HBR History and Layout Background

A little background on the prototype:

The Hudson Bay Railway (HBR), owned by Omnitrax, took over Canadian National’s lines to Flin Flon (Flin Flon Subdivision), Lynn Lake, Thompson and Churchill Manitoba in 1997. These lines were built to access northern Manitoba’s mineral wealth and forest products. The Flin Flon Subdivision was completed in 1928, the line to the Port of Churchill in 1929, Lynn Lake in 1953 and Thompson in 1958. Another line to Snow Lake was built in 1960 and abandoned in the late 1980’s.

Major traffic generators for the northern Manitoba lines include outbound concentrates and ingots from Flin Flon, Lynn Lake and Thompson, predominantly Copper, Zinc and Nickel. As well, inbound concentrates, mill and smelter supplies for the smelters and concentrators at these mining centers is shipped by rail; raw logs and chemicals going to, and finished wood and paper products coming from the Tolko lumber mill and pulp mill, frack sand from Channing, grain loads going to and grain empties coming from Churchill, fuel and supplies to the various northern communities. As well Manitoba Hydro had several northern hydroelectric dams under construction or under renewal during the modeled time frame which added to the rail traffic mix.

Some of the last mixed trains in Canada continue to operate in northern Manitoba. In the layout’s time frame the Lynn Lake mixed and Churchill mixed trains were operating. In the name of added operational interest the Churchill mixed train has been extended to operate out of The Pas. In reality it ran between Wabowden and Churchill. These mixed trains had the last heavyweight combines (former Canadian Northern Colonist cars) in regular operation. The Lynn Lake (now running only to Pukatawagan) mixed train currently has the last CN/VIA lightweight “Super Continental” smooth side cars in operation as well.

Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting’s mine and smelter complex in Flin Flon was completed in 1929-1930. The plant and numerous mines in the area have been active ever since. HBM&S had an extensive railway system at the smelter and to the outlying mines, all operated with electric operations until the early 1970s’. Rebuilt steeple cab electric locomotives were used in slag haulage until 1999. Archbar trucks (many with roller bearings!) were in regular use under slag cars and wood bodied truss rod flatcars until 2008. There were many other anachronisms throughout the smelter operation, adding to its attraction from a modeling standpoint.

As for modeling, the HO scale Hudson Bay Railway Flin Flon Subdivision is currently being constructed to represent the line between The Pas (southern terminus of the HBR) and Flin Flon, with particular focus on the mining and smelting operations of the HBM&S, circa 1981 to 1983, with a lesser focus on the Omnitrax operations between 1995-1999. 

A lower level staging yard is used to represent northern destinations (Lynn Lake, Thompson, Churchill) on the HBR system. Upper level staging will represent southern destinations (Canora, Winnipeg, etc.).  My main timeframe is 1981-83 as there was ample freight and passenger traffic from all northern areas, heavy reefer and refrigerator traffic to and from northern destinations, and significant railway facilities in The Pas.  My friend Mark worked in Gillam and Churchill during the modelled timeframe and has been a great source of photos, information and encouragement.   

The later cutoff date of 1999 for the layout is due to the end of regular ore haulage by rail and the end of electric locomotive usage in slag service in 1999 at the Flin Flon smelter. This was coincident with a major upgrade to the smelter complex and the opening of a new modern mine (777 Mine) which changed the complexion of the smelter and mining operations significantly. Prior to these upgrades, the smelter was relatively unchanged since it was built in the late 1920’s.

I realize that having south as up and north as down might cause a bit of confusion, but considering that the number of people who are not from Manitoba that could actually find The Pas and Flin Flon on a map are pretty small I think most people will be able to cope with this.

I am extremely indebted to my friend Tim who has been a wealth of information about the region I am modeling since he actually lives there. He also models a bit of the HBM&S as seen here: <http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/15368>. His timeframe is a bit earlier than mine since the heavy electrics were sidelined around 1970 or so. I do plan to build one or more of the 85 tonners, and my ore car and slag car fleet will be populated by many of Tim's creations.

Two doodles of the overall planned layout are attached.  To date the lower level is operational but requires some tweaking before I undertake upper deck construction.  The Pas to Atik is on the upper level, Flin Flon is on the lower level.  Please note that some of the track appears to be too close to the walls and some track spacing needs work.  Like I said, it is a doodle that I'll be using more as a guide than as rigid plan.



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