Speakers at the train mural unveiling were, left to right, Karen Hilgendorf, Vice Deputy Mayor Diane Huber, Historian Jeff Hemming, Saugeen Rail Trail President Joyce Scammell, Artist Bert De Graaf and Randy Schnarr who is now heading a new train project “Riding the Rails” at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.

Hub Staff

August 26 saw the official unveiling of the life size mural of steam train #1532 in a 1950s scene, mounted on the wall of the Southampton Market, formerly the Fitton-Parker Furniture Factory, where the original Canadian National Railway spur lines ran.

The mural, part of the Saugeen Rail Trail Association's "Trains to Ships" 25th anniversary celebration painted by artist, Bert DeGraaf also pays tribute to DeGraaf's friend and renowned muralist Allen Hilgendorf who passed away in 2013 and whose work can be seen throughout Grey and Bruce counties, including Saugeen Shores.

Hilgendorf is depicted as the conductor in the mural while his wife Karen is one of the three dimensional characters waving a handkerchief to her husband.

“This is a wonderful thing that the Rail Trail has done,” said Saugeen Shores Vice Deputy Mayor, Diane Huber. “It’s a wonderful representation of something that went on very close to here and I just wanted to say that the Town of Saugeen Shores very much appreciates volunteer efforts in a lot of different ways,” she said.

“The reason why I'm here probably has something to do with the railway too,” said Huber, explaining that her own family had been involved with the local trains and that her father had worked as a fireman on the actual #1532 steam train. “His grandfather ended up here by the Grand Trunk Western Railway, he was a telegraph express man, conductor guy over his career with the train company.”

Saugeen Rail Trail President, Joyce Scammell said it was an exciting day. “It has been an incredible journey and we are grateful for the many partnerships,” she said, mentioning everyone involved in the Rail Trail's silver jubilee projects, which also includes a new accessible gazebo, a replica of the old Southampton train station at the Southampton Rotary trail head, which is expected to be completed in Spring 2017.

Scammell said that there will also be a bench with a tribute plaque to Allen Hilgendorf and his wife, Karen, placed within the next few weeks next to the train mural.

Artist, Bert DeGraaf said it had been quite the project. “It was a project that was a good challenge for me to try to do this, the size especially. The other part of it is a good friend... Allen who has passed... and we wanted to recognize him.”

DeGraaf said that working with train pictures that were one to two inches in width from books and trying to get the angle of the train was one of the main challenges in creating the life size likeness. “We had to go through a lot of material and a lot of photographs to try and get the angle so it wouldn't look like it was going down hill,” he said.

DeGraaf went on to say that he'd had a couple of comments about the 1950s scene being dark but his perception was that the train had just been loaded and was exiting the building in the early morning. “The story is Karen [Hilgendorf] is coming out and she's about to be marrying Allen Hilgendorf.” DeGraaf set the scene, “He had the train all loaded and she came out to say goodbye and then he had a journey... to do a delivery of all the furniture parts.” DeGraff added they were to marry when he returned.

“This was a normal day for this port, it was a normal train station, a normal production, so when you see it it was just business as usual with this wonderful little story of romance,” said DeGraaf. “That's why the figures are there as well.”

Historian, Jeff Hemming commended Joyce Scammell and the Saugeen Rail Trail for their initiative to preserve rail history in Saugeen Shores. “Without that initiative we would have lost an awful lot of information, an awful lot of our history that is so integral to any community,” he said.

“The reason we're here is this amazing work of Bert's engine 1532, a steam engine, one of the last steam engines out of Southampton and it hauled freight, passengers and mail until it was replaced by the diesels,” continued Hemming. “Train service gradually declined and they tore up the tracks in 1980 which was very fortunate for the community in some ways because it gave birth to the Saugeen Rail Trail.

Karen Hilgendorf spoke of her husband and thanked everyone for the tribute to his life. “Allan loved trains and I have a passion for trains as well so when I knew it was going to be a train mural it was just so fitting,” she said, explaining that Allan has over a hundred murals in Grey, Bruce and beyond. “This mural and the story line that I'm bidding him farewell until he goes and makes all his deliveries and then coming back for us to get married is really quite special.”

Steam train #1532 mounted on the side of the Southampton Market depicts what would have been a local scene in the 1950s at the old furniture factory.

People gathered around to watch and listen at the unveiling of the new steam train mural mounted on the Southampton Market.

A table was set up next to the mural with a photograph of Allan Hilgendorf, showing where a tribute plaque and bench will be located within a few weeks.

Saugeen Rail Trail President, Joyce Scammell spoke of the Rail Trail's jubilee projects at the unveiling of the train mural.