- by Marie Kovacs Miersch Hassard

Many years ago, our family lived just up the street from the train station at  146 12th St. E from 1961 to 1967 from 8  to 13 years.  The harbour and the train station hold some great childhood memories for me.

When the trains came in at night and would go on the turn around, if the neighborhood kids were playing hide and seek or just down there waiting for the train to arrive,  the guy would let us get on the train for a the very short ride back to the station.  No, you wouldn't get anyone doing that today. I remember hearing the train pulling in and I would run as fast as I could to see the people getting off the train (so exciting...we only lived 4 houses up the street)

I remember my friends and I used an open box car as a club house ...I would have been 10 years old? We would scream and hear our echo ...we played lots of games in there.

I remember the huge luggage cart parked at the side of CPR and after they closed up my brothers and neighbourhood boys would push us girls on it. Yes, I used to walk along the tracks and use it as a balance beam (not a smart move, looking back!!)

I remember my Daddy receiving a telegraph there and the one and only time, I got to go inside...so exciting! I remember the big fire when the big storage sheds caught on fire and my Daddy taking us down to see it.

And a not so pleasant memory - I remember my friend Alfie Fromager Jr. drowning in the harbor near the CPR and how much I cried and how much I missed hm.

I loved watching all the ships coming and going in the harbour and them unloading...skipping stones in the water and yes...watching all the fishing in water and on shore, fascinated by the water and the ice in the winter.