Railroad bridge, and other sites, in Winnipeg and other places

[Cliff_Jennings]

The wife and I are in Winnipeg today, starting our big 1-off vacation for the year, this time in Rankin Inlet to see family. I booked a day here in Winnipeg as the hors d’oeuvres of the trip.

The Manitoba Museum is great, and we both enjoyed the full-size replica of the Hudson Trading Co’s “Nonsuch”. They literally built the museum around the ship.

The museum mentioned the Hudson Bay railroad, which ran from Winnipeg to the far north.
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/hudson-bay-railway
https://heritage.enggeomb.ca/index.php/Hudson_Bay_Railway

You can still take this line, by Via Rail, way up to Churchill. Wonder if anyone’s tried to model this road?

After the museum we we walked to the “James Street Pumping Station,” which simply sounded too cool of a restaurant to ignore. Great chow and beer. And most of the building’s space was dedicated to all the pumping gear that, after abandonment, couldn’t be hauled off because (according to an insert in the happy hour menu) the building was built around the machinery.

As the menu insert explained, the pumps lifted water from the Red River for usage by the fire department and for domestic consumption.

We then did a walk along the Red River in Winnepeg, and came across the butt end of a lift bridge.

The bridge continues across the Red River in a series of iron truss bridges.

Back in the hotel room, I’ve looked the thing up.
https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/cnrbridgewinnipeg.shtml

We’ll be heading out on an early flight tomorrow to the northern part of Nunavut, the largest province in Canada. Specifically, [Rankin Inlet]. Not much railroady stuff happening there.(Google Maps).

I’d hoped to bring a battery-op HO or N set, put it on the tundra, and claim it as the furthest north LSC garden railway! But, due to a recent and wonderful trip down undah, those provisions were not made. And probably wouldn’t have survived customs anyway.

So, see you around. Feel free to post here on your meanderings that don’t fit elsewhere. In the mean time, I’ll likely add off-topic mutterings over the next 10 ten days.

Cheers,
Cliff

[naptowneng (Jerry Bohlander)]

Good luck on the trip Cliff.

Ah I see there is a Tim Horton’s in town, so you will not starve. Maybe…

Jerry

[Cliff_Jennings]

Thanks Jer, and there indeed is, I’m sure I’ll avail myself.

[Cliff_Jennings]

We’re in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Province, this week, visiting our daughter Rebecca and her family.

After a few days getting past a bad bout of avenovirus (picked up I suppose in the southern hemisphere), the local clinic doc said it was safe for me to mix with others up here. With a mask if indoors, etc.

So today Rebecca toured us around town a bit. There’s an abandoned nickel mine, mostly stripped, with the barrels of three (I’ll opine) ball mills to crush the ore. The electric motors driving them are still perched in place.

A huge jaw crusher (sans drive machinery) is still in place. That’s Rebecca, giving a sense of scale. The crusher was made in Allentown PA.

I’d read that the site had the mine’s shaft and headframe here, but if so they’re gone & buried. A slab in the distance perhaps covers the shaft.

Here’s the chassis of what might be a tipper car.

The big thing for me was this frame of an electric mine loco, similar (though smaller) to the one I’ve studied at Sutro Tunnel, NV.

There’s no tunnels around, everything’s flat. So they either lowered this thing and used it underground, or kept it above ground to shuttle ore between one process and another. Or both.

[Cliff_Jennings]

I’m told there are indeed four seasons up here.

[naptowneng (Jerry Bohlander)]

Nics shots Cliffy, looks like link and pin?

WEB says Meadowbank Gold Mine in the area?

Lots of birding?

Jerry

[Cliff_Jennings]

Hi Jer, yeah, pin for sure, holding link or maybe chain.

Yes, Rebecca tried to set up a tour of the gold mine, but no joy. It’s the main industry here at this point, but they’re not set up for visitors, and everythings fenced off.

Lots of snow geese outside of town, crows and some sparrows in town.

[Rooster]

First off I gotta say Cliff could fill in for a Ric Golding stunt double with this shot! Second thought…what is Eingo …or is it Mingo?

Mingo - JSW Steel

[Cliff_Jennings]

Close Rooster, it’s Eimco:

Looks like it might have been one of their air locos.

Eimco Locomotive

[Cliff_Jennings]

From a short documentary called “People of the Rock,” this shows a couple of those ore tippers being offloaded from a ship.

Looks like a battery loco moved them below ground…

… and a cage brought them up.

Maybe the air loco only did the surface hauling.

[Rooster]

This is all Cliffs fault!

https://americanindustrialmining.com/educational-events

[Cliff_Jennings]

@Rooster, that would have been amazing to attend, wow…

[Cliff_Jennings]

We spent most of Friday and Saturday in an internet-free area, north of Rankin Inlet, still on the Hudson Bay. My D1 & SIL own a tiny cabin, and all 7 of us did an overnighter there.

The tundra is covered in ice and snow for 3 seasons a year, but is rich in color and texture in the summer. Here’s a few random shots.

[David_Marconi_FOGCH (David Marconi CHHNNG)]

I like the minimal existence approach they do

[Cliff_Jennings]

Agreed, it’s very simple. Fresh water from the nearby stream, mussels from the beach, tea growing around the cabin, and blueberries & cranberries everywhere in the groundcover. At least, in the summer.

D1+SIL really enjoy it. GD1/2/3 not so much, due to lack of internet, but we figure that’s good for them.

[Hines (Bill)]

How far out of the Greater Rankin Inlet Metropolitan area is the cabin?

[Cliff_Jennings]

Bill, about 10 miles northeast (?) on the gravel main drag, then about 1.5 miles over a rocky or water filled path. The latter hanging on for dear life onto the rear “seat” of an ATV. Almost lost Herself once. Hell, almost lost myself once.

[Dave_Meashey (David Meashey)]

Gosh Cliff;

Looks like a mule would have been more comfortable and safer, albeit a “tad” slower. Glad you got there in one piece.

Regards, David Meashey

[Hines (Bill)]

Fascinating that no mater where you live, some folks will have a place to go to slow down from rat race.

[Cliff_Jennings]

Nah yeah, bang on.