46AM

quote thebotanyguy: "It has been 35 years since I rode the train from Thompson to Churchill. I remember the top speed was about 25 mph due to the railbed being subject to numerous frost heaves. I spent a week at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre . It was quite rustic back then, and located south of Churchill. I feel badly for the people in Churchill. They are lovely folks living in a challenging place. I hope the railroad can be re-opened in the not to distant future."

botonayguy,

Did you ever work with my uncle at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre? (Oops, just read your post closer, you were only there a week).
He volunteered there a summer or two, guessing in the mid to late 80's.
A large tall fellow. Dr, Vernon McNeilus was his name, from Tennessee, he loved botany.

May the rivers be crooked and winding, and your portages lonesome, leading to the most amazing view.

Print Top Bottom Previous Next