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Caption: There certainly was a lot of chatter amongst the fans when the old GTR/CN station in Ingersoll was allowed to deteriorate to the point it had to be demolished a few years ago. However, the CP station that used to be in town has been pretty much forgotten.
It used to sit on the west side of now what is the Ontario Southland track about west and a bit north of the landmark St. Paul's Presbyterian church in town. It was brick, constructed by the CPR back in 1908/09 and unfortunately was demolished in 1976 in order to facilitate sewer construction. The land, after nearly 50 years, is still vacant. Too bad. She was a well-built structure and certainly could have been repurposed given her prime location in the downtown.
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DANG! Great photo….it really is a shame it wasn’t repurposed. Then again, with formation of VIA Rail around this time too….I feel that was the start…the big ‘height’ that has paved the way today for railroad companies to demolish these buildings no longer needed as they switched to being more profitable freight carriers.
That squarish box on the boarded up window, directly below what used to be the train order (semaphore) signal, held the train register. It had a CP switch lock on it. When the station was demolished, the company installed a portable building slightly west of this location. The train register was relocated to there.
When I started on CP in 1973, the operator & train order signals were already gone from Ingersoll. All trains had to register there in both directions. That was the case until train orders were superseded by OCS clearances.
As usual, Ronald, I thank you for your informative input. I do not recall the portable at all. All jokes aside, it wasn’t a small wooden building that resembled an outhouse, was it?
No,lol, if I recall, it was a room sized portable like you see on constructions sites and at schools.I don’tknow when it was removed.
Thanks. I must have been thinking of a tool shed.
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