Status Demolished in 1973 Opened 1910 | Closed 1971 Province Ontario | |
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Location Toronto, Ontario
Canada Similar South Parkdale railway st, Parkdale railway station, Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion, Sunnyside Amusement Park, Palais Royale | ||
Sunnyside railway station was formerly located at the intersection of King Street, Queen Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It operated passenger service from 1910 until 1971.
History
The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) had operated rail lines along the lakeshore of Toronto since 1850. The lines encountered a steep hill into the Parkdale area of Toronto, from the west. In the first decade of the 1900s, the GTR operated the South Parkdale railway station at the intersection of Jameson Avenue and Springhurst Avenue. In 1910, the GTR embarked on a project to create a cut through the Parkdale neighbourhood, eliminating the grade. The railway decided to close the South Parkdale station and build a new one at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue, in the area commonly known as 'Sunnyside'.
The company built a temporary station, opening service in 1910. A permanent station was completed in 1912. It was situated at street level at the King and Queen Streets intersection. The ticket office and waiting area was at street level, and passengers would walk down staircases to track level. A separate bridge would pass over the tracks for passengers travelling east-bound.
The grade elimination project also removed a level crossing of Queen Street to the Lakeshore Road. The following year a roadway bridge was built over the tracks immediately to the west of the station to connect the Sunnyside intersection with Lakeshore Road. The bridge was eventually demolished in the 1950s to build the Gardiner Expressway project.
The location was well-suited to access to the popular Sunnyside Amusement Park located nearby and streetcar routes nearby. A coach station was built across the street in the 1930s providing access to motor coaches of the Gray Coach bus lines. The Edgewater Hotel was built next to the bus station on the north-west corner of the intersection in the 1930s.
The rail lines and service was amalgamated into Canadian National Railways around 1920. Inter-city passenger trains stopped at Sunnyside until 1971 and the station buildings were demolished in 1973.
The site of the former station is now Beaty Boulevard Parkette, a small city park.