Re: Re: Canadian geography

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is not much I have to add to what Paul says. There are a number of
winter roads in the north that go to places that are not normally accessible
to vehicles but as far as I know none go to Churchill. There is a road that
goes northeast from Thompson to a place on the rail line called Sundance.
The road goes there mainly because there is a large hydro generating station
on the Nelson River there called Kettle Rapids dam. The area between there
and CHurchill is very sparsely populated and it is difficult to build roads
with much rock, lakes, and muskeg, and expensive to maintain them.
        My hunch is that the privatised railway is going to run into
trouble. I gather that rail system even at present cannot handle some of the
newer and larger grain cars. To maintain the system will be very expensive
and I doubt that the private company will be interested in the huge
expenditures involved to upgrade given the sparse population and relatively
low traffic.
   THere is an organisation in Manitoba called the Hudson Bay Route
Association that lobbies to try and get more grain shipped through CHurchill
but with limited success. As Paul points out, the shipping season is short.
Even then, only ships with icebreaking capacities can make it through early
and late in the season. During the 2nd world war CHurchill was a hive of
activity as ships used northern routes to try and avoid Nazi submarines. I
expect that most grain exported to the east goes through Thunder Bay on Lake
Superior. From there ships can travel through the Great Lakes , canals, and
the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic.
      Cheers, Ken Hanly

> > A question about Canadian geography and commerce.
> >
> > Is grain still shipped via Hudson Bay to Europe?
>
> Yes.  After the privatization of the CNR which ran the Hudson Bay
> Railway sold it to an American railway company which also took
> over the elevators and the port at Churchill.  I don't know how much
> grain is being shipped from there now though it is easy to find out.
> >
> > Is grain delivered to Hudson Bay by train?    To what port?
> >
> Yes, by train, to the port of Churchill at the mouth of the Churchill
> River.
>
> > Is it possible to drive to Churchill in Manitoba?
>
> No.  Train or plane is the only way in or by boat in the very limited
> shipping season.  If I remember rightly, it is only open around 2
> months or 10 weeks of the year. Ken Hanly might know a little
> more details.
> >
> >
> > Gene Coyle
> >
> Paul
> Paul Phillips,
> Economics,
> University of Manitoba
>
> ps.  Tourism (Polar Bears in winter, Beluga whales in summer) is
> becoming a bigger industry in Churchill now and is serviced by the
> railway.
>