LADIES WAITING ROOM LIBRARY

Our library occupies a significant portion of the former Ladies’ Waiting Room. What is its story?

The blueprint for the Canadian Pacific station in 1916 included a waiting room reserved for women and children, as was the custom at the time. It was located just west of the general office that featured the wicket where travellers purchased their tickets.

We believe that the decline of passenger counts in the early 1960s and the consolidation of freight handling in a few stations, including Middleton, led to the closure of this separate waiting room. When the waiting room closed, it was refashioned into an extension of the freight shed. The first step was the removal of the attached baggage room. Then the freight shed was moved about a hundred feet east and joined to the original station. To make the best use of the available space, the floor was raised several feet to the level of the relocated freight station.

Individual donors, including Paul Bushnell, John Cameron, Lloyd Glidden, Gary Hadfield, and Dr Roger Prentice, allow us to enjoy hundreds of railway-themed books. The restoration of our station allows us to display them.

Please Note: Cataloguing of our collection is in progress so the catalogue below is not yet complete.

You can search and browse our collection below: