Traditionally, February issues of Branchline have concentrated on a heritage theme, in keeping with Heritage Canada's attempts to designate a "heritage day" for the month. This offering is no exception.

Montreal, Quebec, by far the largest metropolis in Canada during the first 60 years of the 20th century, has been and is blessed with an abundance of majestic railway terminals playing host to the Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern, their corporate successor Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific. On a more contemporary basis, we have VIA Rail Canada, Amtrak and the rail operations of the Societe de Transport de la Communaute Urbaine de Montreal (STCUM).

Terminal stations have always been considered as showcases for a particular railroad company's corporate image. In popular culture, these stations served as the initial contact with Canada for many people immigrating from the trouble and strife of the old world. They were a place of dreams for young ones travelling the rails for the first time or young couples just starting on the road to life. Of course, they also held special places in the hearts and minds of thousands of service people and their families, beginning with the Fenian conflicts of the 1860s.

Suffice it to state, that for many years Montreal's various rail termini were the focal hubs of this great metropolis. Even their names spoke of the special linguistic and cultural duality of Montreal with such names as "Bonaventure", "Viger" and "Windsor".

This article provides an overview history of the major railway stations of Montreal. Because of the complexity of the subject matter, especially with respect to the corporate predecessors of Canadian National, this article will deal with these stations in alphabetical order to facilitate the presentation.

Let us step back into the past, more than a century, to begin our story ....


The original Bonaventure depot was built in 1847 by the Montreal and Lachine Railway, a nine-mile, four-foot nine inch gauge, railway which opened for service on November 22 of that year.

Located on Rue Bonaventure (now St-Jacques), near today's Peel Street, the station had a long and illustrious history, earning along the way the dubious distinction of being a hard luck station, often beset by natural and other disasters.

By 1853, the Montreal and Lachine was absorbed by the fledgling Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, with Bonaventure terminal being picked as the GTR's Montreal terminus. On March 13, 1866, the depot witnessed the departure of local volunteers to fight the Fenians. Ironically, two years later, during Easter week, it hosted a large crowd, there to witness the arrival of the body of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation, who had been assassinated in Ottawa by a Fenian sympathizer.

In the spring of 1886, the hard luck image returned as flood waters of the St. Lawrence River completely engulfed both the adjacent Victoria Square as well as the building and yard facilities. So severe was the damage that, in 1887, the GTR rebuilt the depot out of brick under the supervision of Chief Engineer E.P. Hannaford.

When opened, it was considered the ultimate in Victorian elegance and comfort with its handsomely styled waiting room benches, patterned floors, and wall and entrance carvings. The station facade boasted three towers, a centre one with the other two flanking each extremity. Typical of the hard luck reputation of the terminal, the three towers were destroyed by fire in 1916, at which time, the station was rebuilt without these features.

Bonaventure Station passed through the GTR era and served Canadian National Railways until the opening of Central Station in 1943. After 1943, it became a merchandise office and freight yard although a few local passenger trains still called it home. Finally, on July 15, 1948, it handled its last passenger run, a local to St-Hyacinthe.

Disaster continued to stalk the terminal duringits Canadian National tenure. In April 1944, it barely escaped being the rite of a crash landing of a Canadian Transport Command Liberation Bomber en route to Europe from Dorval Airport which eventually hit the ground a few blocks away in die Griffintown area. On August 23,1948, one month after the last passenger train had cleared the terminal, a spectacular fire completely engulfed the yards destroying two freight sheds and their contents, and 130 loaded freight cars. Seven firemen were injured and the station building was severely damaged. Finally, in 1952, it was demolished to make way for the joining of Colbourne and Windsor Streets and the construction of the Canadian National Railways Express and Communications building, opened later that year.

The Bonaventure site continued to host CN until the relocation of its express facilities to the former Turcot Yards in 1977. All trackage was removed and the rite became the focal point for the City of Montreal's "Little Burgundy" housing project.

Sir Henry Thornton, the first president of Canadian National Railways, envisaged a plan to develop a major central passenger terminal and associated skyscrapers in downtown Montreal to accommodate the trains of the various corporate constituents of the newly formed CNR, including the Canadian Government Railways, the Grand Trunk Railway and its transcontinental counterpart the Grand Trunk Pacific, the Canadian Northern and a host of smaller ones, including the south shore interurban, the Montreal and Southern Counties.

Thornton planned to locate the new terminal at the foot of the Mont Royal Tunnel and to connect it to the south shore through the use of a viaduct to the Victoria Bridge.

