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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
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!'"
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...).
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.
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