Feature Article November 4, 2004
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Sharbot Lake Train museum: a matter of patience.by Jeff Green When Norm Landry came on this year as the chair of the Central Frontenac Train Museum, the not-for-profit corporation that has been trying to build a replica of the old K&P train station in Sharbot Lake to house a train museum, he took on a project that has faced its share of obstacles.
Still, for someone like Norm Landry, not losing faith in the face of obstacles is nothing new. Until last week, he had remained a staunch Boston Red Sox fan throughout his entire life, watching year after year as his team fell short. But the curse of the Bambino is one thing; working through bureaucratic red tape and seeking funding for community projects is quite another.
The Central Frontenac Train Museum project was initiated in order to house a significant collection of railroad materials that have been collected over the years by Gary Cooke of Sharbot Lake.
At the corporations Annual General Meeting two weeks ago, Landry outlined some of the current challenges that are being faced by museum advocates.
First, there is the problem of gaining ownership of the site where the station was originally located. Landry reported that Canadian Pacific owns the property, located next to Margs Shoe Store and across from the Central Frontenac Township office in Sharbot Lake. CP is, however, loathe to sell off small parcels of land that will make the sale of all the lands they inherited when they purchased the K&P line more difficult.
I did get hold of an official from Canadian Pacific in Toronto who is responsible for real estate, and he said it was possible that CP would sell the small piece of land we would need, but he did not say any more than that, Landry reported.
If the CP lands are not available, there is an alternative site, a triangle of land between two track beds a bit further north from the original site. Central Frontenac owns that parcel.
Aside from the land issue, there is a question of the feasibility of the project, and to help determine that, a grant is being sought from the Federal Department of Heritage. The grant application has just gone in, and if it is successful it will fund a consultants study that will look at what the cost of constructing a replica will be, and look at how a museum could sustain itself over the long term.
If the study says we cant do this, then well all go home, Landry said.
It is clear, he added, that we will need to establish partnerships to put together a sustainable project, and it will have to be a multi-use facility to survive. Admission fees to train museums do not cover all the costs of maintenance, so other funding sources will have to be found.
The possibility of putting in high end office space above the museum, and even library space in the basement of the building have been mentioned, but these are all preliminary thoughts.
The train museum will probably not hear from Heritage Canada about funding the feasibility study until late winter or early spring of 2005.
This is taking a lot of patience, and a lot of hard work, Landry concluded.
An illustration of the kinds of programming that could make a train museum a focal point for the region was provided through a multimedia presentation on the history of the K&P prepared by Laura McLeod. It was prepared as a student project while she was taking a Global Information Systems (GIS) course in Lindsay.
The presentation included video footage, and allows people viewing it access to information about historical eras and specific locations. Aside from demonstrating how the technology could be used as a feature of a museum, the presentation also demonstrated once again the central role the K&P railroad played in the development of the economy of Frontenac County from 1860 until the middle of the 20th Century.
For background on the history of the railway museum project, see
A Railway Museum-in-theMaking (Nov.19'00) text & photos David Brison
