Village Squire, 1977-01, Page 4Meet Mc at the &ation
Meet Me at the Station
captures charm
of railway
stations
before they disappear.
1. Villaue Squire/January 1977
What is the mystery of the rails that draws people
inexorably to wonder about the huge machines that power
along them from coast to coast or just down the line a few
miles?
Why do grown men spend hundreds of dollars to recreate a
little of the atmosphere of the railway with models?
Why do people like Elizabeth A. Willmot devote a good
part of their lives to trying to capture what is left of the age
when the railways was once the king of the transportation
scene in Canada?
Who knows? Certainly there is the nostalgia aspect today,
but that doesn't explain it completely. There is the fascination
with things mechanical which draws little boys to trains and
trucks and airplanes but it goes deeper than that.
The railway is all these things and more. It helped shape
the form of our country. It helped guide where people would
live, where they would work, where they would not live.
where they would not work. It helped some fortunes to be
made and probably a few lost.
It is this fascination with the railroad that has led to the
success of Miss Willmot's book Meet Me At The Station. The
book is now in its second printing and approaching its third in
the short time since it was released in October.
The book is the result of a lifetime love affair with the
railroad by Miss Willmot. Every place she lived when she was
growing up, she says, was within the sound of a train. When
her father gave her a camera at age 10, she combined her two
interests and began taking pictures of trains and everything
else involved with the railroad. When she grew up she
pursued the interest further, taking courses for four summers
at the Banff School of Fine Arts on railway photography. Her
photography won her a scholarship to the school.
Since then she's travelled widely to capture the beauty of
old railway stations which have been disappearing at a
regular rate since railway passenger service was cut back in
the 1960's and early 1970's.
Unlike many people who have a good deal of trouble getting
their work published, Meet Me at the Station provided no
such problem for Miss Willmot. In fact, it was Gage
Publishing that approached her about the book. Books
capturing the disappearing architecture of Canada have been