train trip

I'm back from several days away. We drove to Hearst and took the train to Sault Sainte Marie. It is a full day trip with the train stopping at camps along the way as there are places which are only serviced by rail. It was an old fashioned kind of trip. When we went over a large trestle we took to the baggage car to get the full effect with its open doors. It certainly beats an observation car.

At Hawk Junction there were these old baggage carts. Still in service, I suppose that they would never wear out. Sometimes I trip over something from my childhood and it catches me unawares.

polar bear express

So we took the train to the Arctic Ocean: “The Polar Bear Express”. Well there aren’t any polar bears but the more interesting word is “express”. This train does not go over forty miles per hour and more often crawls along at ten. The railbed over the muskeg does not permit a greater speed. Guys with camps in the bush get on and off, so there are frequent stops. There is a special car for canoes. And the boreal forest is simply one tree after another. I always enjoy seeing the muskeg with its dwarf trees that often exceed two hundred years. I think that my ancestors came from the moors or the barrens, because I find that forests close me in. Perhaps this memory comes from another life. It was good fun. Moosonee was a trading post for Revillon Freres and Moose Factory was a Hudson Bay Company Post. It is the oldest English speaking settlement in Ontario. So we took the train to Moosonee and then a boat to Moose Island and saw the sites and enjoyed the people. I always want to know what goes on at the end of the line.