In 1929, after six years of planning by 82 engineers and their staffs, the plans were ready. Thornton then took the project to the Railroad Committee of the Canadian Parliament for its approval. CN proceeded with the actual development of the project by removing some of the buildings in the vicinity of de la Gauchetiere, Ste-Monique and Dorchester Streets. In the process, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, located at the south-east corner of Dorchester and Ste-Monique, was torn down brick by brick and rebuilt in suburban Ville St-Laurent. It is still in use today, located at the east of St-Croix Boulevard, below du College.

On September 15, 1930, the firms of Poupart Ltd. and Marien-Wilson Ltd. began excavating the land on the north side of Dorchester, using an impressive array of steam shovels, in addition to 100 trucks. The earth was transported to Point St. Charles for the levelling of a new coach yard which was to be an integral part of the station complex.

Coincident with these activities, work also commenced on the viaduct leading to the Victoria Bridge. Atlas Construction had the contract for the section between St-Antoine and St-Paul Streets, while the Foundation Company was responsible for the section between St-Paul and Ottawa Streets. Overall, the viaduct was a little over two miles in length.

To the west, moreover, vehicular bridges on Mountain and Guy Streets over the right-of-way leading to Bonaventure Station were also constructed. The contract was let to Kennedy Construction. The bridges eliminated the busy level crossings on these streets.

As conceived, Central Station was intended to handle all passenger traffic then working out of Bonaventure Station with the latter becoming a freight depot only. Increased opposition by the City of Montreal to the scope of the project, coupled with the deepening of the Depression, spelled its temporary death knell and, in the wake of a job shut down, left a gapping crater between Dorchester and Cathcart Streets.

Matters stayed on hold until 1938 when the Federal Government signalled its intentions to fill in part of the hole with a new central station - not because there was a requirement for one - but, more importantly, there was a need to employ people.

Although the thought of a grand edifice still prevailed in some quarters, the view was that the station would be built initially and that any other development could wait until later. Construction began and, on July 14, 1943, the new Central Station was officially opened by Montreal Mayor Adhemar Raynault. Thousands of people were on hand to admire the concourse's general decoration and design and, in particular, the stunning wall frescos which adorn its walls. Over 140 trains (mostly suburban runs), operated in/out of the new complex.

When Montrealers emerged from the Second World War and subsequently hosted the economic boom of the 1950s, only then did the original grandiose ideas of Sir Henry Thornton resurface. These included the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel at Dorchester and Mansfield in 1958, the new 17-storey CN headquarters at de la Gauchetiere and Mansfield, which officially opened on January 2, 1961, and the Place Ville Marie cruciform tower, then the tallest building in the Commonwealth, which was opened on September 13, 1962. Thus the infamous hole, which had been left north of Dorchester for almost 30 years, was finally covered over.

Today, Central Station is completely engulfed by buildings, including the Place Bonaventure Office/Shopping complex which was built in the early 1970s. The station now hosts VIA Rail Canada, Amtrak, and CN's contracted electric commuter operation which utilizes the Mont Royal Tunnel to gain access to suburban Mont Royal, Roxboro, and Deux Montagnes. Although relatively busy, its level of activity is a far cry from the 140 daily trains which it once handled.


With the continued expansion of Montreal to the west and northward, the building of Park Avenue Station (also referred to as Gare Jean Talon) acted as a gateway for commuters in the quickly expanding suburbs. By no means your typical suburban commuter station, the structure was designed for the Canadian Pacific Railway by Colin Drewett and was officially opened on October 31, 1931. In attendance at the official opening was Mayor Camilien Houde. Official train service commenced on November 1, with the first train from Quebec City arriving at 06:30 and the first train to the provincial capital clearing the new station at 09:45.

Park Avenue, the station is the typical neoclassical design which was so popular during the early 20th century. Indeed, it is a variation of Toronto's famous Union Station in terms of overall look and theme.

Although designed principally for handling commuter trains, the structure is quite magnificent, including four impressive columns along its facade. The main concourse is of smooth skinned greystone and measures 80 feet by 50 feet, no less than four floors in height. The building has a rotunda roof with windows mounted near the top to allow streams of light to bathe the concourse. Access to the 1200-foot long platform was via a ramp and tunnel.

Park Avenue Station served the Montreal-Mont Laurier, the Montreal-Quebec City and the Montreal-Ottawa (North Shore) services. The station was last used by VIA Rail Canada's Montreal-Quebec service in 1984.

