Colin Churcher 2020

  This map shows the ten locations of the Sons of Martha Cairns. But first, an explanation. Harry McLean was a contractor who built a number of large engineering projects in the 1920s and 1930s. His company, Dominion Construction, was located at Deeks, Ontario, near Merrickville, south of Ottawa. Deeks was located on the Canadian Pacific Railway Winchester subdivision between Merrickville and Smits Falls. At Deeks there was a machine shop and storage sidings for the railway equipment that was used on the company's projects. There was also a narrow gauge railway which serviced a stone crushing plant that provided a great deal of railway ballast. This was managed by another company, Grenville Crushed Rock. Full details of the Deeks operation with its extensive roster of locomotives can be found in my article in Branchline of January 2009 which you can find here: https://churcher.crcml.org/Articles/Article2009_12.html   Teresa Charland wrote an excellent biography of "Big Pants...

 Churchill is, of course, famous for the polar bears which inhabit the place, mainly, I believe in winter. I never saw a polar bear in my travels but one of my staff did. We were funding some track improvements to the line as part of the Prairie Branchline Rehabilitation Program. Part of this was to extend the siding at Herchmer which was mid way in a long stretch of single line. As part of this I sent one of my staff to take a look at the work. Being based in Ottawa I thought it would be a good idea for him to see the results of out work in the field. So here is this official from Ottawa travelling to deepest, darkest, Manitoba to see the work which was taking place several miles south of Churchill in the "land of the little sticks". He arrived at the work site where a gang of men were working. There was an "Atco shack" (a type of container with living quarters) in the siding where the men were living. The shack had a flat roof. The first thing he was told on arriv...

Canadian National Passenger train for Churchill at Wabowden. The line to Hudsons Bay was built to provide an additional port for prairie grain shipments which did not require the long land movements either through the west coast of BC or through Thunder Bay and the St. Lawrence.    The original concept was for the shipping terminal to be located at Port Nelson and work was started there on the construction of a harbour as well as work on the line from Gillam.  However, in 1927, hydrological studies suggested that there would be difficulties for vessels to navigate as far as Port Nelson and the decision was taken to abandon Port Nelson and build anew at Churchill. This decision resulted in an abrupt curve at the then end of track and the line ran in a straight line, some 200 miles directly to Churchill. I made the trip to Churchill a couple of times while working on grain transportation. This was taken at the same time as the picture above, I think the dog adds to the inte...