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Caption: How the mighty have fallen: the once grand CN Parkdale Station has been replaced with this CN trainorder shack, at the junction with CN's Weston Sub and Newmarket Sub. Ontario Northland train #123, the "Northlander", is seen paused beside it waiting to head up the Newmarket Sub after departing downtown Toronto (timetables show #123 was due at Parkdale at 7:08pm, Friday & Sunday only). ONT FP7 1984 leads its TEE trainset consist. In the background is the upper portion of CP's own Parkdale Yard.
The original Parkdale Station was built in 1878 by the Northern Railway of Canada, and closed by CN in 1976. Facing demolition, a local station preservation group sprung up and got the station moved to Sunnyside, where it was unfortunately lost to fire by vagrants. Information on this replacement is scant - it's unclear how long this trainorder station shack or the operator based here lasted, possibly into the early-mid 1980's. Timetables mention it governed all movements to/from the Weston Sub to the Newmarket Sub. It looks like others have visited it in the past as well. Part of the CN freight shed on the left apparently became a fruit market in later years, and survived into the mid-2000's before demolition.
Peter Jobe photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.
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