Miami Railway Station Museum

Using recently-declassified documents obtained from Library & Archives Canada as a guide, Messier began travelling across Manitoba, hunting down the remains of this massive Cold War undertaking.

This search brought him to Miami, where a Type B Fallout Reporting Post (FRP) had been installed in 1963 on the site of the current Railway Station Museum. However, like all railroad-operated NDFRS shelters, it had been dug up and scrapped in the early 1970s. This gave Messier an idea. There were hundreds of FRPs lying abandoned across Manitoba; why not move one to Miami and restore it in place of the demolished original, resurrecting a long-forgotten chapter of Canadian Cold War history and creating a unique tourist attraction? Joan Driedger, curator of the Railway Museum, immediately jumped at the idea, and the Miami Bunker Project was born.

But finding a suitable FRP proved more challenging than anticipated. Candidate shelters were located at Stead, Big Whiteshell Lake, and Hollow Water First Nation, but due to difficulties communicating with the landowners, bureaucratic red tape, and other issues, these efforts had to be abandoned.

The shelter proved to be in remarkably good condition. Despite having lain in the ground for 60 years, there was barely any corrosion on the exterior, while the interior paint was largely intact. Still, much work had to be done to restore the shelter to its original condition and make it safe and accessible for visitors. For example, Type B FRPs like the Miami Bunker were normally buried below ground level and accessed via a vertical shaft and ladder. However, by modern standards this is neither accessible nor particularly safe, so it was decided to “bury” the shelter above-ground in a grass-covered earth mound and cut a new, more conventional entrance in the opposite end of the shelter. To reduce the amount of earth needed to build the burial mound, it was originally proposed to sink the shelter halfway into the earth and build a paved ramp down to the new entrance, but given the risk of flooding this plan was abandoned and the shelter was instead placed at ground level.

This, however, created another problem: given the height of the shelter and the maximum angle of repose of the soil, the mound would either have to be extremely wide or so steep that it risked collapsing under its own weight. Various solutions were proposed until it was decided to simply build a wood retaining wall and use landscaping mesh and the deep roots of prairie grasses to stabilize the soil.

Restoration work began in the summer of 2024. The first task was to tackle the spots on the exterior where the original galvanized layer had corroded through, allowing the steel beneath to rust. The rust was ground off using a grinder and wire wheel, and the exposed patches covered in cold galvanizing compound to ward off future corrosion.

At the same time, welder C.J. Elias in the end bulkhead of the shelter, allowing work on the interior to begin. Testing revealed that the original interior paint was lead-based - a potential hazard which had to be mitigated. The first step was to remove cracked or flaking paint, using a pressure washer to reduce the production of toxic dust. The interior was then painted with EcoBond primer, which neutralizes and seals in lead paint. Finally, the interior was completely recoated in non-toxic exterior latex paint, matched to the original vintage colour.

Miami Railway Station Museum

THE MIAMI BUNKER PROJECT

Candidate shelters in Stead, Big Whitehall Lake, and Hollow Water First Nation

The Bunker now!

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THE MIAMI BUNKER PROJECT

Candidate shelters in Stead, Big Whitehall Lake, and Hollow Water First Nation

The Bunker now!

Want to Read more?

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