From Sea to Sea to Sea, Canada in the early 20th century was a growing country and railways were tying it together. As the population grew more stations were built to meet demand, in 1915 the village of Fort Langley reach that level. Canadian Northern Railway built Langley Station to the same “Third Class” specifications as 85 other similar size stations across the country. The building holds an office, reception area and private living quarters for the station agent on the mail floor with staff bedrooms and kitchen on the second floor.
Langley Station was used by Canadian Northern until it ran into financial trouble and was bought by Canadian National Railway, who used the station continuously until 1980 when passenger service to Fort Langley was discontinued. The site lay dormant until the town purchased the site in 1983, designated a Municipal Historic Site and turned into an information centre, with the station office turned into an interactive museum allowing a glimpse into train travel in the early twentieth century.
Volunteers explain the history and operations of the station and the station agents. Along the way they may point out some of hightlights of the stations story, like the Royal visits of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mum) as well as the visit of then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Other pieces of important rail history lay on the tracks next to the station, a 1900’s velocipede, a restored 1947 CN passenger car holds some of the memorabilia passengers would have seen onboard a train trip and attached 1920’s caboose holds a model railway.
Fort Langley CNR Station is located at 23185 Mavis Street, Fort Langley and open weekends, noon until 4pm, with volunteers present from May thru October