Polar Bear Express Riding the Rails to Moosonee

Anxious! Excited! Which? Both! I am a child again!

At 5:45 I called the front desk to cancel my 6 am wake up call. The restaurant did not open until 6:30 so we made sure we were ready. Entering the restaurant my wife and I were the only ones there. Wow, we were early! Back in the room at a little after 7 we finished getting ready but waited until 8:25 to go downstairs to check out of the hotel.

Having purchased the Adventurer Package from Ontario Northland, the railroad company that operates the Polar Bear Express, I wanted to meet the people who handled the my reservations. I knew they worked in Cochrane and learned that they worked in this train station. Yesterday, I had met the young lady whom I spoke to on the telephone but I had missed the lady that mailed the tickets. She was on duty today so we went to the Polar Bear Express office and met her. Exchanging greetings she told us her sister was an attendant on the train we would be on today and we should talk to her.

We missed getting our picture with the “Polar Bear,” a costumed character.

Now to the train! We were able to get right on and find our assigned seats. Either there were fewer people today compared with yesterday or we were seated early so didn’t see them. The train actually pulled out on time.

Moosonee is approximately 186 miles north east of Cochrane. It was interesting to pass the countryside as it did not take long to leave the town behind. The voice over the loudspeaker welcomed us in English, French and Cree! She identified some of the trees as birch, poplar, maple and a couple of others but I didn’t catch them all.

The coach was comfortable with a man sitting in front of us (seat turned toward us), a couple and a man in the compartment across the aisle. The couple had come up from Toronto while one man was from Maine. Visiting with them made the beginning pleasant for us. I think this is the first trip to Moosonee for all of us.

Leaving the coach we headed for the elevated car with a glass dome for better viewing of the passing countryside. It was not as cozy as the coach but we were able to see more. It was also noisy but that didn’t matter. I had been asking all the attendants I saw about for the sister mentioned previously. A couple of attendants came and sat down in the elevated car. As we were visiting with them they spoke to another attendant who was on the lower level mentioning she was going to our coach to find someone who had been asking about her. As I only heard her voice I called her name. She was the sister previously mentioned. We were able to visit with her for a few minutes but now we knew each other. Having just graduated from high school she doesn’t know yet what she wants to do and may travel with her sister, who has just graduated from college. After making some suggestions of some of the things to do when we arrived in Moosonee she had to leave.

One of the main sites to see while on the train was coming up: rapids after a dam which supplied electricity for the area. Hurrying back to the elevated car we almost missed them. The site was beautiful. Next, we went over the Moosonee River which was very wide making for a long bridge over the river. I think the engineer actually stopped on the bridge so pictures could be added to the memory.

I was impressed by the fact that sometimes in the spring they have to dynamite the ice in the river to prevent the melting ice from damaging the bridge supports. I later learned that this practice is common in Canada. Breaking up the ice in this manner also prevents flooding in some areas.

You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links and copyright information. © Lloyd Mize 2007

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Lloyd Mize has retired from a full time JOB!
Currently, he spends his time as the webmaster for Christian Article Bank,
A Biblically Based Collection of Articles.

As you can tell, he enjoys traveling and seeing wildlife.
Thanks to Ann Stewart for editing this article. Please visit Express Your Thoughts