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Grand Trunk Railway Station (Caledonia, ON) | ||||||||||||||||
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![]() Caledonia station in March 2019. | ||||||||||||||||
General information | ||||||||||||||||
Location | 1 Grand Trunk Lane, Caledonia, Ontario Canada | |||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 43°04′41″N79°57′05″W / 43.07806°N 79.95139°W | |||||||||||||||
Elevation | 212.5 | |||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||
Status | Chamber of Commerce & Tourist Information Centre | |||||||||||||||
Website | ||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||
Opened | 30 September 1908 | |||||||||||||||
Closed | September 1996 | |||||||||||||||
Rebuilt | November 1997 | |||||||||||||||
Former Services | ||||||||||||||||
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Location | ||||||||||||||||
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Caledonia railway station was built in 1908 by the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada. The station was the third to be built in Caledonia, Ontario.
Historically, Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway (BB&G) began to move train traffic through Caledonia between 1852-1856. When the opportunity arose, James Little, founder of the Haldimand House, lobbied the town to bankrupt itself to secure a railroad line to pass through Caledonia instead of Cayuga. This line serviced Jarvis to Hamilton and was quickly extended out as far as Port Dover. The 'Railway Hotel' was opened sometime before or during 1860 by William Slater. [1]
The first Caledonia railway station was located in the Slater Hotel located where a Tim Hortons restaurant stands on the North Side of the Grand River. This station burned down in a fire about 1870. When railway traffic increased Grand Trunk realized the benefits of a full-sized station in Caledonia. Around 1877 a Station was built on the present location. This station burned down again November 13, 1907 and plans were made for a new, bigger station.
The fire also destroyed a grain elevator which had been built by Hull & Old around 1867 as a steam-powered grist mill. A new elevator was built, which burned to the ground in September 1996, never to be rebuilt.
This new, bigger station was to include a passenger waiting room, men's and ladies' smoking rooms, freight room and two restrooms, as well as office spaces in the east end. The Ticket Wicket was said to be one of the finest in the Country. Grand Trunk operated the station until the Canadian National Railway took over the building, and the entire Grand Trunk Operation, in 1923.
At this point, an extended freight and maintenance room was added to the west end of the building. Also at this time, the then popular red "insul-brick" was used to cover up the Grand Trunk colour Scheme of beige and park green. The Station operated under CN Rail until October 1957 when they canceled passenger service to Caledonia, Cayuga, Port Dover, Hagersville, and Jarvis. The last "Port Dover Granny" to stop at Caledonia was on October 26, 1957. Parcel and freight service continued until November 1977. CN used the station as a maintenance depot up to the mid-1980s after which it fell into disrepair.
In August 1996 CN filed notice to abandon and demolish the station, and subsequently sell off the land on which it stood. Ron Clark of Caledonia purchased the station and donated it to the Special Projects Committee of the Caledonia & Regional Chamber of Commerce, which then formed a Grand Trunk Station Society to maintain the building. Extensive work was done, including new foundations, roof, and restoring the original beige and park Green wooden siding from the Grand Trunk era. The official opening of the newly restored station was held November 27, 1997, fourteen months after work began by the 'Grand Trunk Train Crew'.
The restored station now accommodates a Grand Trunk Railway Museum, offices for the Caledonia & Regional Chamber of Commerce, and a meeting room for community organizations.
Caledonia is a community located on the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 12,179 as of the 2021 Canadian Census. Caledonia is within Ward 3 of Haldimand County. The Councillor elected for Ward 3 is Dan Lawrence. As of 2021, there were 4,310 private dwellings in Caledonia.
Haldimand County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all municipal services are handled by a single level of government. Municipal offices are located in Cayuga.
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
Cayuga is an unincorporated community and county seat of Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada located at the intersection of Highway 3 and Munsee Street and along the Grand River. Cayuga is about a 20-minute drive from Lake Erie and 30 minutes south of Hamilton and 115 minutes south of Toronto and consequently it has some cottages and recreational properties in the area. In the past, there was some light industry. It has the local district detachment for the Ontario Provincial Police. It is also uniquely located among larger communities on both the American and Canadian sides of the border boasting television reception from Toronto, Buffalo, New York, Hamilton, Kitchener and Erie, Pennsylvania.
The Caledonia Bridge, also known as the Grand River Bridge is a road bridge located in Caledonia, Ontario, Canada on Argyle Street. The bridge is the only nine-span bridge of its kind in Canada and is considered the first reinforced concrete bridge of its type ever built.