Purchased by the City of Montreal in the early-19080s, the station now stands empty, unused and forlorn, its basement housing one of the newer Metro (subway) stations.


Canadian Pacific's first major terminal in Montreal was located on a site originally designated in the 1870s as the Montreal Terminal of the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway (QMO&O). It was originally known as the Quebec Gate Barracks Station (La Gare
des Casernes de la Porte de Quebec), a name subsequently shortened to Dalhousie Square Station.

Although the QMO&O had expropriated the terminal site (located on the east side of Berri Street between Notre Dame and St-Paul), it had yet to initiate construction when it was purchased by Canadian Pacific in 1882 who proceeded to lay a rail connection between the site and the QMO&O's Hochelaga Station, which was further from the city core.

The CPR wasted little time in developing the site, however, and the first transcontinental train departed from the newly built Dalhousie Square Station (named for a square to the east of the building) on June 28, 1886. Amid cheers from the crowd and a booming cannon salute, a twelve car train, including the dining car "Holyrood", replete with $3,000 worth of silverware, and the sleeping cars "Honolulu" and "Yokohama", the train slowly exited the terminal to inaugurate an adventure described by the Montreal Gazette as "second only in importance to Confederation."

In 1892, Canadian Pacific opened the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. The event prompted the company to consider a similar venture in Montreal. Although it had just opened Windsor Station some three years earlier, the company elected to locate the hotel closer to the city's east end.

Architect Bruce Price was commissioned to prepare a suitable design for a building to be located at the southeast corner of Berri Street, facing Craig Street, and some 300 feet to the north of the Dalhousie Square Station. Opposite the site was the beautiful Viger Square which boasted lovely gardens which were a favourite place for Montrealers to take their Sunday afternoon strolls.

Opened in 1898, Place Viger Hotel was named after Montreal's first Mayor, Jacques Viger. What made the hotel unique was the inclusion of passenger terminal facilities including a waiting room and ticket office. In all, there were seven platforms to accommodate trains of five to six cars. Thus Viger Station replaced the Dalhousie Square operation, the latter being incorporated into a new freight shed complex.

By 1912, the platform length had become woefully inadequate. Business at the hotel was such, moreover, that it was necessary to remove the waiting room and ticket office in order to install larger eating and ballroom facilities. The company elected to expand the station, constructing a new wing on the Berri Street side of the hotel to accommodate new passenger and baggage facilities. At the same time, land on both sides of Notre Dame Street, including Dalhousie Square, was expropriated to locate new track and the lengthening of a viaduct (still extant) over Notre Dame Street.

The new facility was completed in 1912. Trains using it were limited to those for the Laurentians, Quebec City and Ottawa (via the former QMO&O route along the north shore of the Ottawa River). During the 1920s and 1930s, however, business declined and CP gradually shifted its operations to its main terminal, Windsor Station. By 1935, business was off enough to justify the closure of the hotel. It remained vacant, indeed, until 1951 when it was purchased on January 17 by the City of Montreal for the price of one dollar "and other considerations". Following the agreement, the May 21, 1951, edition of the Montreal Star reported that J.H. A. Lee, general passenger agent for the CPR, had announced that the station would be officially closed for rail passenger traffic on 1 June.

On May 31, 1951, 69 years of operation were terminated with the departure of the last train, an evening train to La-belle. On hand were a number of rail enthusiasts and rumour has it that Omer Lavall6e, noted rail historian and author of numerous railway books and periodicals, had the dubious distinction of being the last person to board a train at Viger Station. Apparently he literally boarded the train as it was moving out of the station, insisting that the train crew already be on board!

The city gutted the hotel and offices and converted them into office space. The terminal tracks were lifted but the freight terminal facilities under and south of Notre Dame Street remained until the early 1980s.

Today, all that remains of Viger Station is the original stone hotel on the southeast corner of Berri and Notre Dame. In 1990, the building became a school for circus performers. A plaque on the Notre Dame Street level commemorates the departure of the first transcontinental train.

In 1887, six years following its incorporation, the Canadian Pacific Railway sought to consolidate its Montreal station and Headquarters into one facility. As discussed above, CPR trains had initially operated out of a station on Dalhousie Square, in the crowded east end of the city. Its headquarters were separately housed, being located in an old building at Place d'Armes, near the Bank of Montreal.

The CPR purchased land on Windsor Street (now Peel) at the south-west corner of Osbourne (now de la Gauchetiere) in the then suburb of St-Antoine for the new facility.

