Welcome back to our blog series featuring Don Station! In case you missed it, you can read part one of this series here. Don Station was closed in 1967. After that, Don was moved to Todmorden Mills in 1969. In 2008, the iconic station joined the Toronto Railway Museum’s collection. Don Station’s restoration was completed in time for the museum’s grand opening in 2010.
Next Stop: Todmorden
On August 2, 1969, Don Station began its move to Todmorden Mills Heritage Site in the Don Valley. The Canadian Pacific Railway, the original owners of the station, had agreed to donate it as long as it was moved off railway property. Consequently, the station was split into three sections and moved by road to Todmorden. The move was completed by Monday, August 4. After that, the station was reassembled and later opened for public display in the spring of 1971. This big move was largely due to efforts of the East York Foundation, specifically environmentalist Charles Sauriol and East York Mayor True Davidson.
Don’s New Start
Left: A look at the display inside the unrestored station, 2008.
On May 9, 1971, Don Station was reopened to the public at the Todmorden Mills collection of historic buildings on Pottery Road. Don housed an indoor exhibit for a few years, before later use as a storage facility. About thirty years later, Don was moved to the Toronto Railway Museum in 2008, to aid in the creation of the railway village (a collection of historic structures in the Museum’s collection). Next, the station was restored by Tom Murison Associates, who also completed the restoration of Cabin D, the watchman’s shanty, and the tool shed.
Don Station on the Move
As a TRHA blog post from 2008 reported, “As many of you are aware, the historic Don Station, once located on the banks of the Don River south of Queen St. is currently located at the Todmorden Mills Historic site in the Don Valley. Preparations are currently underway to move the station to Roundhouse Park.”
Left: Back at the Toronto Railway Museum, a concrete foundation awaited the station at it’s new home, 2008.
Some of these preparations included digging the station’s foundation out. In addition, the building was raised onto wooden cribs. In order for the station to arrive safely, it was cut into six pieces total. Moreover, back at the museum a new concrete foundation was poured to support the building.
The Big Day
The historic Don Station was moved early on the morning of December 10, 2008 to its permanent home at the Toronto Railway Museum. Firstly, the sections of station were loaded onto flatbed trailers and began their 8-kilometre journey under police escort close to midnight, arriving at the Museum in just under an hour.
After that, the divided roof, two sections on one trailer, was moved in a second trip. The turret and the turret roof had been delivered to Roundhouse Park earlier on December 9. Subsequently, after a smooth journey to the museum the station awaited reassembly.
Don Station’s Restoration Begins
At the Toronto Railway Museum, the station was reassembled. After that, one of the first restoration tasks was to pry off the metal siding on the station that was added in the 1930s. As far as can be determined, a brush fire partially burned the station and, rather than replacing the wood siding, the CPR nailed metal siding all around the outside of the building as future protection.
Right: A piece of wood siding which illustrates some of the stages that the station has undergone. On the far left is the burnt wood. The green colour indicates a period when Canadian National operated the station. Although Canadian Pacific built the station in 1896, in its latter years after the number of passenger trains had dwindled and the operators were mostly involved in servicing CN freight trains. In its final years, CP once again operated the station.
Don Gets a New Roof
Tom Murison and his restoration workers are beginning to address renovation of Don Station. Consequently in these photos, we see the team removing old shingles in preparation for the building to be pulled back together and lowered onto the foundation (Fall 2009, courtesy of Tom Murison).
Don Station’s Restoration: Throwback
Sending a Message with Signals
On top of the station’s roof you can see what are called semaphore signals. These would be moved into position to indicate to incoming trains whether they would need to stop at the station. For example, Engineers would have slowed down to collect train orders from an operator at the station without stopping.
Read more about life as a station operator in our previous post here. John Mellow, Museum volunteer, was very involved with the restoration of the station after its move to the Toronto Railway Museum. Moreover, you can check out his new book, “OS Don”, in the gift shop!
Don Station Today
Right: All aboard! Today, the ticket window is where tickets for the Miniature Train are sold.
Restoration of Don Station was completed in time for the opening of the Toronto Railway Museum on May 28, 2010. The largest room inside of Don Station was a passenger waiting area (with a washroom), which is now our gift shop. The smaller, adjacent rooms were a baggage room and a station operator/ticket office. Similarly, tickets for the Miniature Train are sold inside the station, similar to its original function as a CPR ticket office.
Right: A TRM staff member demonstrates an order hoop on the station’s platform.
In spring 2020, Don Station got a makeover! The original nineteenth century station was carefully repainted to better reflect a historic colour scheme. ⠀
thanks for the photo’s and story.