Weekend Update: I Love Manitoba (4)

This weekend, it was a little closer to home.

A quick visit to the Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City set up by up by Médecins Sans Frontières at The Forks. A great way to start the weekend by realizing how lucky I am to live where I live.

Then, it was Rail Days at the Winnipeg Rail Museum.

My reason for being there had more to do with transit than trains. Streetcar 356, located in the Railway Museum museum, is one of my pet projects. It was great to see people come by the display with great stories from the streetcar era.

One gentleman I sat with was the last streetcar operator to retire from Winnipeg Transit. He had some great stories about the streetcars.

One was about the operators being responsible for building and stoking the fire in the car's stove before they went on their run.

On a really cold morning you wanted to see an older, experienced looking face coming at you in the front window as there was better chance that they had mastered the cantankerous stoves to create maximum warmth, (which was still pretty minimal when it was -30 outside). A young, fresh face usually meant you were in for a cold, miserable ride to work!

For more on the streetcar project check out the Winnipeg Streetcar website. I think the Free Press, too, will have a story on it in Monday's paper.

Another piece of transit history on display was courtesy of the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association. They brought out their 1937 Twin Coach #111 and it was quite the attraction.