Train to Churchill,MB

[Nagrom]

Anybody have personnel experience with taking Via Rail to Churchill MB & back with the DB? I have a decision to make within the next couple days about an offered gig.

Thanks

[Pentabass]

Neither of those, I have.

Check the recent thread about the deep freeze bass. Dry and cold air is going to be your challenge there. Take a plywood bass, and leave it tjere. Sell it to somebody there. I'll tell you why:
I heard a very good music teacher is teaching kids fiddling up there, herself being a cello player. I also heard they are really looking for a bass player!

Common, be a good sport.

[Nagrom]

Hey, that's not a bad idea. I see you've got a bunch of basses; I've just got the one(which my wife is in love with), so maybe we could met up in Thompson, I'll borrow one of yours (how 'bout the wilfer lami?), do the show, then send you the dough for the bass after I sell it for you!

Common, be a sport

[dchan]

^ I note a strong whiff of passive-aggressiveness in your post.

[Nagrom]

that's my socks.

[Bass Barrister]

Isn't that the place with the polar bear "jail"

Must have some very cultured bears up there. Eh? (sorry . . . couldn't resist).

[Nagrom]

Polar bear capital of the world, apparently. No roads in, just a train, or plane. Tracks tilt at 30 degrees in places, I told. I just read in the paper this weekend the train is down for the count due to track conditions, groceries have to be flown in, not a good time to be there. And I'm offered a gig there for the end of March, with a few days to consider accepting.

[Pentabass]

Sure, the Wilfer Lami would be great -- for the right price I would let it go up North. Still needs a bit of a setup - nothing that the local luthier in Churchill couldn't do. You would have to come to pick it up in Winnipeg, though.

By the way, I talked to a guy that tried to motorcycle to Churchill - - ON the traintracks! Halfway, the vibration of the railway ties loosened up the headstock of the motorcycle - he came flying off the embarkment.

Keep us informed - this sounds like an interesting trip you're up to.

[Pentabass]

How about we acquire some device that records temperature and humidity levels, a sort of a mini-weather station. We pack this with my old Check Plywood (total value under one grand) and we send it by bus to your terminal, where you get on the train: Thompson or Gillam, (Manitoba).

If you find a home for it in Churchill, then the story has a happy ending, and you travel back lightly. I would want you to publish the humidity and temperature graphs here, so that we can inform future participants of the Aurora Festival. If you like the festival, we could leave the bass there, and on future visits you or other Talkbassers could have a 'loaner' up there. Any decent Symphony has a loaner, why not Churchill as well?

Say, there might be one already, have you asked?

regards from Winnipeg

[Nagrom]

No, haven't asked. Still haven't accepted the gig yet. Have a few more days to consider. But, here's your weather report....

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/..._metric_e.html
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/..._metric_e.html
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/..._metric_e.html

Temperature is higher in Churchill than here right now, but lots more humid and windier. In fact, warmer than the 'Peg. Go figure.

[Nagrom]

So, yes indeed, I took the gig last march (thanks for the prod.)

We packed the ancient minivan, and split for Thompson MB. early one morning. Our route took us across northern Saskatchewan, on a road long forgotten by the road maintenance & paving crew. 14 hours later we arrived in Thompson, we were stayed overnight with our leaders family. She had business to attend, so we camped out for a couple days. I rescued a 100-year-old violin from the local pawn shop, darkly oxidized, one lonely gut string left, gut tail piece wire, warped bridge, & all.

The train arrives at 4pm, or maybe 9, who knows, so we go down to the train station to check it out. It had snowed about a foot overnight, the train station locked up & deserted, as if the train hadn't run for years. No way is the train happening, by the looks of things. Only other access is plane, or ship for a couple months in the summer, or 4x4 up the cut line for a few days (heard its been done).

Back to the camp and hang out. No word on the train. No answer at the station. Hang some more. Head out later to check it again, and there's people there! Eventually the train comes plowing through the snow and we board.

Conductor-dude attempts to steer me towards the baggage car with my bass, I say 'hey no problem it'll fit perfect" and I (barely) squeeze through the door. Nobody uses the baggage car except for freight. All luggage and snacks into the day cars. I'm using up four seats, 2 for me, 2 for my bass. My people say, go get your luggage out of the baggage car like everyone else, it's a long ride.

They're not kidding.

So, finally, lurching & jerking, we pull away from the station in the lap of luxury, 1960's style, courtesy of Via Rail. W're taking it easy speed-wise, maybe 25 mph. Phyl says, "This is as fast as it gets, and not for long." Apparently there is no coin for track maintenance, and the patch is slow speed. 7 mph slow, across northern Manitoba up onto the tundra, 7 mph for 18 freaking hours.

The train is great though, everybody knows somebody else, stops in the middle of the bush at some beat-up cabin with the door torn off, and more people clamber on. It's midnight or 3am or whenever.

The conductor walks by, muttering " I can't believe there's no seats. This car holds 65 people! He stops by Phyl & Richard, across the aisle from me & my bass-in-four-seats, and demands " How many people are sitting here??" It's them, and their granddaughter, in four seats. He ignores me.

