Memories of the Moonlight Special and Grand Beach Train Era

People remembered…

the boardwalk, concessions, the Moonlight Inn, picnics, the carousel, the dancing pavilion, Daddy Trains, beach romances, Hot Lips ginger beer, bands, Morse code, ice boxes, honey pot toilets, red boards, the wye, fishflies, bittersweet vine, the Snowshoe Special, and a bygone era when passengers felt part of one big family.
From the deep, dank bowels of a century-old railway station, a roll of unused tickets surfaced for Canadian National Railway´s Victoria Beach Subdivision line. Sixty years after train service to the east shores of Lake Winnipeg ceased, a writer embarked on a journey of discovery. Creepy crawls through cemeteries, walks on wooden trestles, and strolls through Manitoba´s cottage country revealed a transplanted station, a time capsule, and the design plans for the beloved Grand Beach carousel.