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(rshsdepot) Re: What to do with a station?
The former 1920s era CN station at Elmsdale NS, currently a branch of
the Colchester-East Hants Regional Library system, will be left vacant
in March of 2005, when the library moves into a new multi-use centre
elsewhere in the community.
Several groups have proposed alternate uses for the building: a youth
drop in centre, a shelter for the homeless. Neither of these are
particularly appropriate to CN, which has become wary of the public use
of its former station buildings since the derailment of the passenger
train "The Ocean Lmited" at Stewiacke two years ago. The proposal to
which the municipality is paying most attention is the Nova Scotia
Railway Heritage Society's plan to turn the station into a railway
herityage centre. I drafted the plan, and will present it to council and
the hertitage advisory committee in January. Basically, it will be a
library of Nova Scotia railway content (magazines etc as well), an
archive for photos donated by the public, and a genealogy centre to help
people track their railway ancestors. Tracking railway genealogy in
Canada is currently only done through the National Library/Archives in
Ottawa (for CN) and involves either hiring researchers, or paying for
extensive stays in the capital, which can be prohibitive to most people.
I am currently compiling railway personnel lists by combing through the
McAlpine and Lovell directories for the province since 1869, and
compiling documents which will be available in hard copy or computer
"search" at the centre, or by phone etc. etc.
We are also recruiting local historical societies to record oral
histories of railroaders, copies of which they can lodge with us, to be
made available to any researcher.
I would appreciate hearing from any similar organizations in the US, so
that I can show the municipal council that the project is feasible.
I'm especially interested in financial information (liability costs,
staffing, funding sources etc.) since I believe this will be the only
real obstacle to the success of the plan.
Thank you
Jay Underwood
Elmsdale NS
Canada
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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