Summary

The first railway station in Oakville was built in 1855 by the Great Western Railway while its construction was progressing east towards Toronto. While no photos of this station are known to exist, it was likely a simple wooden structure similar to others built on the Great Western early in its history. The first passenger train arrived in Oakville on December 3rd of the same year. A total of eight passenger trains were calling at Oakville by 1861, increasing to ten by 1867. The population of Oakville had increased to approximately 2000 by 1869; around 500 more than before the railway was completed. Parts of the line around Oakville were double-tracked starting in 1878, though a continuous double track between Toronto and Hamilton would not be complete until 1896. By this point, the line through Oakville was owned and operated by the Grand Trunk Railway who gained control of the Great Western in 1882. Train service to Oakville had increased even further to 13 trains per day by 1886.

Coinciding with the completion of double track through Oakville in 1896, a new station was built to replace the aging Great Western-era structure. The new station was a rectangular wooden building with a Jerkinhead roof and a canopy extending from the east side of the building to provide shelter for passengers. A gable was located above the operator’s bay, which provided visibility from the station agent’s office. Effective May 30th, 1897, the Canadian Pacific Railway was granted running rights over the Grand Trunk through Oakville. While this significantly increased both passenger and freight traffic over the line, CPR passenger trains did not stop at Oakville initially and instead ran through from Toronto to Hamilton and vice versa. After the financially ailing Grand Trunk was merged into Canadian National in 1923, Canadian Pacific would be allowed to stop at some stations including Oakville. Service would increase to 38 trains per day by 1941, 13 of which belonged to Canadian Pacific.

The popularization of automobiles in the mid to late 20th century resulted in a decline in passenger ridership system-wide. At a local level, this was further affected by the completion of a four-lane divided highway initially called the Middle Road, now known as the Queen Elizabeth Way between Toronto and Hamilton. It ran parallel to the railway approximately half a kilometer north of the station. Exemplifying the ridership decline, a pair of “flag stop signals” were installed on Oakville Station’s existing train order signal mast during the 1950’s. Though resembling crossing signal lights, they would light up green and white when activated by passengers on the platform to signal an approaching passenger train to stop. If the flag stop signals weren’t activated, the train would continue without stopping. This was an attempt at making passenger service more economical for the railway companies by eliminating unnecessary stops at empty stations. Service to Oakville was reduced to 30 trains per day by 1961, seven of which belonged to Canadian Pacific.

A new station was built to replace the existing one at Oakville in the early 1960’s, incorporating a more utilitarian design with a flat roof and brick walls. Though this resulted in the demolition of the 1896 station, one of the signs was preserved and is now in the Oakville Historical Society’s collection. By the 1970’s, the remaining ten Canadian National trains serving Oakville had been upgraded from their conventional consists to either self-propelled Budd Rail Diesel Cars or the new Tempo train sets. Canadian Pacific had similarly switched to Budd RDCs between Toronto and Buffalo, with only one departure at Oakville in each direction by 1974.

Oakville’s position as a bedroom community of Toronto was largely responsible for keeping commuter service intact. GO Transit was formed in 1967 to supplant much of the existing commuter service between Oakville and Pickering, expanding further west in subsequent years. Canadian National’s remaining passenger service was spun off as VIA Rail in 1976, and VIA was turned into a separate crown corporation the following year. VIA took over the remaining Canadian Pacific service to Oakville in 1978, and Amtrak began their Maple Leaf service between Toronto and New York in 1981. As passenger ridership began to increase into the 21st century, a third track was built through Oakville and improved facilities were opened between 2009 and 2012.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
West of Trafalgar Road	GWR (1855 – 1882) GTR (1882 – 1923) CNR (1923 – 1977) GO (1967 – Present) VIA (1977 – Present) Amtrak (1981 – Present)	Demolished	1855 (First) 1896 (Second) 1960’s (Third)	1896 (First) 1960’s (Second) 2009 (Third)