June 13, 2001
LAND O'LAKES NewsWeb Home
Railroad Museum Public Meetingby David Brison
A crowd of around 50 people turned out on June 4 to a meeting at the Oso Community Hall to discuss the possibility of building a replica of the Sharbot Lake Railway Station on its original site.Jim MacPherson has been acting as temporary chair of a group which has been working since January of this year. The group decided that input from the public was needed if this ambitious project was to get off the ground, and decided to call the meeting.
Jim started by describing what the planning committee had been doing since January. Architectural drawings of the original station have been obtained from the CP Rail archives by Shirley Peruniak; Mitchell Webster has built a scale model of the station along with outbuildings; a mission statement has been written and adopted by the group; a volunteer group has cleared the site of the original station, opposite the Central Frontenac Municipal office, of brush; and a good many people have become aware of the potential of Gary Cookes amazing collection of railway items.
Following Jims presentation, the crowd was entertained by Dave Dawson, accompanied by Richard Bova, singing railway songs. Dave sang some old familiars like the Wabash Cannonball and the Wreck of Old 97, some Jimmie Rogers songs of riding the rails, and some railway songs of his own, such as The Train Wreck at Sucker Lake, an adaptation of a poem by the now-deceased local poet Elmer Badour, and I Thought I Heard a Train, from Daves own CD of that name.
The idea behind constructing a replica of the railway station is to celebrate the rich history and culture of Central Frontenac. The railway has a central place in that history and culture. That point was emphasized when a member of the audience asked if everyone present who had worked for the railway and had drawn a pay check, would stand up. About 15 people, mostly old-timers, got to their feet.
A survey was filled out by all those who attended, asking for information on how they might help with the project and what they thought of the idea. The NewsWeb will report the results in our next issue.
(Click on the Artifacts and Model Station pictures below to make them larger)
