As a former Brookfield resident, I remember when the former "Cannonball" stopped here, made famous by Gil Reid's paintings. Contrary to what the attached news article states the Depot was opened for the Cannonball in the morning and afternoon by a Milwaukee Road Passenger Department employee until that service ended in Spring of 1972 (the article mistakenly mentions the depot closed in 1971 with the advent of Amtrak.........nope, stayed open for another year). My last glimpse of the inside of the depot was in the late 1970's a track section crew was at the station (they stored section cars in the baggage / express section of the Depot). At that time the waiting room was still largely intact and not touched........so I have my doubts that the interior of the depot is currently "gutted" because CP continued with the former Milwaukee Road practice and only used the front half or baggage / express section of the depot for storing tools and section cars. In fact the big door on the station on the wall facing the street was used by the Railway Express Agency for trucks as well as USPS. It was used as a loading dock direct from the mail and express part of the depot.
Anyways here are some pictures and the article of what is going to happen to the depot:
http://www.schaarcommunications.com/brookfieldrails.html
The back half of the depot where the windows are is the waiting room. Inside the waiting room was a old wood framed ticket / train dispatch window (on the western view of the depot this was the bay window part). Wooden wainscotting up to your waist and above that painted walls. Church pew type benches for seating. Cieling had wood bracing and crown moudling. It was a nice small town depot waiting room.
Here are the plans for future use:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/west/news/brookfield/2018/07/18/fiddleheads-coffee-plans-redevelop-old-brookfield-train-depot/796908002/
I can understand why CP wants to get rid of the structure as it is charged a property tax on the building regardless of the condition it is in. Also the roof needs to be rehabed as it was starting to sag, keeping the Depot in it's current location would be a real safety issue as it is located around a blind curve for Eastbound trains and the track speed limit past the depot is 65 for freight and 79 for Passenger. Not very safe when you consider how close the depot is to the Eastbound track.......so attempting to keep it in it's current position as a museum or community gathering space I am sure CP would oppose. However the depot could have been slid back a few hundred feet from the crossing and the space between West and Eastbound tracks would increase as this is where the double track mainline divides for the grade through Brookfield. So the more the Depot was moved back from the RR crossing the more space on each side from the tracks it would have cleared. This would have been far better than moving it to a different section of town and repurposing as a coffee shop.......oh well, too late now.
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