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column by John Cosway is a mix of 50 years of media memories
and 15 years of buying and selling experiences via live and online
auctions, flea markets, antique stores and markets etc.
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- Cosway's Corner -
Memory Junction Museum
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 By John Cosway
Ralph Bangay has been working on the railroad for
10 years, but has yet to leave the station.
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- He doesn't have to leave - he owns the station, the nearby
railway tracks and a collection of vintage locomotives and rail
cars.
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- Ralph's Memory Junction Museum in Brighton, Ontario, is a
fascinating historic 1857 railway station that attracts 4,000
to 5,000 train enthusiasts of all ages each year.
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- Now, at 81, Ralph has opened his museum for a 10th and possibly
final season, which also marks the 150th anniversary of the Brighton
station.
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- (The station's 150th anniversary was celebrated Aug. 12,
2007, during an open house party, with a ribbon cutting, messages
from Brighton Mayor Chris Herrrington, MP Rick Norlock, MPP Lou
Rinaldi, local historians etc., plus cake and refreshments.)
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- Ralph is coming back from two knee replacement operations
and his five children are urging their multi-talented father
to let a buyer take over the popular tourist destination.
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- But the retired plumbing, heating and sheet metal worker,
editorial cartoonist and handyman extraordinaire says he hasn't
decided when he will bid adieu to his labour of love.
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- The historic railway station - one of 32 original Grand Trunk
Railway stations built after the first Toronto-to-Montreal rail
link opened Nov. 4, 1856 - would have been demolished in 1996
had Ralph not stepped up to the plate.
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- With the full support of his wife, Eugenia, he purchased
the three-acre site on Maplewood Street, just south of Hwy. 2,
to use the abandoned station for a personal workshop.
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- "We didn't buy the station in 1996 to go into business,"
says Eugenia. "Ralph thought he would spend his days there
enjoying what he had, but as soon as we started to clean the
place up, many people we knew, and some passing through, would
stop by just to see the old place.
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- "People started to say they could remember this and
that about the station, or remember when they left or when they
came home from the war," she says. "Others remembered
getting off the train when they came to Canada."
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- Converting the property into an active railway museum didn't
register on Ralph until all of the curious railway enthusiasts
put him on the right track.
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- "They made me aware of just how many railway enthusiasts
there are in North America," says Ralph, an army vet with
18 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with a sixth on
the way.
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- "With all the memories from people, we thought it fitting
to call it Memory Junction Museum and so we opened it in 1997
for everyone to enjoy," says Eugenia.
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- Most of the initial museum artifacts for the opening came
directly from their nearby residence - where it had been "stuffed
in the barn, attic, basement and elsewhere."
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- Supporters over the years have donated other railway memorabilia
and cash donations by visitors to the museum have been used to
add railway artifacts.
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- "It has grown beyond our wildest dreams," says
Eugenia.
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- Open from mid-May through mid-October, Memory Junction Museum
is a haven for rail enthusiasts wanting a hands-on experience.
Vintage rail cars and locomotives are parked on tracks only feet
from the station museum.
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- Fully restored locomotives and rail cars, representing more
than a century of Canadian railway heritage, include a 1906 Grand
Trunk locomotive and tender, a 1913 Canadian Pacific boxcar,
a 1929 boarding car, a 1930 Canadian National Railways caboose
etc.
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- The outdoor attractions also include an 1898 Velocipede display,
a baggage shed and the Morrow Building, which was used by the
Morrow family in the early 1900s as a Ford unloading depot, first
for buggies and later for Ford automobiles, an 1880s hop kiln
etc.
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- The three-acre slice of railway nostalgia sits only yards
from two active main CNR lines and a single CPR track that cut
through this small community, nestled between Cobourg to the
west and Trenton and Belleville to the east.
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- Ralph says more than 75 freight and passenger trains on nearby
railway tracks rumble past the museum daily, adding to the ambiance
for rail buffs looking for main line action.
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- Eugenia says in another life, Ralph would have been a full-time
artist, but on his return from World War 2, he began working
with his brother, the only plumber in Brighton. Then it was heating
and sheet metal work and freelance cartooning for a local newspaper.
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- "He should have been an artist, but as the situation
was, he never had the opportunity to pursue that. He was the
cartoonist for the local paper for eight or 10 years, which he
thoroughly enjoyed."
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- But who knew his trade jobs would pay off in another way.
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- "In his line of work, Ralph was in every attic and basement
in this big area and anything people did not want, he dragged
it home," says Eugenia.
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- Ralph says he was on his own when it came to early renovations
and restorations, but then volunteers began showing up to give
him a welcomed hand.
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- "We have brought the place back from a dump with the
labour of many wonderful volunteers," says Eugenia. "I
think people like to give Ralph things for the museum because
they know he never gets rid of anything. They feel safe that
it won't be sold or thrown out."
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- Ralph takes great pride in welcoming the men, women and children
who arrive for a visit each season. Annual visits have grown
from 1,500 in the first year to 4,000 to 5,000 in 2006.
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- The Brighton station, built with bricks from a local brick
manufacturer, is one of nine stations still standing from the
original 32 stations built to serve passengers of the Grand Trunk
Railway line.
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- (The eight other original GTR stations are: Preserved and
in original locations - Prescott, Ernestown, Napanee, Belleville
and Port Hope; Moved and preserved - Aultsville (Upper Canada
Village) and Whitby (now a library); Burned but still there -
Kingston (for sale.)
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- The Brighton station continued as a CN station after the
GTR made its exit in 1923. Train service ended in the 1960s because
of a decline in passengers. It sat vacant for three decades before
its demolition was considered in 1996 - until Ralph tooted his
horn.
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- "It would be wonderful to have something exciting going
on for our 10th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the
station," says Eugenia. "We did celebrate the 150th
anniversary of the rail line through Brighton last year and our
old steam engine turned 100 last year."
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- Sponsors would be welcomed for additions and events this
season, she says.
"With no funding, we have fixed and expanded and bought
what we could. We have laid the ground work and the next to follow
will have a gold mine."
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- To reach Ralph and Eugenia, e-mail them at re.bangay@sympatico.ca
or visit their website at: www.memoryjunction.netfirms.com/
- Other articles by John Cosway
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