Summary

Don Station was preceded by a small shelter built by the short-lived Toronto Belt Line Railway in 1892, simply called “Queen Street East”. The Canadian Pacific Railway opened their Don Branch to freight traffic on September 7th of that year, but it took until May 14th, 1893 for passenger trains to begin using it. On May 17th, it was announced that Canadian Pacific’s passenger trains would begin stopping at the Belt Line shelter, citing its convenient location. While the CPR intended to replace it with a proper station, officials originally stated that this would not occur for some time. On October 9th, 1895, a sub-committee of the Board of Works accepted Canadian Pacific’s plans for a new station at Queen Street to be called Don. This new station, a relatively small wood-frame building – though larger than its predecessor, was opened to passengers on October 19th, 1896. Its main architectural flourish was an ornate turret on its northwest corner. By 1899, a total of nine trains were stopping at Don Station on a daily basis.

After a squabble with the Grand Trunk Railway over their entry into Toronto in 1906, the Canadian Northern Railway was given the right to use the Toronto Belt Line right-of-way south of Rosedale in the Don Valley to access Union Station. An agreement was reached to share Don Station with Canadian Pacific, and the first Canadian Northern trains began serving it on November 19th, 1906. Traffic had swelled to a total of fourteen Canadian Pacific trains at Don Station per day by this point, along with four additional trains from Canadian Northern. It was quickly becoming apparent that the Queen Street grade crossing adjacent to Don Station was unsafe, especially after a near-miss between a streetcar and a train occurred there in 1909. Queen Street was raised above the tracks in 1911 and stairs were put in place to ensure easy access to Don Station from street level.

The station along with the entire Don Branch were becoming unsatisfactory for the amount of traffic they handled. As early as 1899, passengers complained that the platform length was about 100 feet too short. In 1911, it was announced by Canadian Pacific vice-president David McNicoll that the Don Branch would be double-tracked to keep up with demand. Plans were drawn up to replace Don Station on July 20th, 1914, but the breakout of World War One eight days later would ultimately prevent this replacement from ever being built. Immediately after the war, the Canadian Northern Railway was nationalized and put under the control of the newly-formed Canadian National from 1919 onward. Service to Don Station peaked before the war and it quickly declined after the Great Depression began in 1929. Numerous trains operated by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National between Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal were consolidated with the pool train agreement in 1933, rerouting many of these trains away from Don Station. While service would rebound to a certain extend during and after World War Two, the pool train agreement would persist until 1965. The overall decline in passenger ridership would be hastened by the popularization of automobiles. Budd Rail Diesel Cars, which were branded “Dayliners” by Canadian Pacific, began operating in commuter service between Toronto and Peterborough on September 26th, 1954. These trains would regularly stop at Don Station and would quickly become the station’s only passenger service. Between 1959 and 1960, Canadian National would stop serving Don Station altogether. The station building technically closed in December 1967 but the platform remained in use for another two years. Passengers would need to flag down approaching trains if they wished to board, a practice intended to reduce unnecessary stops. The last passenger train, no. 388 to Peterborough, stopped at Don Station on April 27th, 1968. The only passengers to get off were two railway enthusiasts who boarded the train at Union Station.

Now excess to the railway’s needs, Canadian Pacific agreed to donate the station for preservation on the condition that it be moved away from the property. In 1969 it was disassembled and moved to Todmorden Mills Heritage Site where it remained for nearly four decades. The station did not fit well with the theme of the other historical buildings at Todmorden Mills, and was eventually used for storage. After the formation of the Toronto Railway Historical Association in 2001, the station was cleaned out and opened to the public from 2006 to 2008 with historical interpretation offered by TRHA members. In December 2008, the structure was moved to Roundhouse Park and underwent a complete restoration ahead of the opening of the Toronto Railway Museum in 2010. Now acting as our gift shop and ticket office for our miniature railway, Don Station is the only surviving 19th century railway station in Toronto.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
South of Queen Street	CPR (1896 – 1968) CNoR (1906 – 1919) CNR (1919 – 1960)	Moved and restored	1896	N/A