A funny thing happened on the way to Freeman Station

By James Smith

March 23, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

Once upon a time in Burlington-by-the-bay, the wise council of the Burlington Burghers, (not to be confused with the much heralded Hot-dogs of Easterbrooks), happened upon some gold the upper tiers of governance of the Fair Domain were willing to gift to the happy citizens of Burlington-by-the-bay to make it a more glad and pleasant part of the realm. The wise council proposed to use this gold to improve a Park honouring the illustrious Spencer the Smith.

As a very wise council indeed, they decided to make the gift of gold accomplish two things at one time; take an idle once loved train station of the Freeman, the village owned and that was slowly falling into rack and ruin, and move it to the Park honouring the illustrious Spencer the Smith. Thereupon, the once loved train station would be once again used, but now as a place of delight, information and as an accessible room o’washing.

The Freeman station got moved around a number of times while the city figured out what it wanted to do with the thing. When city council failed to come up with a solution citizens found a home. 

So with the promise of gold from on high, the wise council hired architects to go about their arts by drafting blueprints for a renovation of the once loved train station and move it to a new location where it could once again have a new use and a new life serving the Burghers of Burlington. Plans were put to velum, and the wise council were on the verge of having the town crier proclaim the once loved station’s new use.

But then a storm clouds appeared! Evil trolls who dwelled in the dark towers opposite the Park honouring the illustrious Spencer the Smith and who despised fun and glee clicked and clattered their keyboards. “How dare the Burghers of Burlington take this gold and spoil our view of the billowing lake! A pox on their fun and gayety and on all that is jolly!” grumbled the oleiferous trolls.

The trolls did what trolls always do, they plotted and schemed on how to best stop the wise council’s wish to repurpose the once loved station. The trolls in their coven plotted and schemed and found a weak link in the wise council.

That weakness was found in none other than the Lord Mayor his ownself.! So disguised as poor and humble peasants, they convinced His Lord Mayorness not to use the gold to relocate and renovate the once loved train station to the Park honouring the illustrious Spencer the Smith. So due to the Lord Mayor’s eyes being deceived, the once loved station was left to rot next to the fire brigade’s barracks.

Sitting on some “cribbing” with a sign badly in need of several coats of paint, the Freeman Station gets ready for its big move.

As the years passed, the once loved train station’s fate grew more and more dire and a new wise council with a new Lord Mayor wanted rid of it and told the Burghers of Burlington as much. “As I come from ye olde England, where we have real heritage I say, this not be a structure of significance and heritage, so away with it!” Cried one member of the new wise council clutching his abacus with glee.

“Oh Vandals! Oh Philistines!” cried many Burghers of Burlington (including your humble ballad-monger), “the once loved train station should be saved, if not by you, oh wise council, then by us, its friends!” So the wise council gave their blessing to these Friends of the Station of Freemen to restore, move and renovate the once loved Freeman Train station. Bravely, two of the wise council, Meed-Ward and Lancaster came forward to mentor these Friends of the Station of Freemen. But since the talons of the evil trolls were long, the wise council forbid these friends of the once loved Freeman Train station from moving the station to the Park honouring the illustrious Spencer the Smith.

So the friends of the once loved Freeman Train station set about their work. They listened to many and discovered almost any location in Burlington-by-the-bay would not only cost tens of thousands of dollars to move, but would also cost even more money to move the many electrical and telegraph wires that crisscrossed the roads of Burlington-by-the-bay. Oh whine and pout! Any location is out of our means! Whatever shall we do?

Freeman Train station commenced moving and renovating the station and collecting olde time train memorabilia.

But then a wise friend of the once loved Freeman Train station looked carefully at a property next to the fire brigade’s barracks and wondered “why can’t we use that vacant lot?”. As the lot was separated from an owner’s factory by high transmission wires it was unusable by the factory. Upon approach, it seems the factory owners were all too happy to rent the land to the friends of the once loved Freeman Train station for a loonie so the once loved train station could be moved and renovated.

And so it was that the friends of the once loved Freeman Train station set about raising tens of thousands of dollars (as upper tiers of governance of the Fair Domain had long since spent the gold on more deserving villages).

As the donations came in, the friends of the once loved Freeman Train station commenced moving and renovating the station and collecting olde time train memorabilia.

As some of we former friends of the once loved Freeman Train station cautioned, a structure needs a use. Without a use, it will not thrive. While “locus in quo!” may be the cry of the Agents of Estates Real howsoever, and sadly, without a purpose or a programme even the most efficacious edifice set upon a busy thoroughfare and owned by the citizens of a village will eventually sit idle and slowly slide back into ruination.

While lovingly restored and with a fine collection of fragments of things of trains and railways past, a collection without a programme is just a collection.

The once loved Station of Freemen might end at this point. While lovingly restored and with a fine collection of fragments of things of trains and railways past, a collection without a programme is just a collection. While your humble bard no longer lives in Burlington-by-the-bay, it’s up to new friends to emerge with a new and exciting use for the once loved station of the Freemen.

Oh, and maybe paint over that badly conceived and poorly executed black and white carbuncle of a “mural” slap-dashed upon the wall that only makes the structure look even more abandon and forlorn while you’re at it. Then all of the good Burghers of Burlington-by-the-bay might live happily ever after.

James Smith on the left, sitting through a council meeting with his FOFS colleagues.

It’s been a decade since James Smith lived in ‘Burlie’. He doesn’t read the Gazette all that often.  On the weekend he was reminded of the sad news of the Freeman Station being shuttered in a recent article. As a former president of The Friends of Freeman Station, I felt motivated to draft the attached.  Smith also ran for the Ward 5 Council seat.  Burlington would have been a different city had he won.