Canada Southern Railway Station

The Canada Southern Railway Station is a former railway station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. The station was built by the Canada Southern Railway and last had train service in 1979. It is now home to the North America Railway Hall of Fame.

"St. Thomas station" redirects here. For the station in England, see Exeter St Thomas railway station.
St. Thomas
Southwest corner of the station
Location750 Talbot Street
St. Thomas, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates42.7779°N 81.1861°W / 42.7779; -81.1861
Owned byNorth America Railway Hall of Fame
Construction
ArchitectEdgar Berryman (1839-1905)
Architectural styleItalianate
Other information
Websitecasostation.ca
History
Opened1873 (1873)
Closed1979 (1979)
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Windsor
toward Detroit (Michigan Central)
 Niagara Rainbow Niagara Falls, New York
1978-1979
toward New York (Grand Central)
Fort Erie
Until 1978
toward New York (Grand Central)
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Shedden
toward Chicago
 Michigan Central Railroad
Main Line
 Kingsmill
toward Buffalo
St. Clair Junction
toward Courtright
 St. Clair Branch Terminus
Preceding station Wabash Railroad Following station
Fort Street
toward Chicago
 Chicago – Buffalo Alymer
toward Buffalo
Designated1989
Official nameCanada Southern Railway Station, 750 Talbot Street
Designated2014

Historically, the station was, at one time, one of the busiest train stations in Canada, headquarters to the Canada Southern Railway and is currently owned by, and home to the North America Railway Hall of Fame. Since the CASO Station was acquired by the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2005, the goal is to restore the station to its "illustrious state of the 1914-1925 eras" [1]

The proposed station

The Canada Southern Railway line ran from Detroit to Buffalo. It provided an efficient path for travelers who took the short route through southern Ontario. As the line grew, the town of St. Thomas, Ontario offered a $25,000 bonus to the Canada Southern Railway if they built their head offices within the borders of the town.[2] The Canada Southern acquiesced and the CASO station was built. As a direct result, the population of St. Thomas quadrupled in the span of not much more than a decade.

Architecture and design

Though it was one of 31 railway station built in Ontario during the 1870s, CASO was unique, in that it was designed in an Italianate style by Canadian architect Edgar Berryman (1839-1905), and is thought to be the only station of that type in Canada. It is also the largest of them all. More common designs for major railway stations of the times included Romanesque, Beaux-Arts and Second Empire architectural styles.[3]

The building itself is 107.9 metres (354 feet) long and 10.9 metres (36 feet) wide. The station boast two storeys, both with ceilings of approximately 5.5-6.1 metres (18–20 feet) featuring 164 arched windows. Its original 400 000 white brick construction was later painted red to suit the style of the day.[4] The original cost of the CASO station was estimated at between $10,000 - $12,000 in 1873.[5]

The 115 metre south side boardwalk containing century-old bricks was renovated in 2017; the 40 000 bricks were removed for safe keeping until they were reinstalled in the fall of 2016 with the help of a Federal Heritage Grant. The bricks stamped "SAGINAW" were made in Saginaw, Michigan.[6]

Facilities

The Canada Southern Station did double duty. It became a busy "port of call" for numerous lines, while the second floor of the building was home to the Canadian head offices of the Canada Southern Line. Currently, much of the second floor is rented out and generates revenue to maintain the station.

Features of the restored Canada Southern Railway Station include the single men's waiting room, the ladies or family waiting room, ticket office, station master's office and mail room. The CASO station also had a large dining room, now renamed Anderson Hall, with a live-in staff of a cook and several lady servers. They lived in modest quarters upstairs, above the kitchen and dining room. The dining room was quite elegant and travelers could wire their menu orders ahead in time for their arrival.

A fire in 1925 severely damaged the kitchen and, combined with the advent of dining cars on passenger trains, the dining hall was relegated to more of a lunch room. By October 2005, with the restoration efforts at the station underway, the first meal in 80 years was served in the dining room – at a wedding reception.[7]

Since that time, The Canada Southern Railway Station (or the CASO station) is maintained in part by revenue from the rental of both Anderson Hall and the Ladies waiting room for weddings, wedding receptions, ceremonies, luncheons, dinners, teas, conferences and corporate events.[8]

Also located at the CASO Station were the Michigan Central Railroad car manufacturing shops. Also, it was here that master mechanic, Thomas William Cottrell helped establish the MCR shops as a regional repair shops for locomotives, rather than sending them to the United States for repair. (Cottrell was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006 for his contribution to the railway industry in the category of "Local: Railway Worker & Builder.")

Heritage

Federal Listing

The station is protected under Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act since 1989.[9]

Ontario Heritage Trust

An Ontario Heritage Trust plaque locate there reads:

The St. Thomas Canada Southern (CASO) Station, financed by American railway promoters, was constructed between 1871 and 1873 to serve as both the passenger station for St. Thomas and CASO's corporate headquarters. During the 1920s, the station was one of the busiest in Canada. The Canada Southern rail route through southwestern Ontario ultimately linked Chicago and New York City, and was instrumental in the economic development and growth of St. Thomas. Designed in the Italianate style by Canadian architect Edgar Berryman (1839-1905), the impressive building is embellished with classical details such as pilasters, arched windows and passageways, wide eaves and a heavy cornice supported by paired brackets. The building's design, scale and quality of interior finishes make it unique within Canadian architectural history and it stands as a symbol of the importance of railway development in southern Ontario.[10]

Ontario Heritage Act

The station is protected under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act since 2014.[11]

Corporate ownership timeline
MCRR Yards St Thomas ON postcard
Niagara Rainbow at the Canada Southern Railway station, 1978

References
  1. North America Railway Hall of Fame and the Canada Southern Railway Station Information Package (February 2013)
  2. The North America Railway Hall of Fame | History: The Canada Southern Railway
  3. Robert Hunter, "Former Canada Southern Railway Station," (Hull, QC: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Railway Station Report, ca. 1890)
  4. North America Railway Hall of Fame | Inductee: Canada Southern Station
  5. Padden, Wayne (August 30, 2013). (Interview). Interviewed by Doug Jeffery & George Riman. St. Thomas, Ontario. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Bierman, Jennifer (April 24, 2017). "$10,000 donation helps CASO Station finish historic brick path". St Thomas Times-Journal. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  7. North America Railway Hall of Fame (Policy Manual; Section One: Introduction to NARHF)
  8. Martin, Linda (August 23, 2013). (Interview). Interviewed by Doug Jeffery. St. Thomas, Ontario. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. "Former Canada Southern Railway Station". Historic Places.ca. Retrieved April 21, 2017. Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Southern Railway Station, St. Thomas, Ontario, 10 December 1989. Heritage Assessment Report RSR-008, 1989.
  10. "The Ontario Heritage Trust | Online article: St. Thomas Canada Southern Railway Station" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  11. "CITY OF ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO, DESIGNATED HERITAGE PROPERTIES". Heritage Properties. 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.

Resources
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