Comments on: CP GP9u 8226, probably on one of the Emery Turns, heads south on the MacTier Sub connection track enroute the West Toronto/Lambton Yards, crossing Old Weston Road and passing railway employees and demolition crews with their Hitachi excavator in the process of tearing down the old CN West Toronto Station. The demolition of CP’s West Toronto station has been well-covered in the past, but demolition of CN’s West Toronto Station to the north has received little attention. It continued to see passenger use into the 1980′s under VIA Rail, but by 1990 any passenger stops were gone (possibly a victim of the 1990 VIA cuts). Its importance also likely diminished when GO Transit started Georgetown line operations in 1974 and opted for their own new GO station at Bloor Street, closer to the TTC’s Bloor-Danforth subway, rather than using CN’s existing station here. According to notes by the late Toronto railway historian Derek Boles, both the CN station and express shed were severely damaged by a three-alarm fire on October 21st 1993, after being vacant/out of use for a number of years prior. Photos after show it boarded up in a state of decay (the roof on the north end was much more damaged, and falling in). A bit more digging shows the station was eventually demolished years later around August 1999, after suffering from the aforementioned fire and years of vandalism. The vacant CN property in the middle of both CN and CP rail lines then became a compound yard for storing City of Toronto contractor snow removal equipment (with parts of the old station platform still visible), but was eventually all obliterated for the Metrolinx/GO West Toronto grade separation trench. Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell’Unto collection print. Note: this photo was a scan of an old print purchased from a train show back in the early 2000′s, probably at one of the large annual CARM ones held at the Toronto Congress Centre every year. Unfortunately, no photographer or description was noted on the print, but from research I was able to narrow the demolition down to 1999.

Comments on: CP GP9u 8226, probably on one of the Emery Turns, heads south on the MacTier Sub connection track enroute the West Toronto/Lambton Yards, crossing Old Weston Road and passing railway employees and demolition crews with their Hitachi excavator in the process of tearing down the old CN West Toronto Station. The demolition of CP’s West Toronto station has been well-covered in the past, but demolition of CN’s West Toronto Station to the north has received little attention. It continued to see passenger use into the 1980′s under VIA Rail, but by 1990 any passenger stops were gone (possibly a victim of the 1990 VIA cuts). Its importance also likely diminished when GO Transit started Georgetown line operations in 1974 and opted for their own new GO station at Bloor Street, closer to the TTC’s Bloor-Danforth subway, rather than using CN’s existing station here. According to notes by the late Toronto railway historian Derek Boles, both the CN station and express shed were severely damaged by a three-alarm fire on October 21st 1993, after being vacant/out of use for a number of years prior. Photos after show it boarded up in a state of decay (the roof on the north end was much more damaged, and falling in). A bit more digging shows the station was eventually demolished years later around August 1999, after suffering from the aforementioned fire and years of vandalism. The vacant CN property in the middle of both CN and CP rail lines then became a compound yard for storing City of Toronto contractor snow removal equipment (with parts of the old station platform still visible), but was eventually all obliterated for the Metrolinx/GO West Toronto grade separation trench. Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell’Unto collection print. Note: this photo was a scan of an old print purchased from a train show back in the early 2000′s, probably at one of the large annual CARM ones held at the Toronto Congress Centre every year. Unfortunately, no photographer or description was noted on the print, but from research I was able to narrow the demolition down to 1999. http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:44:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1