From Train to Town

Sunday,  August 26, 2008

The train finally arrived in Churchill, in what I can gather, almost record time, only 5 1/2 hours late.  The trip was fantastic, from every point of view.  Friday morning dawned clear and bright and when the sun finally made it over the spruce forest surrounding me, I knew I would be in for a wonderful day.  It is a very physical experience traveling by train, even more so than car travel.  You feel the different motions and hear many new sounds as the train huffs and rattles down the track.  Even by "The Pas" we were slowing down for poorer sections of track, or sometimes stopping at a siding to let another train speed by, seemingly inches from my window.

We arrived in Thompson at about 9:00 pm where I was to meet a man to discuss the Thompson Zoo.  Although we were to originally stop here for an hour, we were told to be ready to board in only 15 minutes.  So my meeting was extremely short, and was cut even shorter when I looked out of the station window to see my train slowly beginning to leave the station...without me!!!

We quickly said goodbye, as I darted out on the platform to see many other of my fellow passengers staring bewildered and shocked as the train slowly moved away from us.  But not to worry.  Apparently the train from Churchill to Winnipeg had arrived at the same time as ours and it had priority since it was running much later than us.  Staff from the train assured us we had nothing to fear, especially since they were not on the train either.

So the Winnipeg bound train took over the platform, and our 15 minute stop in Thompson took at least an hour.  I had no need to rush my meeting, but there is nothing like seeing "your ride" moving away to finish things up quickly.  Once on the train, about 10 of us quickly went to the dome car for a glass of wine to celebrate.  This bit of excitement was just one of the things that made the trip so enjoyable.  It is not quite as "sterile" as air travel, and indeed the experiences of the trip are as important as the destination.

I slept much better on Saturday night.  I guess I had become accustomed to sleeping on what seemed a noisy beast.  I only woke once...when the train stopped and the noises and movement ceased...the exact opposite of the night before.

Saturday we travelled slower and slower, usually no faster than one would ride a bicycle on a leisurely ride.  It was easy to see why when I looked out the very back of the dome car down the tracks.  Each track seemed to be laid independently of the other.  One side would snake up and down while they both would seem to move from one side to the other.  The train therefore, would rock, sometimes violently.  Looking from the dome over the tops of the cars towards the front of the train was exciting.  It was like I was on a long narrow boat that was rocking from the front to back and side to side over the waves.  I am still a little surprised that no one got seasick.  Even walking was a challenge as it was quite hard to keep your balance.  It was a good thing the corridors were very narrow as I was often  bounced from one wall to the other as I walked along.

My fellow passengers also were what made the trip unique.  A train is a very segregated form of travel.  Those of us in the "sleeper class" were allowed to use any part of the train, and received meals.  Those in the economy class (who had to endure the 2 day trip sitting up) were not allowed in any of "our" spaces.  My fellow "sleepers" were from Australia, Britain, Florida, Washington, DC, New York City, Texas and BC.  They included retired folk, people who just loved travel, two travel writers, and an oil and gas executive.  The mixture of ages and backgrounds made it wonderful, even though I was one of the youngest "sleepers" there.

The landscape between Gillam and Churchill was fabulous.  There were vast areas of stunded black spruce forests with their branches only on the south side of the tree (those that try to grow on the north side are scoured by ice and wind until they are gone).   There were peat bogs covered in lichens and interspersed  with tiny willows growing in geometrically shaped grooves called polygons.  We saw about 30 caribou, as well as a fox (I missed the fox), and a few willow ptarmigans.

We backed slowly into Churchill at about 5:30 pm (the train was tuned around and backed into the station so that it would be pointed in the right direction whe it left later that night).

I was picked up by Stephanie, from Frontiers North, and taken to the side by side I will be living in for the next month.  I met up with Rick and Lionel, my room mates, and went to the "Seaport" for dinner.  It was fun seeing people from last year and being welcomed back to Churchill.  Even Vince, the bartender remembered that I like red wine (I don't think many guys drink wine when beer and hard stuff are the normal drink of choice).  I even met a young couple from Germany who bought gear from me last week at MEC in Winnipeg.  What a small world.

So I am spending today getting my bed set up, getting unpacked, and hopefully buying some groceries.  Tomorrow I hope I can ride out on the Tundra with Rick to see what is happening before I really begin work on Tuesday... cause once I start I think my next day off will be the day my contract ends.

Bye for now,

Doug