The Sunnyside railway station was a railway station in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, formerly located at King and Queen Streets. It operated passenger service from 1910 until 1971.

History

The Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Railway

The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...

 (GTR) had operated rail lines along the lakeshore of Toronto since 1850. The lines encountered a steep hill into the Parkdale

Parkdale, Toronto

Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...

 area of Toronto, from the west. In the first decade of the 1900s, the GTR operated the South Parkdale railway station

South Parkdale railway station

The South Parkdale railway station was a passenger rail station on the Grand Trunk Railway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was located at Jameson Avenue and Springhurst Avenue in the former village of Parkdale. It was demolished in 1911 as part of a grade separation engineering project.-History:The...

 at the intersection of Jameson Avenue

Jameson Avenue

Jameson Avenue is a multi-lane arterial road in the Parkdale neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a north-south roadway from Lake Shore Boulevard to Queen Street...

 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 King, Queen Street West

Queen Street West

Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...

 and Roncesvalles Avenue

Roncesvalles Avenue

Roncesvalles Avenue is a north-south arterial street in Toronto, Canada. It connects Queen Street West, King Street West and runs north to Dundas Street West. Roncesvalles Avenue takes its name from the Battle of Roncesvalles, which took place in the Roncesvalles gorge in Spain in 1813...

 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

Gardiner Expressway

The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, colloquially referred to as "the Gardiner", is a municipal expressway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting downtown Toronto with its western suburbs...

 project.

The location was well-suited to access to the popular Sunnyside Amusement Park

Sunnyside Amusement Park

Sunnyside is a lakefront district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It includes a beach and park area along Lake Ontario's Humber Bay, to the west of the Exhibition grounds, at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue where it meets King Street West and Queen Street West. In the 1910s, the area was the site of a...

 located nearby and streetcar routes nearby. A coach station was built across the street in the 1930s providing access to motor coaches of the Grey 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.

See also

• Roncesvalles, Toronto
• Sunnyside, Toronto