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ОглавлениеTHE RAILWAYS OF LEASIDE JUNCTION
“THERE WAS a time in this fair land when the railway did not run.…”1 that was 1880. In 1881, the railway began to run in Leaside and has continued to do so for over 118 years. Today, few residents would think of their Leaside community as a “railway town.” But railway town it was.
Leaside is the child of the railway, more correctly the child of three railways.—
THE FIRST RAILWAY—THE ONTARIO AND QUEBEC RAILWAY
In the 1870s, a “railway mania” swept North America. For a period of 20 years there was a feverish race to build railway lines into every region of the continent, into as many cities, towns and villages as possible. The elusive goal of large and certain profit drove the scramble for routes and real estate.
As part of that railway mania, in the late 1870s, the Ontario and Quebec Railway was incorporated to build a railway line from West Toronto along the city’s northern limits in an easterly direction through Peterborough, Perth and Ottawa to Montreal.
Because high and long railway trestles were very expensive to build, the surveyors for the Ontario and Quebec Railway chose, as the location to build their bridge across the Don River, a spot where its valley was as narrow and shallow as possible. This decision caused the right-of-way to curve northward and pass through the southeast corner of the Third Concession, the farm of William Lea. Consequently, a few acres of his property were purchased by the Ontario and Quebec Railway for its proposed Toronto to Peterborough line. The payment was generous, and as well, there was an inherent belief that the coming of the railway meant prosperity and progress.
The railway company laid track as far east as Perth and, once there, ran into financial difficulty as did many lines during the “mania.” As a result, the Ontario and Quebec Railway was forced to cede the line to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1884, on a 999 year lease. While the rail line through Leaside appears to be that of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the right-of-way, however, is leased from the Ontario and Quebec Railway which continues to exist as a corporate entity. (The lease has 884 years to run!)
In 1996, the shareholders of the Ontario and Quebec Railway, after very lengthy negotiations, finally reached an agreement with developers to allow a bridge from Nesbitt Drive to cross above its rail line. Construction of the bridge that would provide access to the new community of Governor s Bridge Estates finally began in November 1998.
Thus, a long forgotten railway company3 emerged from the past to determine how md when a new residential community would be builtin the Leaside area.
The Ontario and Quebec Railway line showing the “right-of-way” through the farm of William Lea.2 Adapted by Jim Hannah. From The Toronto World, March 1912.
THE SECOND RAILWAY—THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY
In 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway, now operating the line, needed a level site on its North Toronto subdivision for maintenance shops, rail sidings for assembling trains and for the establishment of a connection to the downtown centre of a growing Toronto. The corner of the Third Concession met all of the criteria. A junction was constructed in 1892 and a line (the Don Branch)4 was built heading south, following the Don River to the original Union Station on Toronto’s waterfront.
To control the rail activity at the junction, a station was needed. In September 1894, the Canadian Pacific opened its station and named it Leaside Junction, in honour of the owner of the land, William Lea, who called his unique octagonal home, “Leaside.” Thus, Leaside became a name and a location on the map.
The Canadian Pacific Station at Leaside Junction, looking west towards Toronto Date: May 1899. Canadian Pacific Archives.
Canadian Pacific’s “new” Leaside Station, looking towards Agincourt. Date: November 1946. Canadian Pacific Archives.
The term “Junction” gradually disappeared from the name and the Leaside Station served as a busy stop for Canadian Pacific passenger trains for about 100 years.
In the 1940s, fire caused irreparable damage to the Leaside Station. It was rebuilt in 1946.
The many trains (30 per day) which we do see and hear today are Canadian Pacific Railway freight trains. The trains no longer stop on their way through Leaside along CP Rail’s busy trans-Canada line.
The Leaside sidings, now largely without activity, and the abandoned railway yards present a windswept landscape of broken concrete, shattered glass and weeds. They are a silent reminder of the 80 years of smoke, steam, steel and the iron men who created the railway age.
Keep in mind, however, during the period of the early 1900s, the name, Leaside, applied only to the station and its rail yards. The surrounding countryside was open farmland overlooking the valley of the Don and was considered to be part of North Toronto. With urban development stopped far to the south on the east side of the Don Valley, there was no such entity as the community of Leaside.
THE THIRD RAILWAY—THE CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY
In the early 1900s, Donald Mann and William Mackenzie, principal shareholders of the Canadian Northern Railway5 built two successful (that is, very profitable) model towns; one in British Columbia, the other in Quebec. There were fortunes to be amassed in real estate.
At this time in Toronto, the Canadian Northern was planning massive capital expenditures to upgrade its facilities: remove the steep grade from its Ottawa line’s entry into Toronto; build a prestigous station which befitted its status as a transcontinental railway; establish extensive repair facilities, marshalling yards and build employee housing. Ambitious and hugely expensive plans, indeed!
The Canadian Northern and Canadian Pacific both saw Toronto’s development and growth moving north along the Yonge Street corridor. Cooperatively, they planned to build a truly grand North Toronto “union” station where the Canadian Pacific’s Leaside line crosses Yonge Street at Summerhill Avenue. The Canadian Northern would link6 its transcontinental main line into the Canadian Pacific line at Leaside and pay trackage fees for using the line to enter North Toronto.
William Mackenzie and Donald Mann chose the level farmland directly north of the Leaside Junction station as the site for the massive new railway repair and marshalling facilities.
To finance this large capital project, Mackenzie and Mann7 would use the profits from a new model town much like their very profitable towns of Port Mann (Vancouver) and Mount Royal (Montreal). And thus, Leaside with all its railway connections would come into being.
The original Leaside Station of 1894 and its 1946 replacement operated as one of Toronto’s busiest stations for over 75 years. At least ten daily passenger trains on the busy Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle stopped at the station along with 40 or so freight trains, many of which paused briefly after their climb up the Don Branch.
With the elimination of passenger trains by the Canadian Pacific, the station closed in 1970. Ten years later, the station was re-opened by CP Hotels as the Village Station Restaurant with a caboose and three classic railway dining cars. In 1985 the restaurant closed and the cars were removed.
BACK TO THE FUTURE—SOME PREDICTIONS ABOUT THE RAILWAY
The three railways in sequence then, chose the location, selected the name, and literally drew the map of Leaside.
What does the future hold for the railway? In 2000, there are an estimated 2.4 million automobiles in the Greater Toronto Area. By the year 2010, that number will grow to 3.5 million. We simply cannot lay enough asphalt to accommodate those cars.
Means other than the automobile must be found to move large numbers of people into and out of Toronto. Ultimately, the railway lines, built over 100 years ago and which radiate out from the city core to all of the suburbs will carry those people. The future of railway passenger service lies in carrying suburban commuters to and from the city.
Canadian Pacific’s North Toronto Station circa 1949. The once busy terminal served the Canadian Pacific and briefly the Canadian Northern Railway. Those trains travelled the Leaside main line. The building became Toronto’s busiest LCBO outlet. Now in private hands, the station is slated for restoration. City of Toronto Archives.
Leaside’s railway line provides a ready-made, cross-town transportation corridor. The line connects the Toronto suburbs with Union Station; it intersects all north/south arterial roads and it crosses both of the north/south subway lines. The railway line through Leaside may play a pivotal role in the future transportation plans for Toronto.
The old 1916 North Toronto8 Canadian Pacific Railway Station (once a liquor store) could become an important connection with the Yonge Street subway’s Summerhill Station.
The trip by train from Leaside Junction to the heart of downtown Toronto takes just 12 minutes. That could be 21st century convenience delivered by a 19th century railway line.
