Negotiations continue for Minnedosa station
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- Published on Thursday, June 16, 2016
Photo by Eoin Devereux. The Minnedosa train station was built in 1910. Since 2005, local volunteers have spent over 2,000 hours in maintenance and repairs.
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for a heritage group in Minnedosa that’s been working for over a decade to preserve the town’s train station. Minnedosa Heritage Inc. has received a financial offer of $75,000 from CP Rail to compensate them for the work the organization has done to the historic building since 2006. During a meeting on Tuesday, June 14, the group considered the offer and voted to send a counter offer to CP of $110,000.
Heritage Inc. chair Brion Pollon said that number was decided upon because it’s more in line with the amount of money spent on upgrading the facility, as well as compensation for the more than 2,000 volunteer hours that have been accumulated over the years in maintenance.
“[Minnedosa Heritage Inc.] has been involved for so long. We’ve been working to ensure the building didn’t fall into disrepair. The shingles were in bad shape, the roof needed to be redone and the windows were no longer in good shape,” said Pollon. “Over the course of a few years, we fixed the roof, replaced the shingles and the windows. A lot of time and cost went into that, so to walk away would be difficult. The number we’re sending [CP Rail] is more in line with those efforts.”
These negotiations are part of a much larger battle for the site, which started in 2005. During the CP Rail’s Holiday Train in Minnedosa that year, railway representatives made an unexpected announcement when they unveiled that they were giving the historic station to the community for the cost of $1.
After a basic verbal understanding on the transfer was secured, committee members got to work making repairs to the exterior of the building. After years of negotiations, however, with no formal signed agreement, CP declared in January of this year, that they would instead use the building as office space. Heritage Inc. was offered access to the train station’s attic, but the group determined that the space would not work. CP Rail replied to that with the payout offer. Pollen said the heritage group remains optimistic that they’ll be able to negotiate a financial settlement that is agreeable to both sides quickly.
“Still hopeful that we’re within weeks of an agreement, if not days,” said Pollon. “While it’s a bit disappointing to be at this point, the main objective of the Minnedosa Heritage was to make sure the building remained an important and valuable part of our community. It will be, though not in the way we had envisioned.”
The station was built in 1910. It was last used as a train station in 1960. However, CP continued to use it as office space until 2000.
As for what may be next for Minnedosa Heritage after a deal has been struck, the group’s next move could include the construction of a smaller scale replica building, in conjunction with the Heritage Village.
“We’ve formulated a gentleman’s agreement to build a replica building down there with Heritage Village. A few ideas that are being considered. All this is still in the very early stages. It might be in the style of the original train station, that burnt down. We’ll also look at grant options, so these are things that are still to be decided. At this point, we’re just waiting to hear back from CP. Hopefully, we can move forward from this and get started on something positive for the community,” said Pollon.
