Donations requested to complete a rail monument in the birthplace of the Canadian Northern Railway.

Manitoba’s last Canadian Northern Railway turntable bridge was removed in Dauphin, Manitoba at the site of the original 15 stall roundhouse, in August 2025. Funding is needed at a project estimate of $75,000 to help commemorate the community members who initially preserved the turntable in 1993 and the history of rail employees of Dauphin over the past 130 years with a monument to this structure.

The City of Dauphin will accept donations by cheque, cash or debit and provide a subsequent tax receipt for your donation.  Their mailing address is 100 Main St. S, Dauphin, MB  R7N 1K3.  You must provide a return address and write “turntable” in memo if paying by cheque.  They have also agreed to match funds up to $10,000 for this project.  Donations of over $250 will have recognition on a donor wall which will accompany the structure.

The original structure, dating back to 1906, was an 84 foot, approximately 40 ton steel structure that originally moved steam locomotives into the roundhouse for daily repair and storage and later acted as a means of rotating and changing the direction of diesel locomotives in a limited space.  In 1997 this site was purchased by the Town of Dauphin from CN with the financial help of 17 community members .

Prior to the removal the Dauphin Rail Museum requested an approximate 23 foot portion of the bridge and driving motor be preserved to allow for the design and installation of a memorial to this structure in CN Park, just adjacent to CNR Place.  The Dauphin railway station is a Manitoba Historic Site and an historic railway station of Canada, originally built in 1912 by Canadian Northern Railway and is known as Manitoba’s most beautiful rail Station.

With a financial contribution from the City of Dauphin, the Dauphin Rail Museum consulted with Stantec Architecture Ltd. in Winnipeg to develop a visual rendition of the monument.  This structure will create a distinct interactive and interpretive historic structure not seen in Manitoba which will be more accessible to the public than its previous location.

Dauphin’s rail history dates back to 1896 where the first train arrived on the Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company that was owned and operated by Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann.  This event sparked a moment that changed the landscape of immigration, settlement, agriculture and commerce.  Their efforts would culminate in a 9,500 mile transcontinental system called Canadian Northern Railway.  Dauphin is the birthplace of that railway.

The Dauphin Rail Museum exists to preserve, interpret and present the rich railway history of Dauphin and the Parkland area.

 

CN Portage station makes top 10 endangered structures list for 2021.

This archive photo of the Portage CNR station was taken from the files of the Manitoba Historical Society.

 The CN Portage station has made the  Manitoba Historical Society’s top 10 endangered structures list for 2021. The station was originally built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1908. It was later used by CN Rail when the Canadian government took over the bankrupt Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Railway in 1919. Via Rail still uses it as a stop. For many years it was a bus depot used by Greyhound Bus Lines. It was closed  in October 2018, and it is presently vacant.

The Manitoba Historical Society tracks historically significant buildings around the province that they feel deserve to be preserved and better known. For Canada Historic Places Day on Saturday, July 3 2021, they released their annual list of the ten most endangered buildings and other structures, in order from oldest to newest.  To access this list, click here. 

This image of the CN station, taken from the files of the Manitoba Historical Society, was taken by our own Hilt Friesen sometime in the 1970's.

 

Rail Travel Tours celebrates the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Canadian Northern Railway

 

 On the year of 100th anniversary of the last spike of the Canadian Northern Railway, Rail Travel Tours will conduct a special rail tour to celebrate the completion of Canada’s third transcontinental railway.

   Scheduled for August 18-20, 2015 this tour is a fundraiser for the Winnipeg Railway Museum. It features a round trip from Winnipeg through western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan on the  Canadian Northern's prairie route – now part of Canadian National Railway.

  The tour begins with a visit to the Winnipeg Railway Museum (located in Winnipeg’s Union Station). The passengers will board Via rail's Winnipeg – Churchill train, which will travel through Gladstone to Dauphin, Manitoba (where the railway originated) with amazing views of Riding Mountain National Park.  The tour stops at the town named after the first 2 letters of the railway’s name (CAnadian NOrthern RAilway) - Canora, Saskatchewan.

   The tour will spend two nights and a full day in Canora. Those on the tour will experience how this railway supported the farmers and promoted immigration to the Canadian Prairies by visiting the National Doukhobor Heritage Village and the Ukrainian Heritage Museum. There will be a special demonstration of vintage farming equipment and a visit to the recently redeveloped Canora Station House Museum. 

   Also the tour includes a visit to Canada’s only Toy & Autograph Museum and a special themed banquet to celebrate the Canadian Northern Railway.  On the third day of the tour, guests will transfer south by motor coach to Melville, SK to visit the railway museum and the community's original Town Hall and Opera House before boarding VIA Rail’s Canadian to travel through the Qu'appelle Valley and return to Winnipeg.

 For more information about the tour, call Rail Travel Tours in Winnipeg toll free 1-866-704-3528