Rail lines of Manitoba's Interlake

Manitoba’s Interlake is unique in many ways, but few regions of 88,000 people can boast that they once supported four separate rail lines in a geographic area that is less than 70 mile wide. The four lines – Gypsumville, Fisher Branch, Arborg and Riverton – closely approximated the four main highways running north and south along the length of the Interlake – Highways 6, 7, 8 and 9, but each served a different purpose and a different ethnic community. All are now decommissioned, with only a portion of the Riverton line still operating (CPR operates from Winnipeg to Selkirk, while a private group operates the leg from Selkirk to Gimli), and a small length of the Gypsumville line (to Warren) owned and operated seasonally by the vintage tour rail line, Prairie Dog Central. Portions of the Arborg line, to Stonewall, as well as the PDC portion, have recently served as storage lines for grain and oil cars not in use. While the population has grown from under 15,000 in 1900 to just over 88,000 in 2016, changes in demand, transportation options, demographics and location trends have resulted in rail transportation companies seeing no rationale for maintaining the old lines.

For several years, locals fought to hold onto “their” rail spur lines, some because of nostalgia, while others looked for new uses for old routes and resources.

From east to west, change overtook the old steam engines and diesels. The Gimli/Riverton line had been constructed on two footings: the Riverton area provided fish to be transported and even some fish and limestone from the Hecla Island area found its way into the cargo being hauled. But the mainstay was the Gimli/Winnipeg Beach portion. In the early 1900s, both beaches were prime destination points for Winnipeggers seeking reprieve from hot summers at two of the sandiest beaches in the province. Private cars and buses killed the demand for the rail service by the 1960s. In the early 2000s, Riverton began working on its rail station museum, while the RMs of Bifrost and Gimli joined with them to develop a walking path from the Diego (Crown Royal) brewery stop to the Riverton museum.

Arborg’s rail line stopped operating in 2002, but was only decommissioned around 2009-10. There are no major structures remaining of that line, which had served the Icelandic, Polish and Ukrainian farming communities in the area.

The Fisher Branch line attempted the most ambitious projects. Also known as the “Prime Meridian Line,” because it ran almost exactly along the prime meridian, or centre, of the province, it had been built to bring timber (mostly poplar) from the aptly named Poplarwood area south of Fisher Branch to Winnipeg. It served a mostly Ukrainian and Metis or First Nations population.  Throughout the late 1990s, into the mid-2000s, a local group attempted to maintain a pristine nature trail along the route, passing close to the Narcisse and Inwood snake dens from Grosse Isle to Fisher Branch. Mostly recently, the trail has been fragmented into a walking trail, motorized sports vehicle trail as well as abandoned segments. The Chatfield Dairy Museum, operating for decades just south of Poplarwood, now has closed.

The Gypsumville line, too, faded away, except for the Prairie Dog Central portion. It had been built to haul gypsum rock from Gypsumville to Winnipeg, until the quarry was depleted. The Canadian Armed Forces Services operated a base at Gypsumville from 1962 until 1987, throughout the Cold War era. Now, the hamlet has fewer than 290 residents.

Remnants of the old rail lines are still evident, but, like animal tracks in the wilderness, these tracks, too, will disappear. Only the ghosts of the old rail lines will remain.