Designed by architect Bruce Price, the multi-turreted building was completed in 1888 at a cost of $250,000. As built, it consisted of grey limestone, four stories in height and covering an area of approximately 70 feet by 240 feet.

Windsor Station was officially inaugurated on February 1, 1889. A ceremonial train, which included the "Champlain", the official car of Thomas Shaughnessy (later to become president of the CPR), made a special return trip to Montreal Junction (now Montreal West). Members of the official party included Shaughnessy, William Van Home and other company officers.

The first train on an official schedule was an express train to Boston which left on February 4. In 1889, the transcontinental "Imperial Limited" was inaugurated, while commuter service along Montreal's west end lakeshore began in 1893, ultimately extending through to Pointe Fortune on the Ottawa River.

A major catastrophe occurred at Windsor Station on March 17, 1909. The luck of the Irish did not prevail on that day! A Boston & Maine express train from Boston was due to arrive at 08:15. Powered by a brand new locomotive, only two days out of the shop, it developed a brake problem and headed towards the station at 50 mph. The train smashed through the track buffer at 08:36, ploughed across the waiting room dragging pillars and archways with it. The train plunged headlong through the concrete floors and came to rest against the massive stone foundation.

Situated on Jean Talon and facing with the engine protruding precariously over Windsor Street. Both the engineer and fireman had jumped from the locomotive a few miles from the station after an explosion - neither had a chance to apply the brakes. The accident left 5 dead and 23 injured. In 1911-12, a large addition was erected, serving to engulf the original building. This addition extended southward to St-Antoine and resulted in the elimination of nearby Donegani Street which had flanked the original complex. The interior concourse of the new building was massive, measuring 70 feet in width by 350 feet in length.

The final addition was in 1954 when the Accounting Wing was erected along St-Antoine Street, immediately to the west of the 1911-12 structure.

During its heyday, Windsor Station served such railways as the New York Central, the Boston and Maine, the Delaware and Hudson and the CP/CN "Pool Trains". Even in its twilight, it still managed to see the Amtrak and VIA era. Some of the trains it handled were the "Imperial Limited", the "Trans Canada Limited", the "Alouette", the "Atlantic Limited", the "Laurentian", the "Adirondack", the "Viger", the "Frontenac", the "Dominion" and the "Canadian".

The 1970s witnessed a major decline in CP passenger service out of Windsor Station. The elegant Alouette Restaurant, located on the concourse, was removed in 1971 to make way for the CP Credit Card Centre. In anticipation of the redevelopment of the station site into a major office complex, the platforms and tracks were relocated some 425 feet westward of the original station gates, thus forcing passengers into an gruelling and uncomfortable hike to reach their trains. Ironically, stiff opposition by heritage preservationists torpedoed the office complex project, saving the station, but still leaving the new platforms like orphans well to the west of the real activity. Even more ironic, the associated track removal and demolition cost was in the neighbourhood of $250,000, the same as the cost of the original building.

Today, Windsor Station is but a skeleton of its former self. It saw its last VIA train in 1984 and its last inter-city train, Amtrak's "Adirondack", shortly thereafter. All that is left is the STCUM's Lakeshore Commuter service, a far cry from the heyday.

While not considered majestic, both Moreau Street Station and Tunnel Terminal Station nevertheless played important roles in Montreal's railway history.

Moreau Street Station was a small passenger and freight depot located in the east end of the city near today's Hochelaga Yard. It was originally built and used as the Montreal terminal of the 400-mile long Great Northern Railway of Canada, which gained access to Montreal via the Bout de 1'fle viaduct over the St. Lawrence River. The Great Northern was acquired by the Canadian Northern Railway in April of 1903.

The Moreau Street site was largely impractical, however, because of its location in the city's extreme east end. The real action lay in the city core and even further to the west and the CNoR found itself particularly hamstrung by the GTR and CPR whose stations were much more strategically located.

In order to improve the company's competitive edge, CNoR Chief Engineer Henry Wicksteed developed plans for the construction of a hole under Mont Royal which would give the railway the downtown access which it so desperately needed.

An announcement was made on January 9, 1912. Four months later, work commenced on the Mont Royal tunnel and terminal station complex, the latter to be situated at the southern portal on de la Gauchetiere Street, between Mansfield and St-Monique.

Six years of construction and $5.5 million later, the tunnel (electrified and double tracked) and Tunnel Terminal Station were ready for business. The first revenue train to use the station departed at 08:15 on October 21, 1918.

