Gananoque station

Gananoque railway station in Gananoque, Ontario, Canada is served by Via Rail trains running from Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal. The station is an unstaffed but heated shelter.

Gananoque
Location	North Station Road Gananoque, ON Canada
Coordinates	44°22′08″N 76°09′13″W
Platforms	1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Shelter
Parking	Short term only
Other information
Website	Gananoque train station
History
Opened	1915
Services
Preceding station Via Rail Following station Kingston toward Toronto Toronto–Ottawa Brockville toward Ottawa Toronto–Montreal Brockville toward Montreal
Former services
Preceding station Canadian National Railway Following station Kingston toward Sarnia Maple Leaf Brockville toward Montreal Kingston toward Chicago La Salle
Location
Gananoque station Location in Southern Ontario Show map of Southern Ontario Gananoque station Location in Ontario Show map of Ontario Gananoque station Location in Canada Show map of Canada

Railway services

As of June 2020, Gananoque station is served by 1 domestic route (with connections). Departures have been reduced to 2 trains per day due to the coronavirus pandemic (effective June 3, 2020).[1]

Train	Operator	From	Via	To	Freq.
48	Via Rail	Toronto	Guildwood - Oshawa - Port Hope - Cobourg- Trenton Junction - Belleville - Napanee - Kingston - Gananoque - Brockville - Smiths Falls - Fallowfield	Ottawa	1/day
53	Via Rail	Ottawa	Fallowfield - Smiths Falls - Brockville - Gananoque - Kingston - Napanee - Belleville - Trenton Junction - Cobourg - Port Hope - Oshawa - Guildwood	Toronto	1/day[2]

• No local service is provided between Ottawa and Fallowfield, or Guildwood and Toronto on these trains.

History

Gananoque Junction was originally served by two railways: the Grand Trunk Montréal-Toronto mainline and the Thousand Islands Railway, an 8 km (five mile) short line railway that led to the waterfront. A mainline station also once existed in Lansdowne but was torn down soon after CN abandoned service to the village, in 1966.[3]

The rail junction was relocated to the current station location in 1901 while timber shipments to Gananoque's docks were declining and tourism on the line was growing, with the Thousand Islands heavily promoted as a vacation destination by rail and steamship. Unlike most stations of its era, Gananoque Junction had no freight-handling facility and was solely a passenger station.[4]

The last passengers transferred from CN to the Thousand Island Railway at Gananoque Junction in 1962. The short line's tracks are now gone.

While the junction station remains in service, a huge water tank that towered over Gananoque Junction in the steam train era is now gone.[5] Locomotive #500 from the now-defunct short line operation is on display next to Gananoque town hall; the Arthur Child Heritage Museum occupies the site of the former Gananoque waterfront station.

References

1. Train service status - Up to date information on our current service
2. "TEMPORARY SCHEDULE Effective June 3, 2020" (PDF). Via Rail Canada. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
3. "Walking Tour of Lansdowne". Leeds & 1000 Islands Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
4. "Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Railway Station Report: VIA Rail/Canadian National Railways Station, Gananoque Junction, Ontario". C.N.Ry. in Ontario.
5. "Gananoque. Ontario (.... - ....)". Canadian Directory of Water Towers and Standpipes.

External links

• Via Rail station page for Gananoque station