Canadian City Railway Stations

[Mrs Sauga]

It sucks that many of these grand railway stations aren't used as railway stations anymore.

Is Windsor Station (Montreal) Montreal equivalent to Union Station??

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Mrs Sauga

It sucks that many of these grand railway stations aren't used as railway stations anymore.

Is Windsor Station (Montreal) Montreal equivalent to Union Station??

Windsor station was the CPR's station (and headquarters), Central Station was CN's. Montreal never had a Union station like many other North American cities did.

[P. Alouishous]

Ottawa's train station looks great, but the fact that it's so far from downtown is super annoying. Ottawa has this strange fascination with locating important buildings in the middle of nowhere.

[MolsonExport]

^I recall seeing the Corel Centre (is it scrotumbank centre now? am I richer than I think?) when it first opened...seemingly out in the middle of buttfuck nowhere.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Mrs Sauga

It sucks that many of these grand railway stations aren't used as railway stations anymore.

Is Windsor Station (Montreal) Montreal equivalent to Union Station??

As much as it sucks that many aren't still train stations, at least they were spared the wrecking ball and are still around for people to enjoy.

[SignalHillHiker]

I don't mind that our old railway was torn up - I just wish it had been replaced with a combined railway (of the standard Canadian size) and highway.

But I understand the decision. The old railway was very inefficient. They called it the Newfie Bullet sarcastically - it usually took weeks to cross the province. And, since we're an island with only one major city, there was no need for anything grander. It would be like having a railway that went from Winnipeg to the Ontario border.

We still have the old railway bed. It's called the T'Railway and it's part of the Trans Canada Trail.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^I recall seeing the Corel Centre (is it scrotumbank centre now? am I richer than I think?) when it first opened...seemingly out in the middle of buttfuck nowhere.

http://www.eqjournal.org/?p=261

Side note. Interesting article on why Scotiabank Place is where it is. It is not ideal, but wouldn't trade our hockey team for the world.

[LeftCoaster]

What about for a better hockey team?

[flar]

More detail of the Hamilton GO Centre, former TH&B railroad

[esquire]

Winnipeg has two grand old railway stations, one of which is still in use as a passenger terminal.

The older of the pair is the old Canadian Pacific station which was built in 1904 and remained in passenger rail use until 1978. It was used as a CP office building until the early 1990s at which point it became the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg. The CP main line still runs directly behind it although all of the passenger rail infrastructure was torn out years ago.


Source: Canada's Historic Places - http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/...e.aspx?id=6345

An interior view (the white ceiling was once glass, but it was filled in somewhere along the way). Right up until CP vacated the building in the 1990s there were still passenger benches in this big hall and various signs like "TICKET OFFICE" and "BAGGAGE ROOM" hanging from the ceiling, as though a passenger train could have rolled in at any time!


Source: Canada's Historic Places - http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/...e.aspx?id=6345

The younger of the two big Winnipeg railway stations is Union Station, which was built by three railways and opened in 1911. It is still used by VIA Rail for eight arrivals and departures a week (10 in the summer), although most of the space in the building is used for various government offices. This building is well taken care of and appears to be in very good shape (although the train shed has seen better days):


Source: Canada's Historic Places - http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/...spx?id=4484#i1

An interior view:


Source: Madbuster75's flickrstream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/madbust...n/photostream/

In addition to the "big two" stations, there were/are numerous smaller stations scattered in and around Winnipeg. The only one I'll note here is the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway terminal, which was built in 1929 and served as the main station for the municipally-owned GWWD Railway.

The GWWD Railway exists essentially to service the aqueduct which brings Winnipeg's municipal drinking water in from Shoal Lake, Ontario. Passenger service ceased sometime during the 70s or 80s, but the station remains in use as the GWWD Railway's office. It is located in a drab industrial park in St. Boniface.


Source: Canada's Historic Places - http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/...spx?id=8223#i1

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by flar

More detail of the Hamilton GO Centre, former TH&B railroad

Ooh, I love that last picture. I don't usually love that type of architecture, but I do. Looks beautiful.

[Mrs Sauga]

Winnipeg and Toronto's are gorgeous!

