Project Background:

The Standard Community Facility Enhancement Society (SCFES) approached Spencer Purdy to be involved in their Memory Lane (1.2 Km Walking Path & Park).  The prompt of the project was to create a showcase public art installation that reflected the railway history of the small community, create a space to gather, and revitalize interest in visiting Standard.  

Project Narrative & Design:

The railway helped build and shape our vast nation. It linked small towns with bigger cities and unified the country from coast to coast. The Railway across Canada was completed in 1885. It was just the beginning of a rich history that supported the settlement of the western provinces, promoted the economic development of a new nation, provided transport of essential resources during times of war, and ultimately allowed Canada to come into its own. Stations like the one in Standard operated as essential hubs in all this activity.

 The Standard Station acted as one such node for the Railway but it was also a hub for the town as was often the case in prairie communities. When they came to town, trains brought news from loved ones, coveted goods not available in town, and they created a predictable energy hard to find elsewhere. When they rolled away, trains took with them young folks in search of a new future, shared goods from the farm and ranch to be consumed by the rest of Canada and overseas, and the pioneering spirit of the west. The Standard Station was the centre of it all.

Just as quickly as these train stations appeared as important landmarks in towns throughout the west, they disappeared. As cities formed, communication and travel changed. These small towns lost their train stations to time. The Standard Station was razed in 1964 and disappeared from the landscape but not from the memory of the residents.

The conceptual design of the “Vanish Station” builds on the history of Standard Station. As you approach the platform one experiences a series of panels perpendicularly along their flat edge. This particular alignment reveals an enlarged stylized 1909 blueprint elevation. As one continues experiencing the site, similar to a venetian blind when aligned along the thin end of the panels, the station “Vanishes” revealing the Prairie horizon behind. In one installation you experience what stood, and what vanished.

This Station is not unique. The fabric of our nation is woven together by communities like Standard. Prairie history is bursting with examples of people doing the best they can for their communities and communities doing the best they can for their country. This new Station is a reminder to honour that tradition and carry forward the communal spirit of the railway.