This little building which serves the West Coast Railway Heritage Park as a temporary
reception centre and gift store was originally located in the CNR coach yards in
Vancouver. It is typical of thousands of unassuming track side buildings that were a
familiar feature of Canadian Railways.
This building dates back to Canadian Northern Railway days and was probably built
between 1910 and 1920. It served in the coach yard area of the CNR yards as a storage
building until 1992 when it, along with the other coach yard shops was slated for
demolition. Unfortunately, due to their size the only building that it was possible to save
was the "Wilkie Station".
Appleton Contracting had the job of demolishing the buildings however, when contacted
by the WCRA they agreed to allow the building to be moved. Volunteers moved in and
prepared the structure for the move. Early on the morning of May 15, 1992 it was on its
way to Squamish.
Many residents of Saskatchewan will ask if the building is from Wilkie, Sask. When it
came time to give the building a name, however, Wilkie was chosen to honour one of
Canada's foremost railway historians and photographers, J. S. David Wilkie of Victoria,
B.C. For the past half century the name David Wilkie has meant the finest in railway
photography. From the days of steam in Canada to the "Big Boys" of the Union Pacific
his portrayal of these magnificent machines have graced the pages of "Trains" and other
magazines and books.
