Moving on Down the Line

Well, we are seeing things happening on the site! This morning we went over to give instructions to our electrician as to the location of the transformer. His name is Lorne Green. You think that is unusual - his company name is Bonanza Electric. He is old enough to see the humor in that one! If you are reading this and you don't "get it" - ask someone over 50. In the picture you see Lorne down in the hole with the concrete vault that will house power lines etc. Shouldn't be long before we see the tell-tale sign of a green box on top. Lorne also has our temporary power box in. How exciting - we ALMOST have power!


If we back ourselves up a little bit (and trains definitely do back up to block the roadway!) we have in our picture file the REAL first sign of something happening at 4892 - 46 Street. We had to have a soils report done a while ago. It was a foggy morning so we got an interesting picture of the rig pulling up soil to see what sort of content was down there. Need a good base for a good building!

There. Now you have seen all that has happened so far! The other things - like phone calls and more phone calls and visits to the lumber companies isn't quite as exciting to show you as these sorts of things. Now we can move forward again on down the line!

Dedication of The Siding 12 Station

On June 16th at 8:00 p.m. Peter and I gathered with family and friends on the actual property of the new station to commit the project to the Lord, even before a shovel full of dirt was turned. In our hearts and minds this was the only way to start an undertaking like this. Some dear people couldn't make it, but we knew they were (and are!) with us in prayer.

Having a time of prayer over a "non-spiritual" construction project like this isn't typically done. But we strongly believe if the Lord is to be in our lives in all we do there is no occasion too secular to publicly bring before Him. We were so blessed to share this time with incredible people, and having them with us that night confirmed the potential of a project like this.

Through this project we want to build more than walls and a roof. We want to also build relationships with all who will be involved - from dirt work to shingles. We already see God keeping us accountable to one another and with Him in all the transactions and planning that are underway.

Right now it may seem like not much is happening on the property - but hey - spend a day or two in our offices here and you will be amazed at how much progress is really taking place (and money being spent!).

Here are a few pictures from that evening we want to share with you. And yes, we are on the actual site of the building (rainy muddy puddles and all!).

Trip to Golden

You know how serious (we call it that instead of 'crazy') about this project when we make a special trip all the way to Golden, British Columbia and back in one day! This special trip happened on Thursday June 15/06. We left Lacombe at 6:00am and arrived at the plant south of Golden (15min.) just after 11:00am.

The photo here is the entrance sign to the plant. We discovered this company when we drove by in early May when we were driving by on a holiday trip since we were staying at Fairmont at the time. What a blessing it was to be able to have this company do the work for us. They will be building all the timber brackets which are the signature of the building holding up the major roof eave all around the building. They are also building the timber trusses for the second floor roof. It was a great blessing to know that they are using Douglas fir timbers which ultimately made the structural engineer happy since they have more capacity than pine as originally expected.

While we were there, one of the owner's of the facility mentioned the Golden CPR train station that was going to be restored once sufficient monies would be available. We had the opportunity to see the building right in the town on a museum site. Structurally it appears in very good condition. We thought that the colors of the building were probably very close to standard CPR colors so we also considered that a blessing for us to see it!!

We enjoyed a great lunch at the Golden Grizzly. (Lorraine ordered "road kill") We arrived back home around 8:00pm

A wee bit'o history!

Over the next while, we will post some of the photos we have been accumulating on the history of the train station. When we first started this endeavor, we contacted the local Michener House Museum if they had any information on the buidling. This was about two years ago. At that time, we were informed the museum had no photos in their archives.

Our local paper, The Lacombe Globe, has been publishing on page 4, historical photos just for the interest of the readers. Well, recently, a photo showed up in the paper indicating it was an interior shot of the Lacombe Train Station. To our surprise it came from the Michener House Museum. Somebody found the shot and submitted it to the paper!! (Who knows, if they dig deeper there may be more!!) We were very happy to see it since we did not have any photos of the interior of the building at all! After being in contact with the editor of the paper, he forwarded a digital copy of the photo that you now see here!

It's a GO!!!

All our ducks got in a row recently to get going on the Siding 12 Train Station project. Lorraine and I thought it would be a great idea over two years ago to build a replica of the 1911 train station here in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. This station was removed from service apparently sometime in the 1960's and the building was removed or torn down in 1978.

We are not able to locate it on the exact spot that is was originally, since this land is reserved for road widening of Highway 2A that runs through Lacombe. Our site is along the tracks, but about 500 feet further north and on the opposite side.

Once it is completed, it will appear very close to the one in the photo posted here.

Watch the blog for updates on the construction including photos. We are hoping to break ground in about two weeks, so in late June, early July/o6.

In the mean time, we have a few photos that you might find interesting to see from the original station. We will post them soon!

Have an awesome day!!