CHURCHILL, Manitoba — A deal has finally been reached to sell the Hudson Bay Railway, the currently closed line which provides the only ground transportation option to Churchill, on Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba. A post on the town’s Fa...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/09/04-hudson-bay-railway-sale-completed-repairs-to-begin
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
At last! A Hudson's Bay Railway story that won't disappear!
A great big sigh of relief from Omnitrax who, I'm sure, are happy to be rid of it.
Can we infer that this is an example of a short line taking over a route and hoping nothing bad will happen to that route ? Weather,bridge out, flood, train wreck etc ?
Ulrich A great big sigh of relief from Omnitrax who, I'm sure, are happy to be rid of it. And a bigger sigh of relief from the Town of Churchill, I'm sure. From what I read in the Vancouver Sun Weekend Business Pages it sounded as if repair work would start soon and hopefully be completed by winter. We shall see. Charlie Chilliwack, BC
A huge sigh of relief up here. Native communities along the route especially. Cold weather has arrived early this year along with lots of rain. It snowed for 20 minutes last Friday, most days are around 5-7C and 2-3C overnight. Strong winds too. I fear an early and brutal winter and I wish the track workers the best, it's going to be tough.
Folks in Southern Canada haven't got a friggin clue.
By the end of October it is -25 every day and very icy still.
...yet the kids still go out for Halloween running around in the dark, cold and snow. Quite the spirit up in these parts.
Come up here and I'll show you.. take you around to Stoney Rapids, Fond du Lac, Lynn Lake, Pelican Narrows, Stanley Mission, ... believe me these people are special, hearty and tough.
Just FYI, at Halloween in Churchill they fly helicopters around to spot polar bears that wander in curious and scare them off.
MiningmanA huge sigh of relief up here. Native communities along the route especially. Cold weather has arrived early this year along with lots of rain. It snowed for 20 minutes last Friday, most days are around 5-7C and 2-3C overnight. Strong winds too. I fear an early and brutal winter and I wish the track workers the best, it's going to be tough. Folks in Southern Canada haven't got a friggin clue.
Is the reconstruction better done when the place is frozen or thawed?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Balt-- I'm told the worst is the in between state. Frozen is ok but it is the weather that's a factor... hard blowing winds and fierce ice storms arrive mid October and make working outside miserable. Once that phase passes winter sets in big time. Clear daylight but cold is ok. Also we are so far North that daylight is precious and we start losing it fast, down to 5 hours and decreasing. End of November and it's -30-35, it becomes difficult again. Not impossible, open pit Mines go all year but people generally are in a cab of some sorts, trackworkers can't be out in that for prolonged periods. From what I've read they can finish this up good enough to allow operations by the end of November, with upgrades to the track next summer.
I'm planning a trip mid October to Snow Lake to HBM&S Lalor Mine in Manitoba ( with my senior students) and also visit Thompson and I'll get first hand information as to how it's going at that time.
Mining Man, are you in Alberta?
We have trees turning in the Twin Cities of MN. Snow in October that stays until April is not the norm but not unheard of in these parts.
Were't grain shipments thru the port of Churchill declining even before the washout, as this article from 2016 imples. I've read that this was due, among other factors, to the Canadian Wheat Board being disbanded several years prior, the outcome of that being grain traffic flows moving thru ports on the Pacific rather than thru Churchill.
No, I am in Northern Saskatchewan on the Canadian Shield very close to the Athabasca Basin.
chutton01 Were't grain shipments thru the port of Churchill declining even before the washout, as this article from 2016 imples. I've read that this was due, among other factors, to the Canadian Wheat Board being disbanded several years prior, the outcome of that being grain traffic flows moving thru ports on the Pacific rather than thru Churchill.
Exactly the basic problem. Omnitrax was actually increasing the use of the port for grain shipments, and trying to develop flows of other commodities to make the line more remunerative. The Canadian Wheat Board was contrary to the ideology of the government, so its monopoly over export grain was ended, and at the same time the remaining shell rendered powerless to compete with the big corporations in the new environment.
The terminal elevator at Churchill was not owned by any of the big companies, which directed grain exports only through their own terminals, elsewhere. Farmers could save significant shipping costs by using the shorter shipping route through Churchill but had to overcome a host of logistical issues for it to happen, shipping direct to Churchill from the farm. The grain volumes shrank significantly, and what was always a marginal operation became a black hole financially. After being sabotaged by changes in government policy, the floods were the the final straw for Omnitrax.
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