Greenville Junction Depot restoration project continues

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    GREENVILLE — Thanks to public generosity and contributions from some major Maine corporations, the Greenville Junction Depot restoration project is continuing this summer, 125 years after the first passenger train stopped at the building.
    “Jewett Builders from Gardiner is replacing the sills and leveling the station,” said Greenville Junction Depot Friends chairman Jane Hall. “Concrete pads donated by Auburn Concrete, lumber from Hammond Lumber and steel beams donated by Cianbro Corporation arrived last week.”

Contributed photo

    GREENVILLE JUNCTION DEPOT

    The station was built in 1889 by the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the unusual “witch’s hat” was added to the roof sometime between 1900 and 1910, according to the railroad’s archives. The last regular passenger service using this station ended on Dec. 17, 1994 with discontinuation of VIA Rail Atlantic service.
    Texas entrepreneur John “Randy” Parten started Acadian Railway, a luxury passenger train service from Montreal to New Brunswick, in 2002 with a scheduled stop at the depot. But the service folded after one year due to low passenger volume.
    Since 2010, Hall and several supporters have been working on a way to save the structure from further decay and move it to a new location.
    The building was owned by the former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway who agreed to turn the building over to the non-profit organization, provided that they move it.  The new owners, Central Maine and Quebec Railway, “will honor the agreement and is drawing up a formal letter stating such,” Hall told the Observer.
    The Friends had been eyeing a state-owned lot almost directly across from the current location for the depot’s new “home” but the Land Use Planning Commission had originally vetoed the idea because it was too close to wetlands.
    “So we will be returning to LUPC and the Department of Environmental Protection for reconsideration, so we can still be close to the original site which maintains the historical significance of the depot,” Hall said.
    Hall said that the Department of Transportation also cleared a large culvert “which had been blocked for years and ditched it to Shadow Pond.”
    As fund-raising efforts continue, the biggest event will be the fourth annual Greenville Junction Depot Celebration on Saturday, Aug. 16 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., the same weekend as the 100th anniversary of the Steamship Katahdin.
    The Crosby Community Band from Dexter will be playing at noon with a “British Invasion” repertoire featuring Beatles songs, celebrating the historic rock group’s 50th anniversary of their American tour.
    Historical exhibits, model trains, videos, vendors, an art exhibit by Milt Christianson and mooseburgers by donation will be back, with condiments from the Northwoods Gourmet Girl and prepared by the Grillmaster General.
    More information and updates on the celebration will be posted at www.greenvilledepot.org and the Friends’ Facebook page.