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Belleville railway station

Belleville
Belleville VIA Station.jpg
Location 220 Station St., Belleville, ON
Canada
Coordinates 44°10′46″N 77°22′29″W / 44.17944°N 77.37472°W / 44.17944; -77.37472Coordinates: 44°10′46″N 77°22′29″W / 44.17944°N 77.37472°W / 44.17944; -77.37472
Platforms 1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks 4
Construction
Parking Outdoor, pay, long term
Bicycle facilities bicycle box
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened 1856
Rebuilt 2012
Services
Preceding station   VIA Rail Canada simplified.svg Via Rail   Following station
toward Toronto
Toronto–Ottawa
toward Ottawa
Toronto–Montreal
toward Montreal
Designated 1973
Reference no. 7368
Designated 1992
Reference no. 4552

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.

Built from bluish-grey Trenton limestone in 1856 by Thomas Brassey for Canadian National Railway predecessor Grand Trunk Railway, the station was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1973 and protected under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act since 1992.

It is the oldest of multiple buildings which were once part of Belleville's GTR station yard, a facility which employed 100 by 1864 and included one of the first three GTR locomotive shops. A new locomotive shop was built in 1867, increasing capacity to 24 engines. GTR cutbacks in December 1876 led to a violent labour dispute on December 29 which stopped all trains; the Queen's Own Rifles militia deployed from Toronto on January 2, 1877 to end the strike. A new round house was built in 1912 to accommodate 42 engines, with a wheel shed and machine shop adjacent. With over a thousand people at its peak, the railway became Belleville's largest local employer.

The 220 Station Street waiting room, a mid-size "Second Class Wayside Station" at the October 27, 1856 inception of the Grand Trunk mainline, served until the adjacent modern station building opened on March 20, 2012. While this building has always served only passengers, with telegraphy and freight located in other buildings, much of the original interior was lost due to 1987 and earlier renovations. Just east of the main station building, a freight shed stored VIA's baggage carts; its basement was home to The Belleville Model Railroad Club

While three original stations from the 1850s Grand Trunk line remain in active use at Georgetown, Port Hope and Napanee, all are small single-storey "Type C" stations (typically five curved arches for windows and doors on the sides and two at each end). Belleville is a larger station ("Type B", six arches) and the last intact original station on the line to have been expanded with a second storey. A similar Outer Station existed at Kingston, but was abandoned in the 1970s and is now in ruins.


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