Burnside Manitoba Pool Elevator

The Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE) $1.6 million grain elevator at Burnside, MB was one of the last wooden grain elevators built, opening on July 24, 1984. Surprisingly, its lifespan was a short 25 years. Continuous-pour elevators were already on the horizon, literally, at Tucker and later at Rosser on CP's Carberry Sub east of Portage. Located seven miles west of Portage la Prairie on CP's Carberry Subdivision, just off the Trans-Canada Highway, the Burnside shipping point was intended to replace Portage's 'A' elevator which was lost to fire in 1982. I was able to visit the elevator twice - once in 1984 (top photo and below) during construction and again in 1986 (all other photos below).

At 80 feet high, the double-composite design comprised 47 bins with a 5,680 tonne, 208,000-bushel capacity. Twenty tons of nails hammered into 750,000 board-feet of lumber. The acccess road featured a former CP tank car body in use as a culvert! The elevator track had room for 30 covered hoppers.

Built by Manitoba Pool Elevators between August 1983 and July 1984, and opened officially on 24 July 1984. It was later closed and demolished in 2008. Fern Legault, a friend of my aunt and uncle, was manager until 1989. Based on that connection, I drove out to the new elevator during my four days in Portage on June 5, 1986 for a visit. I was allowed to wander around, camera-in-hand.

The amount of lumber that goes into an elevator is just plain staggering.

The unloading shed (above) and signage (below):

Ubiquitous tools at the car-loading doors, including two car-movers:

No 1 and No 2 Legs. Hand lettered on both: MAKE SURE TO CHECK SWING FLOW.

Stencilling - GARNER GATE, HOPPER GATE:

An aerial view from the 1993 MPE calendar:

Under-construction photo from the Portage Daily Graphic dated March 9, 1984. Hoping it was warmer up there than it looks:

Two more Portage Daily Graphic photos - Grand opening July 26, 1984:

Not warm nor fuzzy: trackside view January 8, 1987:

There's more on Burnside in this earlier post CP Carberry Sub west of Portage.

Lots o' links:

• Two photos in my brother's 1993 post on the area.
• Three photos in my brother's 1985 post as well.
• Manitoba Historical Society & Archives page.
• in 2017 pre-demolition with logos removed.
• Grain Elevators of Canada.
  
• Mike Stobbs photo page showing Burnside in 2006.

Running extra...

If I'd had access to any of the following at this YouTuber's age: video camera, camera, internet, Youtube, any technology above a notepad and a pencil, I probably would have done this:

There are a lot of young, enthusiastic railfans out there. I used to write down with my pencil and paper: 'LOCOHO, LOCOWA OR CBWA' to indicate honk from the locomotive, waves from locomotive and caboose. That was a big deal at the time. As we age, we may look at this and think it's a bit much. I think that says more about 'us' than it does about 'them'.

In many pursuits, I tend to place a high value on enthusiasm. I place a low value on stodginess and know-it-allness. Sometimes enthusiasm is viewed as a virtue of someone less serious instead of a virtue of someone who is just more fervent. In this, my third post on my 1986 visit to Portage, I had already been visiting there for ten years, and my enthusiasm was still at a high level.