Whitby GO Station is a train and bus station in the GO Transit network in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Lakeshore East line and was the eastern terminus of the dedicated GO Transit right-of-way until those tracks were extended to Oshawa in 1995. There are connections by GO Bus northward to Port Perry and Beaverton, and local Durham Region Transit routes within Whitby.
The Kingston railway station is an inter-city passenger rail station in Cataraqui, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is served by Via Rail trains running from Toronto to Ottawa or Montreal, along the Corridor route. It is located on John Counter Boulevard, northeast of Princess Street and north-west of downtown Kingston.
The Belleville railway station in Belleville, Ontario, Canada is served by Via Rail trains running from Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal. The station is staffed, with ticket sales, vending machines, telephones, washrooms, and wheelchair access to the station and trains.
Port Hope railway station in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, is one of the oldest Canadian passenger rail stations still in active use. Served by Via Rail trains running from Toronto to Kingston and Ottawa, it was also a stop for trains to and from Montreal until January 24, 2012. The station is unstaffed, but has a heated waiting room, pay telephone, washrooms, free outdoor parking, and wheelchair access.
Kitchener station is a railway station located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building containing a waiting room and ticket counter built beside a set of tracks also used as a freight yard. A separate building to the east of the passenger area, originally built in 1925 as a freight building, now serves as the headquarters for the Goderich–Exeter Railway.
Washago station is a passenger railway station in the community of Washago, Ontario, Canada, part of the Township of Severn in northeastern Simcoe County. The station is located immediately south of Simcoe County Road 169, east of Highway 11.
The Haldimand County Heritage Centre is located within the Cayuga Library and Heritage Centre at 19 Talbot St. W in Cayuga, Ontario. The Haldimand County Heritage Centre is a museum that preserves and makes accessible evidence of the history of Haldimand County including genealogy records, local newspapers, maps, census information and more. Artifacts related to Haldimand County are restored and displayed in the museum galleries and grounds. The current curator is Karen Richardson.
The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1879 through a merger of two separate railway companies that John Rudolphus Booth had purchased, and reached its full extent in 1899 through a third company that he had created. The CAR was owned by Booth for several years after its completion until he agreed to sell it to the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1904.
Haldimand House is an historic building in Caledonia, Ontario that is one of the oldest in the town. At the time of its construction it was the first in Haldimand County to receive a hotel license and was also the first commercial building in Haldimand County.
The Caledonia Mill was a historic mill building located in Caledonia, Ontario, Canada. Built in 1846, it is a heritage property under the Ontario Heritage Act. It was the last timber-frame water-powered mill along the Grand River in Ontario. In 2018 the mill was dismantled by Riverside properties and was rebuilt as an office complex.
The Ontario Southland Railway, Inc. is an independently held short line operator. The company was founded in 1992 to purchase 27 kilometres (17 mi) of track between Tillsonburg and Ingersoll, Ontario from the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). In 2009, a second line was added, as 51 kilometres (32 mi) of CPR track from Woodstock to St. Thomas, Ontario were integrated into the system. In 2015, Ontario Southland began leasing the ex-Canadian National Cayuga Subdivision between St. Thomas and Delhi, Ontario, which had been abandoned by its former shortline operator the St. Thomas and Eastern Railway in 2013.
The Memory Junction Railway Museum preserved a collection of railway memorabilia in southeastern Ontario. It closed in 2017 and its collections were auctioned in 2021. It was located in the former Grand Trunk Railway station of Brighton, Ontario, which opened in 1857 and served intercity rail passengers until the 1960s.
The Hamilton and North-Western Railway (H&NW) is a former railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran north from Hamilton on the western end of Lake Ontario to Collingwood on Georgian Bay and Barrie on Lake Simcoe. Through the purchase of the Hamilton and Lake Erie Railway, the route continued south from Hamilton to Port Dover on Lake Erie.
The Hamilton and Lake Erie Railway (H&LE) is a historical shortline railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran from Hamilton to Port Dover, about 40 miles (64 km), providing trans-shipping service between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and with connections, to Lake Huron at Georgian Bay.
Built in 1857, this historic building once served as Caledonia, Ontario's first and only town hall. The building stopped being used as a town hall sometime around 1955 until it was reopened as "Edinburgh Square Heritage and Cultural Centre" in the spring of 1988. The Edinburgh Square Heritage and Cultural Centre is a museum dedicated to preserving the local heritage of Caledonia, Ontario and its surrounding areas. Edinburgh Square was declared a heritage building in 1982.
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