Quebec-Is it really a province of Canada?

Heading east we drove towards Quebec City.  Our new friend Paul had routed us directly to 

Exporail in St. Constant just outside of Montreal.  Ed paid the entry tariff and Susan crossed the road to get a haircut.   There was plenty of room to play fetch with Finn.

This is the biggest railroad museum in Canada.  It covers mostly Canadian National railroads which operated in the Eastern provinces.  St. Constant, though a small town, was the center of rail commerce.  It has an extensive track system.

This building is the main portion of the museum.  It may be modest looking, but don't let that fool you.  Ed thinks it may have been the station.

The backyards of the main building are filled with rolling stock, diesel locomotives, and miscellaneous rail history.

The Dorchester 

1840 circa English locomotive

(See description below)

Inter-urban rail cars, early 1900-1960

1914 G.E. electric train 

1914 4-6-4 built by Montreal Locomotive Works, 

a major manufacturer of Canadian steam and diesel locomotives. 

A Royal Hudson, 1938

Semi-streamlined, 4-6-4 owned by the C.P.R., built by Montreal Locomotive Works

These locomotives were in service 1937-1960.  Four are in museums.

King George VI visited Canada in 1939.  This train transported him across Canada.

1924 2-10-2 CNR locomotive (A real big mama)

Called the Santa Fe because this wheel arrangement was first introduced on

the Santa Fe Railroad.

A secondary hanger that houses some real treasures...

...holds a special engine.  

The Dominion of Canada, LNER Class A4, 1937

These were super fast trains used in England for passenger service.  

35 were built.  The Mallard, one of this group, broke the world record for steam traveling

126 mph in 1938.  The record still stands.

This locomotive was shipped to England and spent two years with five other of its kind

celebrating the 75th anniversary of the world speed record run.

It has just returned to Canada and will be placed in an honorary site in the main building.

Another Royal Hudson.

View inside the cab showing a mechanical stoker

1886 Canadian Pacific 4-4-0.  A North American classic.

And so ended a very enjoyable and enlightening tour of Exporail.  

A must for train enthusiasts. 

Our tour on the way to Prince Edward Island took us through Quebec and New Brunswick.

A couple observations:  in Ontario and New Brunswick all signage on the highways reads first in English and then in French.  In Quebec signage is only in French.

Proud Canadians fly their country's maple leaf on homes, businesses, parks, etc. in all but Quebec province where the provincial flag is flown showing a fleur de lis.   

We did not see maple leafs flying.

We asked ourselves:  There are less than 6 million people living in Quebec province.  Is there

any chance they could make it as a country on its own although they are the 

second largest economy in Canada???

We learned just how long we can manage "boondocking."  Three nights!  Using a 

little water conservation and thought we did fine.  We broke the trip to PEI into 3 days and spent nights at a truck stop, at a visitors center parking lot in Hartland, N.B. under the worlds longest covered bridge...

...and at a casino.  While we were in Hartland we toured a potato chip factory.

Yup!  We're having a good time.