The Humboldt railway station (located in Humboldt, Saskatchewan) was built by the Canadian Northern Railway along the Winnipeg to Edmonton mainline. The 1 1⁄2-story, wood-frame, railway station was completed in 1905. The last CNR passenger train (#9 and #10) ended service in 1963 with service restored in 1978; Via Rail railliner served the station in 1980. The building was designated a historic railway station in 1992.
Sounds
It’s interesting when you move to a new place, the different sounds you hear from your apartment.
In Outlook it was quiet, with the odd car that would rumble by on Thomson Street, sometimes going a little too fast.
Here in Humboldt, it’s much different. Not only is it a larger community (by Saskatchewan standards, it’s a city), but my apartment is on Main Street, which is where Highway 20 comes into Humboldt from the south and exits north out of the city.
So there’s more traffic.
But there’s also other sounds, not related to the street.
South of my apartment is the clock tower that’s part of the old post office. It’s the museum now, and on the hour it chimes. Chime isn’t an accurate word, more like “bong”, as it has that heavy bell sound like you’d hear from a church when it’s being rung. But one chime or bong for each new hour.
There’s also the train. In Outlook, there was no train, as the rail lines were closed down years ago. The last train ran on the tracks in the late ’70s. In the early 2000’s, the train bridge was converted to a walking bridge and is part of the Trans Canada Trail. So there hasn’t been a train in Outlook for several decades. But here in Humboldt, there’s a train, and when it comes through town it blows its horn. The tracks run a bit further south that the old post office, so it’s not loud, but I can hear it from my apartment.
It’ll take some getting used to, but it’s interesting to just listen to the different sounds from my balcony or inside my apartment.
Laundry
Had to do some massive loads of laundry yesterday. It went by pretty fast, considering I had four loads I had to do.
The great thing is there’s four machines; two for washing, two for drying. Even better; while the washing machines are $2.00 per load, the driers are free. No forking out coins to keep drying at the end of a cycle because your clothes are still wet. I guess I could still get a clothing rack, but there’s not really any place to put it that wouldn’t see water getting on my carpet (unless I put down a plastic sheet).
Turn the Page 