Anecdotes and Updates 1882-1982 - Virden Centennial ... - Manitobia

A View of the CPR Station, Passenger Train and Gardens.During the busy railroading years this station supplied twenty-fourhour service and employed an agent, assistant agent, andthree telegraph operators, each one working an eight-hour 'trick' .It is noteworthy that W. S. Hooper was agent here around 1887while his son, George S. Hooper, acted as agent from 1965 to 1967when he retired. Father and son spanned eighty years of railroadingin Virden.The agency closed in 1971, Bruce Treble being the last agent.Customer Service is now centred in Brandon.It is depressing to visit the station now. It stands empty but forthe occasional venturesome soul waiting (and waiting and waiting)for VIA Rail, or the odd derelict seeking a place of warmth.Dismal and silent, what a contrast to the bright, bustling centre itused to be!C.P.R. Repeater Station VirdenThe repeater office was built between the C.P.R. station andSixth Avenue. A road went around this cream colored stuccobuilding to accommodate traffic to the station. The office was builtusing hollow red brick tile laid horizontally and stuccoed. It wasone of a chain built at forty-mile intervals as power booster stationsto carry radio signals across Canada. It was opened in July 1929with Harry L. McMillan as the first operator.Harry was a lineman out of Winnipeg when he was offeredthis new job in Virden at a wage of $140 per month. Other than one37