ST. PAUL - Traffic was slowed along Highway 29, coming into St. Paul on Dec. 14 as a much-anticipated addition to the St. Paul Museum was brought to town.
Bringing the Willingdon train station, which had been moved to the Shandro Historical Villager and Pioneer Museum years ago, to the St. Paul Museum was a large project that began over three years ago. In January of 2021, the Town of St. Paul agreed to give the museum the land required to move the train station to the property.
The train station will sit in front of the museum, which is located on main street, west of the UFO landing pad, in an area that is mostly dedicated to recreation and culture facilities.
While the train station was supposed to be moved this summer, Clem Fontaine, a representative with the museum, was happy that the day had finally arrived. As the building made its way to St. Paul, it was lead by pilot vehicles, and ATCO trucks, with employees of the power company moving power lines as required along the route.
The train station left the now-closed historical village near Shandro at 9 a.m. By 1:30 p.m. the large structure arrived to the west end of town. The expertise of local business Dallaire the Mover made the move possible. The truck hauling the building had to shift around pedestrian lights, hop a median, and back into the museum parking lot.
And while moving the building was a large endeavour, the work is not yet done. Now that the train station has arrived, work will be done to its roof, and a deck will be building around the train station - as was the norm when the building was an operational train station.
The museum has been able to access grant funding to make the project a reality, and will soon be canvassing the community to work to gather the rest of the needed funds to support the project, says Fontaine.
Watching as the building entered into the museum parking lot, Fontaine was clearly happy to see the progress of the project.
"When you look at it, it's pretty impressive," he said, looking at the historic building, still secured to the back of the moving truck.
The cost to move the train station and set it up at the museum is expected to be in the $170,000. The museum has accessed a Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant to cover half the costs.