One of Hanna's landmarks, the old CN Station, is about to find a new home as a tourist information centre.
Council passed a series of motions on Tuesday, June 13, to enter into negotiations with three organizations: Henry Kroeger Regional Water Services; Buchfink Construction and Olmstead and Son's Building Movers to get the station moved to its new location on Highway 9 where the current tourism booth stands.
They are entering into negotiations with Henry Kroeger because the land is owned by them, Buchfink Construction to create a basement for the building to sit on and Olmstead and Son's to move the station/
"We wanted to create a bigger, better tourist booth out of the old station to better represent our community's heritage as it used to be a CN town." said Mayor Pat Burns. "The building itself is structurally sound and the engineers approved it for transport. The west end was an add-on that will be removed.
He added the station needed a basement either for more storage space or for displays.
One hundred thousand dollars was set aside in the last budget for the project. If there is any left after the move, Mayor Burns said, they will put it towards more renovations.
The station, like in many prairie towns, used to be the hub of the community, where producers would load dairy and live cattle into cars. Remains of the old cattle loading gates can be still be seen in the reservoir just south of the Doll Palace on the east end of town, where they used to be housed at the stockyards.
It was also a passenger station.
CN no longers owns the building, it is property of the Town of Hanna, giving the town free reign over its maintenance and relocation.
Mayor Burns said moving the station by late fall is feasible if negotitations go well.
The Hanna CNR Station taken by myself in early 2006.
I hope this goes well... since Hanna has one of the few still intact rail road stations in Alberta.