I just realized I could have titled this "The Great Canadian Railway Station Thread" lol

[Rico Rommheim]

Place Viger, built 1898


Currently abandoned. Slated for renovation / conversion into hotel and condo complex.

http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/fr/col....1&section=196

In 1901

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...about_1901.jpg

Place Viger was both a grand hotel and railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, constructed in 1898 and named after Jacques Viger, Montreal's first mayor. Although combined stations and hotels were common in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, the concept was unique to Canada.
Place Viger was designed by Bruce Price for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was built near what was then the central core of Montreal, in proximity to the financial district, the city hall, the port and the court house. The mayor of Montreal, Raymond Préfontaine, strongly encouraged its construction in an area central to the French Canadian élites, in contrast to the rival Windsor Hotel to the west, which was perceived to cater to the city's anglophone classes. The rail station served as the terminus of the CP passenger rail lines running into downtown Montreal from the north and east. It replaced the older Dalhousie Station. Its counterpart terminus for CP passenger rail lines running into downtown Montreal from the south and west was Windsor Station.

Constructed in the château-style common to Canada's railway hotels, Place Viger housed the railway station in its lower levels and a luxurious hotel on the upper floors. Place Viger enjoyed an enviable setting among the Viger Gardens, allowing both railway travellers and hotel guests to stroll along the garden paths.

wiki

[whatnext]

The derelict BC Rail station in North Vancouver. A minor piece of modernism abandoned since 2002 thanks to that lying idiot Gordon Campbell. Not sure if its still there or has been demolished for a new sewage treatment plant.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Mrs Sauga

It sucks that many of these grand railway stations aren't used as railway stations anymore.

Is Windsor Station (Montreal) Montreal equivalent to Union Station??

Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver was built in 1914 and was used as a passenger rail station until Via rail ceased its activities there (relocating them to Pacific Central Station).

Luckily, this station became the terminus for the first skytrain line in 1986, becoming a rail station again, today all 3 skytrain lines terminate here, along with the West Coast Express commuter rail, sea bus, and other transit facilities.

It is one of my favorite parts about Vancouver's metro system. There are always passengers arriving from the airport (via the Canada Line) taking pictures of the station as one walks into the main hall. It is a terrific way to welcome visitors to Vancouver.

Here are some pics I took of the Main Hall today in the early afternoon:









Pics are my own:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30634635@N03/page2/

PS - This building was almost demolished in the 1960s for project 200.

[Andrewjm3D]

Some of Union Station Toronto.

First off the original Union Station. (All images from the City of Toronto Archives, Fonds )









The clock tower now crowns Huntsville Muskoka's Town Hall.




And then the new Union Station

1927




Now home to Street Cars, Subways, Trains, and Buses.


Taken by: -steve : http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobolin...n/photostream/

U/C modernization and widening.

Taken by: Wyliepoon http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6071/6...621c3044_b.jpg



Taken by: Danielle Scott http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3420/3...2b0afe34_b.jpg


Taken by: Wyliepoon http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1021/8...0918b89b_o.jpg


By: Wyliepoon : http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1396/1...b92fbd02_o.jpg

PATH connections to the station.


By: Wyliepoon http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6...e2e6f2ea_b.jpg

The new Train Shed Atrium

By: Wyliepoon http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6...2f94d20b_b.jpg


By: Doug Letterman http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1388/6...c95b26b4_b.jpg

Video Link

[PrairieGirl]

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan had 3 CPR stations over the years. The first was wooden and burnt down

Here's the 2nd (my favourite)
rear

front


The most recent one and now our Liquor Board Store.

all above courtesy of Moose Jaw Public Library Archives.

Got a kick out of the poor American who couldn't find the liquor store here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI0VjPV6Zko
(its pretty obvious)

[someone123]

This an old picture but the building shown on the right is still the VIA rail station in Halifax. The rest is more or less the same, aside from an addition that's since been built onto the left side of the hotel. The station itself is not huge but it is a nice spot with the square in front and other buildings.

This rail station is also somewhat interesting because it was built at the end of an 8 kilometre trench that was carved up to 100 feet deep or so through bedrock. The project was started in 1913 and back then it would have been a significant engineering feat.


Source

Before the rail cut was built the main terminus of the railway in Halifax was in the North End, near the foot of North Street. The old station was the terminus of the Intercolonial Railroad that served the Maritimes; it was destroyed in the Halifax Explosion in 1917. The hotel next door was called the King Edward:


Source


Source

[red-paladin]

We need some pictures of Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, and the one next to it that got torn down

[SignalHillHiker]

I stopped by the Railway Coastal Museum in St. John's, N.L., today to take a few pictures.


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr


Railway Coastal Museum by SignalHillHiker, on Flickr