The dining car is closed. Snacks are passed freely. The bass is undressed, and guitars appear. The train, careening wildly side-to-side as it races along at 7 mph, makes bowing in the aisle a particular challenge.

There is no sleep.

[Nagrom]

Top left: Churchill platform from the train, Phyl with our hosts
Top Right: A home on 'The Flats', Port of Churchill in background, looking across the river
Bottom Left: crossing the Nelson River
Bottom Right: the causeway, not too far from Thompson


A home on 'The Flats' Trappers gear hanging on the walls, dish on the roof. Maybe 200 sq. ft, this is someone's year round home.

[Nagrom]

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]
T/L: looking out onto Hudson Bay
T/M: from the train window
T/R: Hudson Bay. No bears today

B/L: dawn from the train
B/M: out for a stroll. Temp: -30c Wind: 40 kph
B/R: Harpooning contest. Many sandbags hurt badly.

[Nagrom]

T/L: Local tough extorts my lunch money
T/R: Snow sculpture
B/L: Picture from complex wall of fame. Not the same fiddle.
B/R: Traditional costumes at the contest


T/L: Out for a drive south of Churchill
T/M: Narwhal tusk for sale, such a bargain @ $3500.00
T/R: Orange pepper for sale, not such a bargain @ $16.69 each
B/R: a wee drift
B/M: Home sweet home. 6 bears in the yard so far this year.
B/L: Just liked this shot of the kid running in the street.

[Pentabass]

It feels if we are right there with you - thank you!

Man, I imagine you bowing on the bass the theme music from 'Dr. Zhivago' on the train to Churchill.

Keep it coming!

[Nagrom]

The train arrives in the early afternoon. We're met by our hosts, Demytri & Patricia, who put us up in there home for the next several days. It's cold. Not chilly, not cool, not nippy. Cold, with a few bad words in front.

The frozen wind howls off the bay, the snow stinging our cheeks with what feels like a burning fire. Stupidly, I realize I've come all this way without the zip-on hood for my parka, just a small toque. I feel it down my neck, onto my back.

Hunching bravely against the wind, I shoulder by bass and lean into the wind for the long walk to the vehicle. Drifting snow grabs at my pants. I'm beginning to understand why folks just lay down and...



DEMYTRI!! ANTONINA!!
QUIT PLAYING ON THE SNOWBANK AND GET IN THE CAR!
AND PUT YOUR HAT AND GLOVES BACK ON!!
IT'S STILL WINTER!

Hmmm, maybe I could get used to it after all.


We're staying a couple houses from the shore, near "The Complex", which houses the school, hospital, gymnasium, theatre, hockey rink, playground, cafeteria, town offices, and maybe more. A wonderful place, the focal point for the whole town, right on the shore of the bay.

Where the bears walk by.

They told me the story of the poor soul who was bear-proofing the windows when the bear got him. He survived, but couldn't live there anymore. He couldn't....

Churchill is the Polar Bear capital of the world. A billion dollar a year tourist industry.
There is no road, therefore no RV's. Folks rent spare rooms for $200.00 a night during bear season. Many hotels there, with closely guarded licenses. Camps abound in and around the area. The bears walk up the shore from the south, waiting for the bay to freeze so they can hunt seals. They walk through town. The town manages them as best they can. They'll attack almost anything. Nobody has fences around their yards, it corners the bears. Tourists fly into the airport, get picked up by thier hoists, go on bear tours in tundra buggies with massive tires, and then fly back out. The town supplies them with water & sanitation, cleans up the garbage, everything a town must do to support such an endeavour, but there is one problem.

The camps pay no taxes to the town. They operate seasonally, usually based out the States, take all the money, and leave at the end of bear season.

There's lots of talk around town.

Churchill has a fort from the 17th century that the British and French used to fight over, a massive wheat terminal from the 1930's that someone bought for $1, an abandoned military complex that decimated the local economy when they fled in the 1980's.

It also has the second longest runway in North America, and is rumored to be the secret place where the leaders of the free world would spend the Cold War's nuclear winter, deep below the rocks of the Pre-cambrian shield. Out at the rocket plant south of town.

Must be the friendliest town in the world. They say there's never been a homeless person there, someone always takes them in. At the talent show, a young man performed a Stevie Wonder song, quite well I might add, to thunderous applause. Everyone was calling his name, shaking his hand, clapping his back. Clearly a well-liked and popular resident. I asked him "How long have you liveed in Churchill"

He replied, "One week".

[dvmweb]

Too damn cool dude! What a story, what a trip. Love it! Oh how I wish I could have gone with you. Thanks so much for the vicarious thrill. And, the pics.

Walt MI/USA

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by Nagrom

It's cold. Not chilly, not cool, not nippy. Cold, with a few bad words in front.

Great writing, great story..(applause). Fan of Douglas Adams by chance?

[Damon Rondeau]

Hey man, several lifetimes ago I used to work on that train. Never been as far as Churchill in the winter, though -- just Gillam a few dozen times...

I think one of Neil Young's first "real professional" gigs -- as opposed to the teen sockhops he had been playing in Winnipeg -- was in Churchill.

[Nagrom]

Thanks Damon. Didn't know that. Huge Neil fan.