A Ride on the Prairie Dog Central, July 1976

About five years ago, I posted some of my Dad's black & white photos from our family trip to visit relatives in the railfan mecca of Portage la Prairie, MB (Portage) in July, 1976. I recently published this postscript which included additional photos from that trip. So now it's 47 years later and in this post, I'm publishing even more photos from that trip - an excursion on Winnipeg's Prairie Dog Central (PDC) on the exact day of the U.S. Bicentennial, July 4. All photos in this post by L.C. Gagnon unless otherwise noted.

In 1976, the PDC operated over the CN Oak Point Subdivision from St James station, located 2.4 miles from St James Junction. The line ran through Moore, Lilyfield, Gordon to Grosse Isle, where PDC 4-4-0 engine 3 was wyed for the return trip to the city. Between 1970 and 1974, the PDC had operated on 7.5 miles of the CN Cabot Subdivision between Charleswood and Headingley, so our first ride was at the beginning of only the second season operating from CN's St James station. Engine 3 was built in Scotland by Dubs & Co in 1882 for the CP, operating between Fort William and Kenora numbered 22, before its purchase by the City of Winnipeg Hydro in 1918. Used between Lac du Bonnet and Pointe du Bois, MB the long-lived locomotive was initially retired in 1962, prior to its subsequent restoration at CN Transcona Shops as a Canadian Centennial project.

Like an actor melodramatically taking the stage, the PDC train made a noisy, impressive entrance around a curve approaching the St James station. At the time, my Dad was using two cameras: colour slides and black & white prints, both in Instamatic 126-format. Many of these photos show the use of both cameras, seconds apart for each scene!

The engine crew paused by the cab before climbing in and receiving the OK from the 'station agent' to depart. I have a feeling the same man used to give the same OK to VIA trains at the Winnipeg depot. "Your train is O - K !!!"

Ticket to ride:

The little teakettle posed patiently in the morning sunshine as it took on passengers.

Two photos taken on our excursion by my uncle, Wilf Schellenberg. My Aunt Rosemary, parents and sister have the windows wide open - below:

Black smoke biliously billows from the stack as engine 3 pastorally prepares, now turned, to pilot the consist back to Winnipeg at Grosse Isle. Seemingly tiptoeing through the long grass while doing so.

Back at St James, passengers disembark at the station built by the Canadian Northern in 1910. The building was moved in 1999 to Inkster Boulevard by the Vintage Locomotive Society to prevent its demolition.

The Prairie Dog Central was a perennial favourite for visitors like us - low-key and leisurely, not too long and not too short - truly a trip back to a simpler time. 

Running extra...

The 'Aerodrome of Democracy'. During World War II, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan planned and built the plethora of new air bases built across Canada for the training of Commonwealth pilots and aircrew. Kingston itself was home to 31 Service Flying Training School which chiefly trained Fleet Air Arm (Navy) pilots. On July 23, a Tiger Moth was operating out of Kingston airport, Tiger Moth C-FDGC "4830" apparently owned by the Williams family since 1969, based in Dunnville, ON:

The same day, my blog partner and brother David (who, like me, is interested in both trains and training) was setting his sights on Canada's National Air Force Museum at 8 Wing Trenton (Quinte West, ON). With its expanded exhibit space, shots like this fine down-on view of the museum's restored Avro Anson, with a Harvard above, are possible: