On the Road again 2014 #2

 It is going to be an interesting ride.... one because the train crew are working fairly hard at sharing information..... just now, over the PA system a big deal was made of us going through Gogama, which truth be told is a rather small village on the shores of a nice lake, but unless one does a lot of fishing or lives here, there is really not too much to see.  The train crew have also made announcements about things one can do in Winnipeg tomorrow. Which quite frankly may be a bit of wishful thinking as it feels as if we are spending more time sitting on side tracks waiting for a southward freight to pass us than moving forward. At the rate we are going I wonder if there is going to be much free time in Winnipeg.

The "station master" (for lack of a better description) at Sudbury Junction told me that the trains have been late a lot this year and it causes real problems for the train staff. Winnipeg is their home  base - it is where they live. When they get into Toronto they have rooms they can use to shower and get some sleep and then after a day off they turn around and work the train back to Winnipeg. But if the train is late getting into Toronto, then those workers have less time to sleep and rebuild themselves. It makes their good humour all the more remarkable.

The other reason why this might be an interesting trip is that there are lots of children onboard. In my car there is a mom with two kids under three going right across the country to a least Edmonton; there is also mom, dad, grandma and eight year old boy who are either Indian or Pakistani as well as at least three other families of young kids. While it does make it all a bit noisy at times it does keep the aisles active.

The third reason why it is going to be a interesting is that because I am on for the duration of the trip across Canada - there is more reason for me to work a bit at being friendly. when I am only on for 24 hours it sometimes feels as if I am an outsider. But this time - I belong here. It is fun.