The La Rivière station, built in the French Canadian style with a mansard roof is the only one of its kind still left in Manitoba and now a heritage site (#081) since 1994. La Rivière was founded 1886 by Metis Franco- Manitobans but the area is now English speaking. La Rivière (translated to “The River”) refers to the nearby Pembina River. The name of the station was painted in large white letters on opposite sides of the long roof.
The station had full railway facilities on the lower floor and the stationmaster’s family inhabited the upper floor; accessed either through the station or by outside stairways. While everything else was destroyed, the CPR station was moved in 1986, to the nearby Archibald Museum; to be part of their collection, encompassing other historic Manitoba buildings.
The Prairie Dog station in what is known as Inkster Junction once stood on the CNR line, which one of my visitors, Bill Manchulenko, St. Pierre MB. Bill’s father spent his last days as a caretaker on the railroad, It served as the ST JAMES STATION , it was then moved and restored to serve as a main station for Prairie Dog, I and my parents more that once both went to its northern point of the railroad and returned on a weekend outing, many fond memories of this trip. Bill seems to remember that they went to Gypsumville quite often during the summer
Portage la Prairie MB is on the main line of both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Rwy’s, about 50 miles west of Winnipeg. It’s here that the two lines part ways with the CN heading north west to Saskatoon and Edmonton and the CP heading west to Regina and Calgary.
The Gladstone station is located on the Gladstone subdivision of what was once The Canadian Northern Rwy. main line between Winnipeg and Vancouver. It later became part of the Canadian National system. The building is now a town museum.
Doug Brown send the following update on this station. “The Brandon North Station” is no more. While the site still remains i.e. the concrete platform, but the station was moved to Rivers a few years ago and is now called the Rivers Station. The old Rivers station still stands, but is all boarded up and pretty much condemned. A group of people in town are trying revitalize it.
Sifton is where Lavina spent the first 17 years of her life. The station was built in the 1890’s. Her father, Willard McPhedrain was the station agent there from 1927 to 1955. Soon afterwards part of the station was moved to a farm near Dauphin, MB. There are no tracks left as the line was abandoned. I left there in 1946 to work as a telegrapher for the CNR, and later on became International President of the Morse Telegraph Club, the first Canadian and the first woman to hold the position.
This painting of the Sifton MB Station was painted about 40 years ago and was in her mother’s estate. She passed away in 1993. It was published in the Reader’s Digest magazine “Our Canada” in the October/November issue. She wrote an article for the magazine entitled “Living in a Railroad Station”
The Argyle station is now a museum. It is a unique railway station, using a boxcar from around the 1890s. It is a single sheathed boxcar, set on a railway siding in 1912 and made into a temporary station for a small settlement called Drake, later named Ekhart.
This is on the Inwood Subdivision, 5.5 miles north of Grosse Isle and 3 miles south of Argyle.
The station has a passenger room with two windows, a bench on outside wall, stove. The freight room has a large “x” style sliding door and the load limits from the box car are still painted around the inside of the freight room.
It is thought to be the only one of its kind in a museum in Canada. For more information on this museum please go to their web site at: www.settlersrailsandtrails.com
Brandon is the first division point west of Winnipeg on the CP’s main line to Vancouver. It’s no longer in use as a station.