On the Road Again #7

We were suppose to pull into the station in Winnipeg at 8:00 AM. Instead we were just arriving at Sioux Lookout. It had been a long night with a series of stops waiting for freight trains to pass us by. For example, we had stopped for over an hour to allow for three freight trains, heading west to pass us. To say that it is frustrating would be a profound understatement.

It was clear that at that rate of travel and all of the frequent stops for trains to pass us in either direction, that we would not be in Winnipeg until late in the afternoon. Which meant for me, that I would probably end up staying in a too expensive hotel for the night.  Perhaps I can get VIA to cover the cost of said hotel.

Yesterday, the attendants were very much present and there were a number of relatively humerous announcements. This morning there has been nothing - not even an explanation as to why we are so late. The car is still very empty and everyone seems to be accepting with some grace the massive delays - not that we have any choice.The attendants went around and gave everyone a slip of paper that entitles us to a free lunch - a sandwich, a chocolate bar and a drink.....given the lack of vegitarian options - I suspected that I would get stuck with a chocolate bar. ( to be fair - after the snack car attendant gave me the list of foods available, I said that I didn't eat meat - she then offered a little card board box with some rather bland humus, some veggies, crackers and a small bag of nuts - it was not too bad at all - not enough to sustain someone for nine hours - but it was a start)

At some point during the night a number of men and I assume their sons got on - I would imagine that they had been waiting for six or so hours at some bug invested spot; there were however in surprisingly good spirits. I would suspect that if it had just be a group of older men, or a group of teenage boys they would have been much grumpier or noisier or drunk - as it was they were quiet and their complaints were minor.



I later heard from another passenger who had been waiting for the train for seven plus hours that VIA had closed the station and they had had to spend the night sleeping on the platform - being attacked by bugs. Shameful!!