The West Coast Railway Association has issued the following statement on the demise of Dr. Ernie Ledgerwood:
It is with great sadness that those of us associated with the West Coast Railway Association find that we have lost one of our most beloved within our community – Dr. Ernie Ledgerwood.
Ernie and Lynn Ledgerwood have been one of the most devoted couples ever to support the railway charity in Squamish.
From the earliest days of the society, to the creation of the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish in 1994, and even to the most recent events held at the venue, both Ernie and Lynn have been long-time valuable volunteers and supporters.
It is with a great sense of sadness that we have lost Ernie.
There are so many contributions that Dr. Ledgerwood has made over the years to our “railway heritage” cause. We recall Ernie and Lynn out helping us in the “Adopt A Highway” initiative, picking up detritus by the side of the highway to “clean up” Squamish.
It was a hot, long day and both Ernie and Lynn stuck with the team throughout the exercise. So many times they have helped at the WCRA’s events – early on Dr. Ledgerwood would man the first aid station at our annual Thomas the Train event and Lynn would help with the retail and greet our visitors.
Ernie the craftsman would create dozens – no, hundreds – of wooden Christmas trees, little trains and the like for the children to decorate at our annual Polar Express.
His home workshop would be converted to a “Polar Express workshop” during November and December – creating all sorts of crafts, new gadgets we needed, or repairs to various broken items.
Ernie, along with Lynn, participated in so many social and business gatherings of the association, and you could always count on both to be at every holiday dinner event, theatre presentation, train ride and AGM.
Ernie was always willing to help with preparations and arrangements, and Lynn, with his help, often did the preparation and packaging of tickets for our Thomas and Polar Express events – a big task that took up much of an entire month or more each and every year.
Dr. Ernie Ledgerwood will be missed by the local railway community.
Lynn and Ernie have represented the soul of the West Coast Railway Association and Ernie’s departure will be a great loss to all of us.
Ken Tanner is currently a volunteer and supporter of the West Coast Railway Association (WCRA). He retired in 2018 from serving as an executive of the association for most of the last decade. Ken has had the privilege of knowing and working with both Ernie and his wife Lynn in their many volunteer activities at the WCRA.
