The train journey to The Pas, Manitoba - 25th August

We both survived our first night on the train, although at times it felt like the carriage might de-rail at any moment!

Ever since we left Churchill, we have been going through boreal forest and passing one lake after another. We have seen several large rivers including the very wide Nelson River, which we photographed as we crossed over the bridge.

The Nelson River flows towards Hudson Bay for hundreds of miles across Manitoba and has its source in Lake Winnipeg.

We went for breakfast at about 8.30am and had muffins, coffee and tea. I also had a rather mediocre muffin sandwich with egg and some awful meat, which I immediately threw away. Still, it could have been worse!

At about 11.30am we turned off the main line for the twenty mile side line that ends at Thompson.

Thompson is a centre of nickel mining in Canada and we were warned that it is a pretty rough place and were advised to take a taxi into the town. In the event, we took a taxi, but many passengers walked into town with no problems.

Our taxi dropped us off at Wal-Mart in the centre of town.

It was a pretty drab and uninteresting area but, as we had so little time before we needed to be back on the train, we immediately started looking for a restaurant to have lunch. We found a place called The Hub, which one of the passengers had recommended to us yesterday evening.

We were the only people in the restaurant. We ordered omelettes, which came after about twenty minutes. With time running out, we gulped down the meal and walked back to Wal-Mart to see if we could get a taxi back to the train. As it turned out, a taxi was waiting outside the market, so we asked him to wait for us as we shopped for a few snacks to take on the train.

We got back to the train with about 15 minutes to spare. I took some photos of the engine, as well as our cabin attendant, Brittany, who comes from Winnipeg.

Our train with its massive engine.

The train left Thompson at 2.00pm on the dot. Between here and Winnipeg, there is only one further long stop of three hours, which is at The Pas. Unfortunately this will be at 11.30pm tonight, so we won’t be able to see the town as we had hoped, to reminisce about our last visit there on our drive across Canada in 2010.

We had one amusing moment in the late afternoon when the train stopped at a place called Wabowden. We were allowed off the train for a few minutes and were then told that the driver wanted to buy some sandwiches from the local store! Deborah, our dining-car manager, carefully counted us back on to the train, because one of the last times they stopped here, they left 3 passengers behind!

We went to bed around 10.30pm, an hour or so from our stop at The Pas. I decided I would not get up to see the town we had last visited in 2010.