Choo Choo

Day 32: Woodstock, New Brunswick

Distance traveled: 258.0 km

Cumulative distance: 5361.9 km

Temperature range: 12 - 15 started out brilliantly sunny, devolved to light rain then mixed

Maximum speed: 112 kph

This is called "aqua culture", which is generally "fish" (atlantic salmon) farms

That is a pretty small body of water to erect a lighthouse. 

Lobster traps.

The sign says "today's special". I can't wait to see tomorrow's special!

The historic McAdam Train Station.

While the rail line remains busy, the station is now a museum.

That's some scary Hallowe'en display in McAdam!

The village of McAdam supports our troops.

That's Darcy and me out for a morning dog walk.

Darcy's buoy collection, salvaged from his beach.

We had quite a stroke of good luck today. Our planned route took us along the U.S. border up to the village of McAdam, the location of an historic CP hotel and train station and now museum. We had speculated before we arrived that we might be far enough out of the tourist season that the opportunity to go inside might be over. It is October 1st, afterall. 

When we arrived, sure enough, there didn't appear to be any activity. A sign in the window indicated the museum was closed Mondays and Tuesdays until the END OF SEPTEMBER, which, in fact, meant that it was closed yesterday, too. We had just missed it. So we walked around the building, looking into windows and reviewing the rails passing by on both sides of the station. By the time I had walked most of the way around the building, I was surprised that I thought I could smell something cooking. I thought initially it might have been stock but a scan of surrounding buildings didn't reveal anything that looked like a restaurant, kitchen or facility that might serve rail workers.

By the time I got back to the front of the building, an older (you know what that means) couple from Maine were visiting with Nan and they were talking motorcycle stories as they told us about all the riding they had done in Canada, including two motorycle trips to Newfoundland. And other people were milling around, just having a look at the building.

Then, as people were scattering, a gentleman drove up and parked his pick up directly in front of the train station. He carried a box up to the front door and I asked him if he was going inside. He was and he invited us to enter. It was quickly evident where the smell was originating as the entryway smelled of cooking and the building was warm, which was a relief for us.

This is an old menu from the lunch counter. I don't think Frank mentioned the year it was used but judging by those prices, I don't think it was since COVID. 

The gentleman is Frank Carroll, retired mayor of McAdam, volunteer and current chairman of the McAdam Historical Restoration Commission. He is in the station today because they are serving a meal to a very large group (I think he said 150) people on Friday so he is doing the prep work and he is in to check on a couple of roasts he has in the oven. On the counter are multple bags of produce. Frank is telling us how a large portion of the town are involved as volunteers or supporting the station in some fashion. There are 25 volunteers on the executive and a total of 150 volunteers and functions like the one being held on Friday is a fund raising effort by the society. In addition to a meal being served, there is a round trip train ride to St Stephen, about 50 km away. It is sold out. 

Frank is giving us an impromptu tour of the Lunch Counter while he works away, inspecting his two roasts. In its hey day, the lunch counter would serve up to (one report, 1,200, another 2,000) people in a day - all people who were in McAdam as the trains were switched or watered filled or loaded with coal. Passengers might be there waiting for a train to St. Andrew or Halifax or St. John or going west, through the U.S. on the Trans Canadian railway. Frank's belief is that the railway passing through 305 miles of U.S. territory was likely facilitated by William Van Horne, the individual most reponsible for the building of the CP Transcanada Railway, whose summerhome, Ministers Island, we visited yesterday. McAdam was also an important hub for Canadian soldiers shipping out to Europe in WW I from Halifax.

Frank is passionate about the train station and proudly shows it off to us. We basically had a private tour of most of the building - certainly that which is above ground. We heard how the town, with his help, had a plan to preserve the historic building and the day the station was abondoned the town people boarded it up and proceeded to take steps to gain control of the station. 

This is the formal dining room. The chairs here are replicas of the original chairs in the dining room. Only four originals remain and they are upstairs in the hotel.

I asked Frank if there was a chair with his name on it and he said yes but wasn't certain where it was. He did show us this chair with his parents' names on it.

This was Nan testing out the old weigh scale in the entrance to the train station. There were pennies there for people who wanted to try it out. Frank averted his vision as Nan stepped onto the scale!

The candy and cigar counter. Chocolate maker Ganong had been an original supplier and they provided the artifacts seen here.

The artwork around the main floor - in the lunch counter and dining room, was the original pieces that had been on display. (The Group of Seven piece here is a print.)

An original CP Hotel bed spread.

This is an original bed from the hotel.

This sad tale is of a boy who was murdered by his mother in the hotel. His ghost continues to walk the halls.

Each hotel room shared a bathroom with the next door neighbour.  The bathroom was accessed from each room with a door on either side of the bathroom, which was between the two guest rooms.

Original staircase and hand rail in the business section of the building; no hotel rooms were in this wing.

The top floor was reserved for hotel staff.

An old fuse box.

Girls in the segregated dorms were able to sneak out at night through this access, without disturbing guests or the "house mother". 

Frank described how the upstairs above the guest rooms would be uncomfortably hot in the summer. 

In addition to the train rides and dinner combinations to support the structure, they have an ambitious plan to refurbish the building and install 20 hotel rooms with individual, private bathro

Over my dead body.

oms. They have done studies to determine the viability and are confident that the hotel will be able to sustain itself, with the support of the town.

There is also a Sunday Pie Day. The lunch counter has long been famous for its pies and the historical society embraced this by serving pies on Sundays as a fund raiser. It was so successful that they had to organize three sittings which must be booked in advance. The $15 price covers the pie and a self guided tour.

Our many thanks to Frank for his kindness and time showing us around this historical building. McAdam Railway Station We sent a donation to the society tonight.