We are not sure when this photo was taken, although available evidence points to a pre-1929 date. The 1929 AER plans show 14-foot by 20-foot structure as the McGregor Bay station located at Mile 72.68 between the tracks and the McGregor Bay shoreline. The distance to the shore, according to the plan book is only about 50 feet. The plan book also shows a 10-foot by 52-foot "T" shaped dock jutting out into McGregor Bay behind the station. The dock and the station were connected by a platform. The station also had a 144-foot platform along the track. Although the dimensions for the station agree with the above photo, there appears to be no water behind the station. There also is no evidence of a platform in front of the station. One possible explanation is that the station was originally built on the other east side of the tracks and then later moved to the shore, or west side of the tracks, possibly when the dock. The other explanation is that there might have been two separate stations at different times. About a 1000 feet north of the station shown on the 1929 AER plan book is a 12-foot by 18-foot structure on the opposite side of the tracks, identified as a freight shed. As this structure is very near the current site of a grade crossing of the line, it is possible that when the dock was built, a second station was also built and the first was converted to a freight shed. Certainly the position and size of the freight shed shown on the plan book agrees with the above photo. Hopefully some viewer of this page will know the answer to this question and communicate it to us. Whatever the answer, an environmental audit done by the CPR recently
indicates that the Birch Island Station was sold in 1963. It probably
was removed shortly thereafter.
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