Demolished in 1974[2] and re-purpose as "Bruce Mackey Park" a city parkette
History
Opened
1896
Closed
1932
Riverdale Railway Station was located on De Grassi Street just north of Queen Street East[3] in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1896 as "Queen East Station", on what is now the Lakeshore East line, the station was renamed "Riverdale Station" in 1907.[2] The Canadian National Railway (CNR) took over the station in 1923, when they absorbed the Grand Trunk Railway.[4] CNR discontinued passenger train service at the station in 1932, later for commercial use and demolished the building in 1974.[5]
History
The station was originally built at grade, with a level crossing at Queen Street.[6] This level crossing was considered very dangerous and on November 17, 1904, a collision here between a Toronto Railway Company streetcar and a GTR freight train killed three people and injured seventeen.[7]
Construction began in 1925 on the Toronto Grade Separation project which was completed in 1930. The rebuilding of this eastern approach, beyond the Toronto Terminals Railway limit, eliminated the level crossing.[8] The station had to be moved northwest to accommodate construction of the Queen Street overpass.[2]
The last site of the station building is now part of City of Toronto's Bruce Mackey Park,[6] (formerly Wardell Parkette[9]) which runs along the westerly side of the railway tracks, between Queen and Dundas Streets.[10]
Plans to build a GO Station at this location were discussed as part of Metrolinx's 2014 Yonge Relief Network Study.[11] The proposed SmartTrack plan, raised during the 2014 Toronto Mayoral Election, would also have built a station here, where GO Transit's Stouffville commuter service crosses Queen Street.[12] A subway station on the under-construction Ontario line is located just southwest of the final (1920s) Riverdale station location.[13]
References
^"Grand Trunk Railway - Main Line". Mileages. NiagaraRails. Retrieved February 2, 2015. 332.3 Toronto, Riverdale station; 334.0 Toronto, Union station
^"The Start of Riverdale". riverdaler. 2014-03-21. Retrieved February 2, 2015. These railway tracks are now part of CN Rail after the Grand Trunk Railway ran into financial problems and was nationalized.
^ abJeff Low (February 7, 2012). "Then and Now: Riverdale Station". urbantoronto.ca. Retrieved February 2, 2015. At one time, there was a level rail crossing at Queen and Degrassi streets
^Joe Halstead (2002-12-17). "Wardell Park Renaming Proposal"(PDF). Staff Report. City of Toronto. Retrieved February 2, 2015. That the name Wardell Parkette, located on Wardell Avenue be renamed the Bruce Mackey Park.
^"Bruce Mackey". Toronto's Historical Plaques. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^"Yonge Relief Network Study"(PDF). Metrolinx. Archived from the original(PDF) on July 18, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2015. Build a new GO station south of Pape and Gerrard at the former Riverdale Station (in present-day Bruce Mackey Park)