Port Hope railway station

Port Hope

Location

Hayward Street
Port Hope, Ontario
Canada

Coordinates

43°56′37″N 78°17′56″W / 43.94361°N 78.29889°WCoordinates: 43°56′37″N 78°17′56″W / 43.94361°N 78.29889°W

Owned by

Via Rail

Platforms

1 side platform

Tracks

Construction

Parking

yes

Disabled access

Yes

Other information

Station code

IATA: XPH
VIA Rail: PHOP

History

Opened

1856, restored 1985

Services

Preceding station		Via Rail		Following station
Oshawa toward Toronto		Toronto–Ottawa		Cobourg toward Ottawa
Oshawa toward Toronto		Toronto–Montreal		Cobourg toward Montreal

Heritage Railway Station (Canada)

Designated

1992

Reference no.

4553

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.

The station, built from local limestone as part of the 1856 Grand Trunk Railway, opened on the October 27, 1856 inauguration of Montreal–Toronto mainline service. Architecturally, its Italianate design is typical of many of the 34 stations originally on the main line. Of the (at most) nine original stations still extant, just Port Hope, Napanee (1856) and Georgetown (1858) remain in active use.

A speculative boom fuelled construction and rail building in the region in the 1850s and 1860s. Port Hope and nearby Cobourg, both small towns, each vied to open a feeder rail line north to Peterborough to promote their respective lake ports. In 1906, both the Midland Railway of Canada and the Grand Trunk Railway had multiple buildings in Port Hope, including freight and car repair facilities, operating several spur lines to the harbour wharves. Much of this infrastructure was redundant as, by 1893, all of the rival companies had been acquired by Grand Trunk. The GTR was ultimately bankrupted by an ill-fated expansion westward and merged into the Canadian National Railway in 1923. Via Rail has operated Canada's federal passenger service since 1978.

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Wikipedia