The station was fairly non-descript. It was built of reinforced concrete. A five-doored entrance set in arched openings and fronting on de la Gauchetiere Street provided access for patrons. The waiting room was a far cry from the other larger terminals of the CNoR's competitors, measuring a mere 60 feet by 100 feet by 30 feet high. It was situated over a modest yard consisting of five tracks and three platforms. Above the canopied portico off the main entrance were the letters "Canadian Northern Railway" in bronze.

The station survived the opening of Central Station in 1943, Indeed, it was not until 1952 that it was demolished to make way for two additional tracks and platforms for the newer building.


During the 1970s and 1980s, rail passenger service went through a major decline throughout North America. Many of the major terminals were reduced to mere shadows of their former grandeur. A lot became redundant, the victims of consolidation and the general desertion of passenger rail by the travelling public in favour of the speed of the jet plane and the relative independence of the private automobile.

Arising from this situation was the question of dealing with these relics of the past. Discounting the heritage value of the buildings, the land which they occupied was tremendously valuable, being strategically located in major urban cores.

In Montreal, it became a toss-up. Windsor and Viger Stations were spared the ignominy of total demolition. Windsor Station continues to serve as the restored corporate headquarters of its builders and owners, while Viger Station has found a more sedate function, its future at least guaranteed. We can only speculate as to what fate awaits Park Avenue Station. Central Station, although surviving internally, has lost much of its exterior grandeur to the surrounding invasion of steel and concrete. Traces of the Bonaventure, Moreau and Tunnel terminals have all but vanished.    The problem is not unique to Montreal, moreover, and has been compounded by the wide-ranging paring of Canada's passenger rail network in 1990. The cloud may, however, have a silver lining.

As reported in the October 1990 issue of Branchline, the Federal Government announced the proclamation of the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act. The Act is intended to encourage the protection of railway stations that have been so designated by the Federal Government. Coincident with the proclamation in August 1990, Environment Minister Robert de Cotret designated an initial 12 stations as heritage structures, including Windsor Station. Over the next five years, moreover, the Government will study the 500 remaining station buildings across Canada and consider their protection. There may be hope for Park Avenue Station! Let's hope so.

1     Bytown Railway Society, Branchline. Sept. 1989, Oct. 1990.
2     Edwin P. Alexander, Down at the Depot. 1970.
3     G.R. Stevens, History of the Canadian National Railways. 1973.
4     Leonard L. Knott, La Place. 1962.
5     D. Cruise and A. Griffiths, Lords of the Line. 1988.
6     Luc d'lberville-Moreau, Lost Montreal. 1975.
7     Leonard L. Knott, Montreal. 1900-1930. 1976.
8     Montreal Industrial Commission, Montreal the Metropolis of Canada. 1931.
9     R.G. Macbeth, Romance of the Canadian Pacific. 1924.
10    The Gazette. September 1990.
11    Edita Lausanne, The Great Trains. 1973.
12    The Montreal Star. Aug. 1972; Jan., March, April, May, Oct. 1976; Aug., Nov., Dec., 1977.
13    Anthony Clegg, The Mount Royal Tunnel. 1963.
14    Edgar A. Collard, The Story of Dominion Square. 1971.
15    Omer Lavallee, Van Home's Road. 1974.

The author wishes to particularly thank Omer Lavallee for his information on Viger Station.

Captions.
Canadian National's Bonaventure Station as it appeared on May 10, 1948. Photo courtesy Pubic Archives of Canada, collection of the author

Canadian Pacific's Place Viger Hotel during the horsedrawn carriage era.  Public Archives of Canada, Photo PA 8685, collection of the author.

Canadian Pacific's Windsor Station prior to the 1911-12 southward extension. Montreal Street Railway No. 497, built in 1899, heads south. Public Archives of Canada Photo PA 8678, collection of the author.

Fire engulfs the Bonaventure Freight Terminal on August 23, 1948. This photo, taken from the Sun Life Building, shows Canadian Pacific's expanded Windsor Station on the right Just out of the picture to the left are CN's Central Station and the small Terminal Station. Public Archives of Canada Photo, collection of the author.

LEFT: The remains of the Bonaventure Freight Terminal days after the devastating August 23, 1948 fire, as viewed from the Mountain Street bridge. The intensity of the fire is reflected in the warped and gutted condition of steel box cars. Public Archives of Canada Photo, collection of the author.

BELOW: STCUM FP7As 1306 and 1301 await the afternoon commuter rush in November 1988 at the platforms constructed in the 1970s outside CP's Windsor Station. Photo by Steve Hiscock.

Bytown Railway Society,  Branchline, July-August 1990, page 12.