A Great lakes museum trip
 

Some of you may know that about 6 months ago I relocated to Canada, and to the bitterest sector of it, Manitoba.

I have a big plan going forward hopefully I can pull it off in the coming years, but i intend to visit as many naval museums in North America as possible and you guessed it I have already started.

A few weeks ago I went for a little ride in my 2019 dodge ram mainly to see how she drives and performs, well i decided to head towards Selkirk which is just outside Winnipeg.

Why would i head there? very simple ! not many people know but there is a Great Lakes Shipping museum there, complete with Ships!

I may be in Central Canada but the reality is i'm not far from Lake Winnipeg or the US Border.

The only draw back to my trip was that they were all closed for the season but not to worry because they are on dry land, and you can get up close and personal to these vessels.

The center piece of this museum is the SS Kenora a passenger / cargo steam ship which was built in 1897.
She is one of the largest ships in the collection at 48 meters long, she originally serviced isolated communities in Ontario not Manitoba, but When the Ontario and Rainy River Railway was built in 1901 traffic volumes began to decline.
The vessel was sold to a consortium of Winnipeg lawyers. Keenora was dismantled and transported in sections to Winnipeg on railway wagons in 1917 and it was here she was rebuilt with an added 9 meter section.

Kenora kept sailing until 1966 when she was removed from service due to being unable to meet the new safety regulations one year shy of 70 years service.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fdc286e3_z.jpgDSCN3472 by B S, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4cfa5d5e_z.jpgDSCN3468 by B S, on Flickr

I couldn't spend too long at the museum plus it was closed but i did manage to get a good look around the place and when it re opens in may i will be going back hopefully.

But for now i will just enclose some pictures and check out the flickr account so you can see other pictures and other museums i have been too link is in my signature.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...150e20e9_z.jpgDSCN3433 by B S, on Flickr


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dd9579e0_z.jpgDSCN3471 by B S, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...abf20ce8_z.jpgDSCN3484 by B S, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e4c174ce_z.jpgDSCN3489 by B S, on Flickr

That's fantastic!! We also have a museum of a civilian river fleet in Nizhny Novgorod, but it doesn't have a museum ships as exhibits - only models - and that's a shame 'cause for Russia/USSR importancy of river transportation was also quite great and many classical masterpieces of literature are referred to steam ships on rivers, or take place on them. Just as Mark Twain's connection to river steam ships - for a parallel in American literature. Of non-sea vessels only a lake-icebreaker Angara is stored as a museum ship in Irkutsk (AFAIK). So that would be cool if one day we'd see a full-scale exposition with real ships - sadly now we can only feel envy looking at these wonderful pics You've made :-)

Nice one Blair :up:

I never expected to find a maritime museum in central land locked Canada, guess they just followed me :haha: